DUBAI // Ons Jabeur dreams of playing against Serena Williams at least once before the 23-time grand slam winner calls time on her illustrious career. But that can wait.
The Tunisian qualifier is one win away from facing the hottest player of the tour, Karolina Pliskova, after booking her place in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 upset of No 14 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“I am happy to win three matches in a row here,” said Jabeur, the world No 172 who is making her first appearance in the Dubai main draw after failing in her last two attempts through the qualifiers.
Jabeur will next face Chinese world No 78 Qiang Wang and a win in that second-round match will give her a shot at Pliskova, provided of course, the world No 3 wins her opening match in the second round.
“I had a good preparation before coming here,” said Jabeur, the 2011 junior French Open champion who reached the quarter-finals in Taipei this month before losing to eventual champion Elina Svitolina. “Now I hope I can keep playing at this level in the coming matches.
“I am not going to look at the rankings of the players I am going to come up against. I will just try to relax and play whoever is on the other side of the net.”
There was another upset later in the evening when wild card Mona Barthel, ranked No 112 in the world, swept past world No 50 Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-3 in a mere 60 minutes to set up a second-round clash with German compatriot, the top seed Angelique Kerber.
__________________________________
Read more:
■ Kerber turning the corner: German confident of finding rhythm
■ Double trouble: How not to confuse Karolina Pliskova with Kristyna
■ Order of play: Caroline Wozniacki and CoCo Vandeweghe in action
■ Predictions: Our Winner, surprise player and disappointment
__________________________________
Sunday’s results
– 16-Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat Kristyna Pliskova (Czech Republic) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
– Mona Barthel (Germany) beat Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-1, 6-3
– Laura Siegemund (Germany) beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa (Spain) 6-7, 6-4, 7-6
– Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) beat 14-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 7-6, 2-6, 6-4
– 15-Caroline Garcia (France) beat Johanna Larsson (Sweden) 6-3, 6-3
– 12-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Kai-Lin Zhang (China) 6-3, 6-3
– Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat Lin Zhu (China) 6-3, 6-1
– Naomi Osaka (Japan) beat Kai-Chen Chang (Chinese Taipei) 6-2, 6-4
– Qiang Wang (China) beat Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 7-6, 6-2
– Saisai Zheng (China) beat Lara Arruabarrena (Spain) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
– Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) beat Irina-Camelia Begu (Romania) 7-5, 6-1
– Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) beat Cagla Buyukakcay (Turkey) 6-7, 6-3, 6-2
arizvi@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport