By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) – Ons Jabeur was kept on court for more than hour – but only just – as the speedy Tunisian dispatched former junior number one Diane Parry 6-2 6-3 on Friday to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.
The world number two has shown little mercy during her progress to the third round, spending less than two hours on court. Had she not been broken by Parry when serving for the first set at 5-0 up, she would have made it into the last 16 in less than three hours on court during the first five days of the grasscourt major.
That break not only earned 19-year-old Parry, one of four Frenchwomen to reach the third round, a rousing ovation from the Centre Court crowd but boosted her confidence as she raised her game to hit some sublime one-handed backhand winners.
Although the teenager could not rescue the first set, which Jabeur sealed with an ace, she stayed toe-to-toe with the third seed in the second set until 3-3.
It was at this point Jabeur moved in to deliver the knockout punch as she broke Parry to love and moments later she was celebrating her passage into the fourth round — having been kept on court for 68 minutes.
She will next meet either 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber or Belgian 24th seed Elise Mertens.
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ed Osmond)
