By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur survived a thrilling duel to down home hope Shelby Rogers 4-6 6-4 6-3 at the U.S. Open Friday, reaching the fourth round of the hardcourt major for the first time.
The Wimbledon finalist squandered six of the eight break points she earned in the opening set but hit her stride in the second as she dropped just two first-serve points.
Rogers called on the trainer to receive some treatment on her right arm before the start of the third set. With Jabeur sprinting through the first four games, it seemed game over.
But Rogers refused to cave in and fought off five match points from 0-40 down in the seventh game to hold serve. She then broke Jabeur in the next game to roars of approval from the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd.
A couple of errors from the American, however, handed Jabeur victory on her sixth match point and the Tunisian yelled out in relief.
“Crazy match,” Jabeur said in an on-court interview. “Even down 5-1, 40-love she doesn’t make the mission easy for me… I’m very happy that I kept fighting and went until the end.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
