The Tunisian Ons Jabeur, seeded N.7 and 7th player in the world, was eliminated Tuesday in the 2nd round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing by Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
This setback against the Ukrainian ranked 33rd in the world comes barely three days after the Tunisian’s victory at the WTA 250 tournament in Ningbo, the fifth title of her career.
World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was scared, but qualified for the round of 16 by eliminating Englishwoman Katie Boulter, 56th player in the world, 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) .
“What made the difference in my opinion was that during the key moments, I played a little better than her,” commented after the match the Belarusian, who will face the Italian Jasmine in the next round. Paolini (36th at the WTA).
Trailing by one set, the world No.4, the American Jessica Pegula, also managed to qualify, against the Russian Anna Blinkova 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-1. She will face Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (N.17) in the round of 16.
Seeded N.9, Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia also reached the round of 16 of the tournament by dismissing Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, 75th player in the world, in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. In the next round, she will battle against the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (28th).