(Rome) Tunisian Ons Jabeur (seeded N.4), finalist of the 2022 edition, lost as soon as she entered the running in 2e round of the WTA 1000 in Rome against the Spaniard Paula Badosa (35e world), winning 6-1, 6-4.
Jabeur returned to competition, just over two weeks before the start of Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11), after a calf tear which forced her to retire in the semi-finals in Stuttgart on April 22. In the process, she had given up defending her title at the WTA 1000 in Madrid.
With this defeat of the Tunisian, 7e in the latest WTA rankings, the women’s table in Rome loses a new favorite after the eliminations on Thursday of world N.2 Aryna Sabalenka, N.3 Jessica Pegula and 2019 winner and ex-N.1 Karolina Pliskova.
In lack of benchmarks, Ons Jabeur suffered during a first round concluded in an expeditious manner by Badosa, already victorious in their only confrontation on clay, last year in Stuttgart.
The 2022 finalist got back in the saddle at the start of the second set by signing her first break to lead 3-1. But she was again betrayed by a lack of accuracy, which allowed the Spaniard to come back and then fly away to a victory in 1h 24.
“We know each other very well, I’m very happy with my performance,” commented Badosa, 25, who will face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (27e world).