French Open: Ruud roars, Jabeur and Swiatek soar into quarters
Casper Ruud continued his bid to reach back-to-back finals at Roland Garros by fending off Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in a 7-6(3) 7-5 7-5 fourth-round win on Monday as Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur also stayed on course for a maiden Grand Slam crown.
Ruud, who has only dropped two sets in four matches so far, faced a tricky test against lanky claycourt specialist Jarry but pulled through in three hours and 20 minutes as his opponent failed to make his chances count in the last two sets.
He next faces either Dane Holger Rune in a re-match of last year’s quarterfinal, or Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
He next meets Holger Rune in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal after the Dane got a helping hand from the umpire with a missed but glaring double bounce to battle past Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 6-1.
Jabeur moved into the quarterfinals at the claycourt major for the first time with a 6-3 6-1 victory over American Bernarda Pera and hoped that the romantic atmosphere of Paris will help her quest for a maiden Grand Slam title.
The Tunisian had reached the Australian Open quarterfinal in 2020 and finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon and US Open title clashes last year.
The 28-year-old is not getting complacent ahead of her clash with 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, who beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7(3) 6-3 7-5 to become the first Brazilian woman since Maria Bueno in 1968 to make the quarterfinals of a major.
Haddad Maia became only the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era after Bueno and she got there in three hours and 51 minutes – the longest women’s match of the tournament.
Last year’s runner-up Coco Gauff outclassed Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5 6-2 in windy conditions to reach the quarterfinals where she will face holder Iga Swiatek in a rematch of the 2022 final.
Coco Gauff is through to her third #RolandGarros quarter-final in as many years ??
Poland’s top seed Swiatek set up the blockbuster meeting when her ailing fourth-round opponent Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine retired while down 5-1 in the first set after she called on the trainer and had her blood pressure checked.
Russian Daria Kasatkina said she left the tournament with a sense of bitterness after being booed off by the crowd following her fourth-round defeat by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Sunday.
