FORMER world number two Ons Jabeur kick-started her Abu Dhabi campaign with a hard-fought win over former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 7-5, to reach the second round of the WTA 500 event.

Jabeur suffered knee and shoulder injuries last season that bookended her 2024 campaign and saw her freefall down the rankings. Much like Ostapenko – who opted not to defend her Linz title last week – and fell to 35th in the world, the 30-year-old Tunisian is currently at 33rd, but must at least reach a quarter final this week to defend her points from 12 months prior.

In a battle of two former Top 5 players, it was the seventh seeded Latvian who started strongly, breaking Jabeur in the second game to love to go 2-0 up. However both players showed how rusty (Jabeur) and out of form (Ostapenko) they were as it was the first of three consecutive breaks.

A rare hold of service in the sixth game by Jabeur broke that streak, only for another two breaks following that. By the eighth game, each player had held just once. From there though, they were able to do enough to send it to a tiebreaker, where after trailing 3-4 in said tiebreaker, Jabeur won the last four points of the set to close it out 7-3.

Status quo quickly returned in the second set with each player breaking the other in their respective first service games. A bit more normality returned, with Ostapenko still looking wayward with her power, but Jabeur also failing to capitalise on a couple of break points in the sixth game. It was the same story for Ostapenko in the seventh, being 15-40 up before the Tunisian swatted away those chances.

When Ostapenko broke in the ninth game to serve to level the match and then went 30-0 up, it looked like the contest would go to a deciding third set. However like Ostapenko had shown throughout the match, and realistically her career, the gap between her best and worst is vast, and she was broken not once but twice, with Jabeur doing the latter to love in the final game to win the match, 7-6 7-6 in an hour and 48 minutes.

In the blink of an eye, Ostapenko had gone from being two points away from levelling the match, to exiting Abu Dhabi in the first round. It has been a horror start for the Latvian whose only win came in Adelaide against Magdalena Frech, and now contemplates a 1-4 start to the season.

Lacking conviction and consistency at the moment, Ostapenko reached the Aus Open final in doubles with Su-Wei Hsieh just two months after competing in the WTA Finals with Lyudmyla Kichenok. However if she cannot find her singles form soon, she will find life difficult at the big events, slowly dropping down the seedings and out into the main draws, and even qualifying in some cases.

Looking at the numbers, there was not a great deal between them, with Ostapenko hitting 12 more winners (38-26), but also a whopping 23 more unforced errors (54-31). She threw the equivalent of two games away with eight double faults, and both players looked shaky on serve as an understatement. Just 13 of 24 games were held for the match, and in the end, it was Jabeur’s first serve success (72 to 56 per cent) that was the largest tell.

The unseeded Tunisian is a dangerous player for any higher ranked opponent, and is considered one of the best active players yet to win a Grand Slam. She will look to exact that influence on teenager Wakana Sonobe in the next match, taking on the Japanese qualifier for a spot in the last eight.

Across the courts, three other Grand Slam winners were in action, with an all-wildcard battle between Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova and Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu. The former got up to win 6-3 6-4 in an entertaining clash where Vondrousova served nine double faults to her four aces, but saved five of seven break points and converted five of 12 herself in the win.

Former Australian Open winner and now qualifier Sofia Kenin was disappointing in her loss to sixth seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, bowing out 6-3 6-1 in a flat one-hour. Pavlyuchenkova was dominant, winning 92 per cent of her first serve points, never facing a break point, and converting four of eight against the American to book her spot in the next round.

Meanwhile Swiss wildcard Belinda Bencic continued her successful return from maternity leave with a three-set victory over Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova. Bencic won 72 per cent of her first serve points and stormed to the win either side of a down second set, 6-2 3-6 6-1. She faces lucky loser Veronika Kudermetova in the Round of 16 tonight.

Earlier in the night, Czech young gun Linda Noskova destroyed Frech 6-0 6-3 in just 62 minutes, joining Canadian eighth seed Leylah Fernandez and Poland’s Magda Linette in the Round of 16. The pair beat Japanese lucky loser Moyuka Uchijima and Mexican qualifier Renata Zarazua in straight sets.

2025 ABU DHABI OPEN WTA 500 – ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[6] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated [Q] Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-3 6-1
Ons Jabeur (TUN) defeated [7] Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 7-6 7-5
[8] Leylah Fernandez (CAN) defeated [LL] Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) 7-6 7-6
Linda Noskova (CZE) defeated Magdalena Frech (POL) 6-0 6-3
Magda Linette (POL) defeated [Q] Renata Zarazua (MEX) 6-2 3-6 6-1
[WC] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated Rebecca Sramkova (SVK) 6-2 3-6 6-1
[WC] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) defeated [WC] Emma Raducanu (GBR) 6-3 6-4

Looking across to Romania, the top two seeds both made light work of their respective opponents in the Transylvania Open. Russian Anastasia Potapova powered past Austrian Julia Grabher 6-4 6-0, while Serbian talent Olga Danilovic accounted for hard-hitting American Alycia Parks, 6-3 6-3. They were joined in the second round by third seed American Peyton Stearns and seventh seeded Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

After going 0-2 in the women’s singles yesterday, Romanian fans had more heartbreak seeing former world number one Simona Halep win just two games and last 60 minutes against a rampaging Italian Lucia Bronzetti. Unfortunately the loss marked the end of an unforgettable career with Halep announcing her shock retirement, having won 24 singles titles including Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2018-19.

She was joined in the outs by compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu, with just one of five making it through to the Round of 16, as wildcard Ana Bogdan flew the flag thanks to a 6-2 6-3 triumph over Jodie Burrage.

In other results, Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich upset sixth seed Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in three sets, 6-7 7-5 6-4, while 2022 Transylvania Open winner and Russian Anna Blinkova knocked out the other Spanish hope in action on day two, defeating Sara Sorribes Tormo comprehensively, 6-2 6-2. Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic also needed a ridiculous three hours and 32 minutes to defeat Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus, winning 12-10 in the third set tiebreak for a total score of 7-5 4-6 7-6.

2025 TRANSYLVANIA OPEN WTA 250 – ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Anastasia Potapova (RUS) defeated Julia Grabher (AUT) 6-4 6-0
[2] Olga Danilovic (RB) defeated Alycia Parks (USA) 6-3 6-3
[3] Peyton Stearns (USA) defeated Varvara Gracheva (FRA) 2-6 6-2 6-2
[LL] Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) defeated [6] Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (ESP) 6-7 7-5 6-4
[7] Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) defeated Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) 6-3 7-5
Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) defeated [WC] Simona Halep (ROU) 6-1 6-1
Anna Blinkova (RUS) defeated [Q] Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 6-2 6-2
[WC] Anna Bogdan (ROU) defeated Jodie Burrage (GBR) 6-2 6-3
Viktorija Golubic (SUI) defeated Arantxa Rus (NED) 7-5 4-6 7-6