Ons Jabeur wins back-to-back for first time since January

Ons Jabeur appears to be relishing the shift to clay and her return to full fitness.

Jabeur has won back-to-back matches for the first time since the Adelaide International 1 back in early January.

She has started her bid for another deep run at the Credit One Charleston Open with a pair of assured victories.

Jabeur beat American wildcard Caroline Dolehide in Thursday’s third round.

Her 6-3, 7-5 win over Dolehide came after a second-round triumph over Lesia Tsurenko.

After controlling her opening round clash from the get go, Jabeur needed to be more resilient in her clash with Dolehide.

She came back from a break down in the both sets on her way to beating Dolehide in 81 minutes.

Jabeur had admitted at Indian Wells that she might have forced her comeback a little by entering the WTA 1000 events in California and Florida.

“You know, it’s a tough decision to come back, and I was the one that insisted that I come back in Indian Wells and Miami,” She said.

“It was probably too early to come back, but I just made it a new challenge for myself.

“I did regret it after the first set,” Jabeur said after surviving a three-set match with Magdalena Fręch at the Tennis Garden.

“But then, you know, I just told myself to accept what’s happening, to fight through it, and to just see how it goes. I’m sure it will get better and better every match.”

Jabeur admitted that rankings anxiety played a part in her decision and she will have to win the Charleston Open to advance her cause on the WTAs official standings.

“First, I’m an athlete and it’s tough to stay out of competition for a long time. I was missing to be on the court.

“You know, I just didn’t want to go behind of the ranking too much. I missed already two 500s and a 1000 and there is two 1000s coming.

I was like, okay, I’m going to go and get prepared, even here and Miami, and see what’s gonna happen. I just twisted it a little bit. I made it like a challenge for myself to see if maybe physically I’m not ready, then I can challenge my mental health or really get my brain working for once.”

Jabeur’s next Charleston Open challenge is to face Anna Kalinskaya, who upset No.6 seed Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6(5), to reach the quarter-final.

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