Saville stuns Jabeur in upset win

Aussie qualifier Daria Saville extended her good form by beating ninth seed Ons Jabeur 7-5 6-7 (0-7) 6-4 at Indian Wells on Saturday.

Russian-born Saville, formerly Gavrilova, wore blue and yellow i9n support of Ukraine as she took out the deciding third set in the Californian desert.

Fellow Aussie Astra Sharma didn’t fare so well, going down to 13th seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3 7-5.

But No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka crashed out to Jasmine Paolini 2-6 6-3 6-3, as the Italian broke the Belarusian’s serve four times.

“I’m so happy. I didn’t expect this moment,” Paolini said.

“I’m just happy to be here in the third round. I think I played an amazing match. The crowd was amazing. I enjoyed it very much.”

Defending champion Paula Badosa was also in action, with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win over Tereza Martincova.

“I think the difference was I played against her one-and-a-half years ago and I’ve improved a lot in so many ways,” Badosa said.

“Mentally, but physically as well because I think it was a very physical match. I could see how much I improved today.”

Leylah Fernandez prevailed over 20-year-old American Amanda Anisimova 2-6, 7-6(0) as Anisimova retired after losing the second-set tiebreak.

Petra Kvitova beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4, Shelby Rogers took out Latvian 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko and Estonian Anett Kontaveit cruised past Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-4, 6-1.

Peter Rowe

Recent Posts

Nadal goes down in final match

Rafael Nadal lined up for what was to be the final match of his career…

3 days ago

Sinner flattens de Minaur in runaway home start

Jannik Sinner took charge in front of his home crowd on Sunday, crushing ATP Finals…

2 weeks ago

Madcap Medvedev suffers temperamental Turin Finals loss

Daniil Medvedev went into meltdown mode on Sunday during a highly charged 6-4, 6-3 loss, with opponent…

2 weeks ago

Team Sinner considering skipping Monte Carlo

Jannik Sinner could well be missing from the opening European clay event of next season…

2 weeks ago

Davis Cup Final to mark Nadal goodbye to tennis

Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his career next month as he plays his…

1 month ago

Wimbledon lowers the boom on human linecalling

Wimbledon on Wednesday brought an end to human linecalling at the most traditional of the…

1 month ago