Ons Jabeur beat US wildcard Caroline Dolehide 6-3 7-5 in the third round to reach the quarter finals at the Credit One Charleston Open for the second consecutive year.
Jabeur came back from a break down in both sets.
The Tunisian player has won back-to-back matches for the first time since she reached the semifinals at the Adelaide International last January.
Dolehide earned an early break in the first game of the opening set, but Jabeur reeled off five consecutive games with three breaks of serve to race out to a 5-1 lead. Dolehide pulled back one serve in the seventh game to reduce the gap to 3-5, but Jabeur served out in the ninth game on his first set point.
Dolehide opened up a 3-0 lead with an early break in the second set. Jabeur pulled back on serve on her fourth break point in a long seventh game and held serve to draw level to 4-4. Jabeur earned her second break in the 11th game and served out the win on her first match point.
“A few points could have changed up the game. I know with someone like Caroline, you don’t want necessarily want to lose your serve because it’s much tougher to break her than any other girls, but I was frustrated. I tried to talk to myself, and just get back to the game, find my rhythm in the return. It could have been worse, but thankfully, I came back and was more focused”, said Jabeur.
Jabeur set up a match against Anna Kalinskaya, who beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to reach the biggest quarter final of her career. Kalinskaya converted her second break point in the first game to open up a 2-0 lead. Azarenka broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Kalinskaya broke again in the ninth game to win the first set 6-4. The second set went on serve in the first eight games. Kalinskaya broke in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead, but Azarenka broke straight back to draw level to 5-5. Azarenka went up a 3-0 lead in the tie-break, but Kalinskaya won seven of the next nine points with three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-5.
