STUTTGART -- The 2023 season has been a test of patience for World No.4 Ons Jabeur. 

Coming off her 2022 campaign, in which the 28-year-old make history for her country and region by making back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open and finishing the year at World No.2, Jabeur was snake-bitten with injury in January. A second-round loss at the Australian Open left her in tears. She was forced to skip the Middle East swing to undergo minor surgery. 

By her own admission, she returned to competition too soon at Indian Wells and Miami. Anyone watching her three performances during the Sunshine Swing would have agreed. Jabeur looked rusty and reactive, a shadow of her resplendent 2022 self.

"Sometimes I feel like, it's OK, it's meant to be that I don't start great the year, the most important thing is I take care of my health, and everything happens for a reason, and whatever is meant to be to happen this year is going to happen as long as I give 100 percent and I follow whatever I need to follow," Jabeur said. 

"On the other side, it's like, 'Oh, the other girls are playing really well. Am I gonna come back to the same level or not?' But I took the decision to play Indian Wells/Miami just to show that I'm back here and I'm still alive."

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Much to her own surprise, it didn't take long for Jabeur to re-assert herself. In just her third tournament back from injury, Jabeur rolled to the title in Charleston. En route to her first title since the grass last year, Jabeur did not lose a set and defeated Belinda Bencic in the final. 

On Wednesday night at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Jabeur continued her patient, confident run of form. Four points away from an early exit, the No.3 seed stormed back to defeat No.22 Jelena Ostapenko 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to advance to her second straight Stuttgart quarterfinal.  

"Charleston was honestly an unexpected title," Jabeur said. "For me, I was taking it one step at a time. I was trying to find more motivation and just finding my rhythm on the court.

"I was very, very patient, even though sometimes it did not go my way. I know during practices I'm playing really well with other players, and now just will continue and do that. The key was for me to be patient and wait for my game to come back."

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That is precisely what she did to unwind Ostapenko in her Stuttgart opener. Ostapenko and Jabeur had split their two previous matches on the Hologic WTA Tour level. Their one meeting on clay came on the ITF level in 2015, in which Ostapenko won 6-3, 6-4. 

Ostapenko was quick out of the blocks. Coming off a 58-minute win over Emma Raducanu, Ostapenko needed just 30 minutes to race past Jabeur in the first set. That form continued until Ostapenko found herself serving for the win at 6-1, 5-4. 

But Jabeur raised her level to reel off 11 of the next 13 points to earn a pair of set points at 6-5, 15-40. Ostapenko did well to save three set points and earned two points to force a tiebreak, but Jabeur finally closed out the set on her fourth set point to force a final set.  

"Definitely patience was one of the keys today, but I think most importantly was accepting that she was doing great and hitting winners. After all, it's her game. For me, I was, like, Okay, she cannot play like this the whole match. If she does, then she deserves to win, obviously.

"For me, I just think, especially on the return games, the moment I stayed patient, the better that I played, especially just returning one ball and give it more spin. That's where I think I was getting more and more rhythm."

Having turned the momentum around, Jabeur took firm control in the third set. After breaking Ostapenko to lead 4-2, Jabeur saved a break point in her final service game to seal her sixth consecutive win after 2 hours and 3 minutes.

A junior Roland Garros champion and winner of Madrid last year, Jabeur is ready to flourish again on her favorite surface. Her next match will either be a rematch of the 2022 Wimbledon final against Elena Rybakina, or a showdown with Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia. 

"Those matches [in Charleston] really helped me gain my confidence back and believe more in myself, knowing that I am this player, I am able to do this, I am able to come back after injuries," Jabeur said. "It was pretty fast for me. Usually I take my time after injuries. 

"For me, most important is I gain back the game that I know how to play. The results will follow, for sure. I will try not to put a lot of pressure on defending points or whatever. Clay suits my game very well, and conditions are much different, Charleston, here, Madrid. 

"So for me, adapting to all of this and coming back and even be a better player is the goal for me."