No.1 seed Ons Jabeur got her Guadalajara Open Akron campaign off to a flying start with a 6-2, 6-2 second-round victory over 45th-ranked Alycia Parks on Tuesday.
Tunisia’s Jabeur, who had a first-round bye as one of the Top 8 seeds, dispatched the rising American Parks in only 59 minutes to clinch a spot in the Round of 16 in her tournament debut.
"Altitude or not, it’s always difficult to return [Parks’s] serve," Jabeur said on court. "I’m glad that I got to break her a couple of times. Definitely my return got a lot of confidence today."
All-surface specialist: The World No.7 Jabeur improved to 3-0 against 22-year-old Parks, with victories on three different surfaces. Jabeur’s previous wins over Parks came on the green clay of Charleston in 2021 and the grass of Berlin in 2022.
Jabeur is now one step closer to her first hard-court title on the Hologic WTA Tour. The top seed’s four singles titles have been split evenly between the other surfaces -- two titles on clay and two titles on grass.
In fact, with a deep run this week, Jabeur could become the first player this season to reach WTA finals on all three surfaces. She has already reached finals on clay (Charleston champion) and grass (Wimbledon finalist) in 2023.
The Tunisian is also seeking the second WTA 1000 title of her career. Jabeur's prior WTA 1000 title came on the clay of Madrid last year.
we love 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 🥰@Ons_Jabeur congratulated the newly engaged couple with 'welcome to the club' 😅#GDLOpenAKRON pic.twitter.com/zmdsBtAtTM
— wta (@WTA) September 20, 2023
Tale of the tape: Jabeur fired a passing winner to break Parks in the very first game of the match en route to the one-set lead. Parks had 26 unforced errors in the opening frame, while Jabeur only had seven.
Jabeur broke at love in the first game of the second set as well, but Parks struck back three games later to level the set at 2-2. However, Jabeur would take complete control from there, reeling off the next four games to close out the win.
Overall, Jabeur won 25 of her 30 first-service points, and she converted five of her seven break points on the day. Parks fired six aces but was undone by seven double faults in the match.
Trevisan awaits: Jabeur will next face former Top 20 player Martina Trevisan in the Round of 16. Trevisan, currently ranked World No.54, upset her fellow Italian, No.15 seed Jasmine Paolini on Monday to reach the third round.
Jabeur handily defeated Trevisan in their only previous meeting, a 6-2, 6-2 victory on the green clay of Charleston in 2021.