Takeaways: Jabeur fends off Fernandez to make Roland Garros Round of 16

No.8 seed Ons Jabeur moved into the Roland Garros Round of 16 for the fourth time in her career with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over No.31 seed Leylah Fernandez on Friday.

Under a closed roof in Court Suzanne Lenglen, Tunisia's Jabeur took 1 hour and 53 minutes to fend of the Canadian left-hander, saving a set point at 5-4 in the second set. It was Jabeur's fourth win in their four career meetings.

Here are some takeaways from the showdown between the popular Grand Slam finalists:

Jabeur rebounding on the red clay: Jabeur had a challenging start to this year, losing six of her first eight matches in 2024.

Even a return to the green clay of Charleston, where she is a former titlist, did not bring her a win -- although, to be fair, she did lose to the eventual champion, red-hot Danielle Collins.

Now, the red clay in Europe has started to pull her season back together. Despite early losses at Stuttgart and Rome, Jabeur picked up three wins en route to the Madrid quarterfinals (including one over Fernandez), and now she has added three more in Paris.

After having a win-loss record deep in the doldrums for much of the year, Jabeur is finally back to .500 on the season, which will be a big boost to her confidence. When her form is solid, Jabeur knows she can make the Roland Garros quarterfinals, as she did just last year.

"Just reminding everyone that I'm still here," Jabeur said with a laugh. "It's also nice to prove for myself, because I've been in a bad place for months trying to get back and gain back my confidence. But, again, to be in the second week, it's really important for me and for the hard work that I did."

The Tunisian plays up for Slams: Indeed, even when she is in a relative slump, Jabeur tends to pick things up for the Grand Slams, especially on the natural surfaces.

Jabeur has made the second week on the clay of Roland Garros in four of her last five appearances. She has had similar recent success on the grass of Wimbledon, where she hasn't missed a quarterfinal since 2019.

A three-time Grand Slam finalist, Jabeur is now 6-0 in her last six third-round Grand Slam matches after her latest win over Fernandez. Jabeur's last loss in a major third round came at the 2021 US Open -- and as it turned out, Fernandez made the final from that side of the draw.

"I believe that anything is possible," Jabeur said. "I started this tournament playing match-by-match because I do not want to start thinking of the final. I just want to see how things go, but I'm a dreamer. I've always said it. I am a dreamer. I'm a believer. 

"I'll keep playing match-by-match for that second week. It's a completely new week that is about to start, and I hope it's going to work for me."

Accuracy key in tense moments: Jabeur, noted for her court craft, got through the stern test from Fernandez with better precision on the day. For example, Jabeur was able to find 14 passing winners to Fernandez's four.

This accuracy was particularly key in the second set, where Fernandez was constantly ahead. In the middle of the fifth game, Jabeur had to perfectly place consecutive crosscourt backhands to prevent Fernandez from holding for a commanding 4-1 lead.

Jabeur threaded the needle again down set point at 5-4, where she used another crosscourt backhand to drag Fernandez out of position, then fired a forehand winner just inside the sideline. Jabeur typically knows where to best place the ball, and this skill kept the match straight sets.

New face as next opponent: Jabeur will have her first meeting with Denmark's Clara Tauson in the Round of 16. Former top-ranked junior Tauson has beaten two Grand Slam champions, Jelena Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin, in her last two rounds.

Despite those big wins, this is Tauson's first Round of 16 showing at a major, and Jabeur's tenth. The No.8 seed will try to bring all of that experience at this level in order to hold off the World No.72.