Tennis: Jabeur bests Raducanu to reach Abu Dhabi quarterfinals

Al Rawdah, Feb 8 (IANS) Ons Jabeur of Tunisia blasted her way into the last eight of the Abu Dhabi Open with a straight-sets victory over Brit Emma Raducanu.

Having edged an entertaining, and relatively close opening set, Jabeur stepped it up in the second and simply had too much for Raducanu, the Tunisian going through courtesy of a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

It took Jabeur just one hour and 18 minutes to book her place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday night, where she will meet Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, who beat Magda Linette in the longest WTA main draw match of 2024.

After being given a bye in the Round of 32, as one of the tournament’s four top seeds, Jabeur was in singles action for the first time, and eager to make up for the disappointment of exiting the doubles alongside partner Naomi Osaka last night.

Arab superstar Jabeur is making her return to the Middle East swing after missing every event in the region last year due to a knee injury.

Former World No.2 collected just her second match-win of 2024 by besting Raducanu on Stadium Court. Jabeur's only previous tour-level event this year was the Australian Open, where she beat qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva before losing 6-0, 6-2 to the swiftly rising 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva.