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Ons Jabeur jokingly but also honestly admitted she wanted to make Marie Bouzkova move after noticing the Czech was struggling with something on the court. On Saturday, world No 5 Jabeur came back from a set down to beat Bouzkova 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-3 in the US Open third round.
In the second set, Bouzkova sustained an injury that required an off-court medical timeout. Although Bouzkova was impacted by the injury, she refused to quit and played out the remainder of the match. "At the end of the second set, I tried to make more [of] the point, hit it a little bit harder.
And I was just trying to play my game. You know, I honestly saw her struggling [a] little bit with her legs, so I tried to make her move as much as I can. I know that's not nice but I was trying to win the match here. And at certain times I was like, ‘is she like really injured?’ Like, I wasn't sure, she was making all my drop shots.
Like, I'm either making the best drop shots or the opposite. I'm not sure," Jabeur said after the match.
Jabeur recovered to beat Bouzkova
In the first set, Bouzkova had a 5-3 lead when she missed out on a set point in the ninth game and also failed to serve out for the first set in the 10th game.
However, Bouzkova was able to keep her focus as she broke Jabeur again in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead before serving out for the second set in the following game. Leading 5-3 in the second set, Jabeur failed to convert a set point in the ninth game and also didn't manage to serve out for the set in the 10th game.
In the second-set tie-break, Bouzkova had early leads of 3-0 and 4-2. But down 2-4 in the tie-break, Jabeur delivered big time as she won five of the next six points to win the second set and force a decider. In the third set, Jabeur blew an early break but broke Bouzkova again in the sixth game and then held on to her service for the remainder of the match to complete a comeback win.