Ons Jabeur on Loss to Halep: It’s going to hurt for a few days, that’s for sure

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur says her loss to former World No. 1 Simona Halep will hurt for a few days, after she wasted a match point in her close three-set loss to the Romanian, according to the Gulf News.

Jabeur went down 6-1, 2-6, 6-7, (7-9) in the second round match at the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday and says she should have been more patient on her matchpoint. “The only thing going to replay in my head is match point. Should have been more patient. But then, the stress and everything, it wasn’t really easy. Yeah, it’s going to hurt for a few days, that’s for sure. Honestly, it’s crazy match. I don’t think I played really well. I don’t think she played really well. It was kind of a lot of changing of momentum. I played really good tennis first set. She played better in the second set. Then it was a tricky third set. She had more opportunity than me. I had one match point. A lot going on in my mind right now, a lot of frustration. I’m a little bit disappointed. But it is what it is. It’s tennis. It’s going to hurt for a few days and hopefully, I can learn from it.”

Jabeur, who is ranked a career-best No. 45 in the world right now, says Halep played really well at the important moments. “Honestly, she played really good. I didn’t even have time to think about that game. I knew it’s going to be tricky. I mean, I don’t think I will have so much regret for this game. I served so bad the whole match. It’s not like I served good, but this one was worse. I mean, if it was last year, probably I would be happy because I pushed Halep into three sets. Now I’m more angry because I didn’t win the match. I know I could have. I know I had the level to do so. Unfortunately, I didn’t play my best tennis. There is a lot of positive things in this match, but I feel like a lot of negativity right now, which is going to take time for me to be in a better spot I hope.”

Halep's win advances her to the quarter-finals in Dubai where she will meet Aryna Sabalenka.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ufIOQc