Former world No. 2 Ons Jabeur pushed through breathing difficulties to advance to the third round of the Australian Open, defeating Colombia’s Camila Osorio 7-5, 6-3 on Thursday.
Jabeur, visibly emotional, took a medical timeout while leading 2-1 in the first set, revealing later that she had been struggling physically from the start of the match.
“It was very, very tough to breathe,” Jabeur said in a post-match interview. “I was diagnosed with asthma when I was younger. Coughing a lot didn’t help and probably made it worse. It was hard to play, so I had to avoid long rallies.”
Despite reaching three Grand Slam finals in recent years, injury issues kept Jabeur off the court for much of the second half of last season, causing her ranking to drop to No. 39.
Against Osorio, Jabeur had to shorten rallies to manage her breathing difficulties. She mentioned that the inhaler didn’t provide much relief and that she would undergo additional tests to determine the cause of the problem.
After Ons Jabeur took a medical timeout due to breathing issues, Colombia’s Camila Osorio managed to level the first set at 5-5. However, Jabeur quickly regained control, breaking back and taking the set when Osorio hit a forehand long.
In the second set, Jabeur broke Osorio’s serve at 3-2, solidifying her lead and eventually closing out the match in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
“I apologized to Osorio at the end because I didn’t want to act like that on the court,” Jabeur explained, referring to how her breathing troubles impacted her game. “I tried to push through. Fortunately, I was playing really well, and that helped me a lot. But honestly, if I had lost the first set, it would have been very tough to continue.”
Jabeur will now face American eighth seed Emma Navarro in the third round of the Australian Open on Saturday.
