Paris, June 5 (UNI) The Number 14 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia made history by becoming the first Brazilian woman since Maria Bueno in 1968 to reach the French Open quarterfinals after dumping Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 here on Monday.
The contest was mind boggling as the spectators at Roland-Garros witnessed a pulsating 3 hours 51 minutes faceoff, which was the longest women's match of the tournament.
Sara was fortunate to enter the fourth round after Elena Rybakina withdrew. She almost made it into the last eight after she saved three match-points against Maia, and brought the scores at 5-5 in the final set of the match.
Fortunately for Maia, she found her way to break the serve in the 11th and then served to victory in the 12th to win a tiring fourth round faceoff.
This win also showed her improvement in clay record for the season to 9-3 having earlier reached the quarter final stage of both the Stuttgart Open (where she lost to Jabeur) and the Italian Open.
Can Maia put up a better show against Ons Jabeur, especially after she lost to her at Stuttgart Open? This is a million dollar question.
UNI BDN GNK