Ons Jabeur’s woes continue with second-round defeat to Kenin in Rome

Ons Jabeur suffered another disappointing early exit as she was beaten 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 by American Sofia Kenin in the second round of the Italian Open at the Foro Italico in Rome on Friday afternoon.

The No 8 seed reached the quarter-finals in Madrid but is now just 6-9 on the season, struggling for form heading toward the French Open, which begins at Roland-Garros on May 26.

For former Australian Open champion and Roland-Garros runner-up Kenin, ranked No 58, it’s just her third win on clay over a top-10 opponent.

The American will face the winner of the match between Slovak qualifier Rebecca Sramkova and No 26 seed Katie Boulter next.

The American defeated Italian Lucia Bronzetti (6-3, 6-2) ahead of her victory.

Rome WTA 1000, other second-round results (Foro Italico, clay, USD 5.509.771, most recent results first):

• Mayar Sherif vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Katie Volynets vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Rebecca Sramkova vs. Katie Boulter
• Elina Svitolina vs. Sara Errani
• Lesia Tsurenko vs. Anhelina Kalinina
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Caroline Garcia
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Magda Linette: friday
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Laura Siegemund: friday
• Anna Kalinskaya (23) beat Clara Tauson (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Jelena Ostapenko (9) beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-4, 6-2
• Irina-Camelia Begu beat Oceane Dodin (LL): 5-2 ret.
• Danielle Collins (13) beat Anna Blinkova: 6-4, 0-0 ret.
• Maria Sakkari (5) beat Varvara Gracheva (Q): 6-2, 6-2
• Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (20): 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
• Elise Mertens (27) beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-1, 6-4
• Paula Badosa beat Emma Navarro (21): 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Bernarda Pera (Q): 6-0, 6-2
• Yulia Putintseva beat Sloane Stephens (31): 6-3, 6-2
• Marketa Vondrousova (6) beat Ana Bogdan: 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
• Sorana Cirstea (28) beat Brenda Fruhvirtova (Q): 7-5, 6-0
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Magdalena Frech: 6-3, 6-3
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (12) beat Xinyu Wang: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Madison Keys (18) beat Camila Osorio: 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
• Jaqueline Cristian (LL) beat Elina Avanesyan: 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
• Naomi Osaka beat Marta Kostyuk (19): 6-3, 6-2
• Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Q) beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (14): 6-0, 6-1
• Qinwen Zheng (7) beat Shelby Rogers: 6-2, 6-0
• Linda Noskova (29) beat Lucrezia Stefanini (WC): 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Daria Kasatkina (10) beat Tatjana Maria: 7-5, 6-1
• Diana Shnaider beat Liudmila Samsonova (15): 6-1, 6-3
• Angelique Kerber beat Veronika Kudermetova (17): 6-3, 6-0