Linette rains on Jabeur’s Paris campaign, stuns Madrid champion in opening round

WATCH: Magda Linette closes out Ons Jabeur in the 2022 Roland Garros first round

Under scattered showers in Paris, Ons Jabeur opened proceedings on Court Philippe-Chatrier and, for a set and a half, the Madrid champion looked every inch like a pre-tournament favorite. But at the hands of upset artist Magda Linette, the WTA tour’s clay-court win leader found herself crashing out in stunning fashion on Sunday.

After dropping the opening set, the Pole raised her level—and took advantage of Jabeur’s nervy start—to claim a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 victory across two hours and 28 minutes.

“I had so many tough matches with Ons, and last year here I lost to her in the third round so I knew how difficult it was going to be," Linette said in her on-court interview. "I saw how well she was playing all this time, so I knew I have to be focused and play every single point and try to make her uncomfortable.

"I'm just happy I managed to fight for every single point."

While all eyes have been on her top-ranked countrywoman Iga Swiatek, whose 28-match winning streak has dominated the headlines in the build-up to Roland Garros, Linette has long been a force to be reckoned with—especially in Grand Slam main draws, where she can create early draw chaos on the big stages. In 2021, she ended defending champion and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty’s Roland Garros campaign (via retirement, hip injury) and upset No. 5 Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon, both victories coming in second-round matches.

A year ago, she came close to doing the same thing to Jabeur as well. The Tunisian defeated Linette in a topsy-turvy three-set battle on her way to the fourth round here, and when the pair recently met in Miami, Jabeur needed a first-set tiebreak before securing the victory to improve to 3-1 in their head-to-head record.

The No. 6 seed needed just 37 minutes to take the opening set on Sunday, looking primed to add an 18th clay-court win to her tour-leading count. But as Linette dialed up her first serve in the second set, Jabeur struggled to make inroads into her opponent’s games. Forced to go for bigger shots, Jabeur's own unforced error count ballooned—from eight in the first set, to 16 in the second and 23 in the third.

Linette, who reached the quarterfinals in Charleston and Strasbourg, stayed rock solid as her opponent floundered. She let out a roar as Jabeur’s final forehand landed in the net, sending her into the second round in Paris for the fourth time. With the victory, she improves to 3-16 against Top 10 opponents.

The world No. 56 awaits the winner of Martina Trevisan and Harriet Dart.