Paris (AFP)
The French Clara Burel, 19, qualified Wednesday for the 3rd round of Roland Garros by beating another young player, the Slovenian Kaja Juvan, in two sets 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
The Bretonne, 357th in the WTA ranking, will face in the third round the Chinese Zhang Shuai, 39th in the world who beat the French Alizé Cornet (6-4, 7-6).
A challenge a step above compared to Juvan, another young shoot - she is also 19 - ranked 103rd.
Burel erased two first set balls in favor of the Slovenian before winning in 1h37.
This is the first time that Burel, invited by the organizers, has participated in the main draw of Roland-Garros.
In 2018, she was eliminated in the first round of qualifying.
The former world No. 1 juniors, who has just returned from a wrist injury, has taken a new step in the wake of his first victory on the main circuit, obtained in Strasbourg, just before Roland-Garros, on the Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko.
In the first round Porte d'Auteuil, Burel had recovered a set behind against the Dutch Arantxa Rus, 67th in the world, finally beaten 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
Against Juvan, this time she spared herself this extra work by winning the tie-break of the first set despite two set points for Juvan.
The duel of hopes then turned in favor of the Frenchwoman, who broke her opponent twice to lead 5-1.
At the time of concluding on his service, Burel experienced a slump which Juvan took advantage of to come back to 5-2, 40-15.
But the Frenchwoman immediately pulled herself together to win on her first match point with a winning forehand.
© 2020 AFP