Roland-Garros: Begu ends Jeanjean’s fairytale run in Paris

Irina-Camelia Begu won against Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday. She’ll play the winner of the next match between American Jessica Pegula, the No 11 seed, and Slovenian Tamara Zidansek, the No 24 seed, in the next round.

Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in action at the 2022 Roland Garros Grand Slam tennis tournament

Zuma / Panoramic

Tennis Majors

May 28, 2022

Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu advanced to the fourth round at Roland-Garros ending the fairytale run of 26-year-old French wild card Leolia Jeanjean in Paris on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Begu saved five break points in her very first service game and managed to stamp her authority on the first set, winning it 6-1.

The former world No 22, who also reached the fourth round in Paris in 2016, jumped to a 5-1 lead and looked set to close out the match.

Jeanjean saved three match points and hoped

But Jeanjean, ranked No 227 in the world and returning to the sport after going to college in the United States, fought back to take one of the breaks back. She cut Begu’s lead to 5-4, saving three match points in the ninth game.

And that's how you put it away 💥#RolandGarros | @irina_begu pic.twitter.com/e6cdpMQKLD
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2022

Jeanjean moved within two points of leveling the set at 5-5 as she built a 0-30 lead on Begu’s serve, sending the French crowd into raptures of delight. But the Romanian won four points in a row to close out the 6-1, 6-4 win in one hour and 26 minutes.

Begu will be competing in the fourth round at a Major for the third time in her career as she hopes to reach a first Grand Slam singles quarter-final. She will next play either 11th seed Jessica Pegula or 24th seed Tamara Zidansek, a semi-finalist in Paris last year.

Jeanjean admitted after the match : “Begu was more difficult for me than the previous opponents because she has a tough clay game, close to mine if I look well, and she disturbed me more than the opposite, contrary to the first rounds. She doesn’t give much. I was a little tense. I didn’t find the solution”.