<p>Tunisia&rsquo;s Ons Jabeur suffered a shock French Open first round exit on Sunday but admitted: &ldquo;Maybe, it was good to lose.&rdquo; The sixth-seeded Tunisian crashed out to Poland&rsquo;s 56th-ranked Magda Linette 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.</p>
<p>Jabeur came into the event with a season-leading 17 wins on clay in 2022 and with the prestigious Madrid title under her belt.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img title="Magda Linette" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/may/tennis-twenty-three-may-b_e.jpg" alt="Magda Linette" width="1280" height="720" /><strong><em>Magda Linette</em></strong></p>
<p>However, she was undone Sunday by 24 unforced errors in the two hour 28-minute match. Linette had lost to Jabeur in the third round in 2021 having stunned an injury-hit top seed Ashleigh Barty in her previous match.</p>
<h2>Time to reflect for Jabeur</h2>
<p>&ldquo;Obviously, I was expecting better but we say maybe something happens bad because there is something good happening in the future,&rdquo; said Jabeur. &ldquo;Hopefully the grass season, hopefully Wimbledon, I don&rsquo;t know, but it&rsquo;s definitely a great time to reflect and to see what&rsquo;s going to happen next.&rdquo;</p>
<p><img title="Dominic Thiem during his match against Hugo Dellien" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/may/tennis-twenty-three-may-c_e.jpg" alt="Dominic Thiem during his match against Hugo Dellien" width="1280" height="720" /><strong><em>Dominic Thiem during his match against Hugo Dellien</em></strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;I just tried to stay focused after the first set and tried to make her uncomfortable. I was happy to fight for every single point,&rdquo; said Linette who needed treatment on a leg injury after dropping the first set. &ldquo;I wanted to put her in the situation where she&nbsp;<br />couldn&rsquo;t move me around as much.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Thiem crashes out</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, two-time French Open runner-up Dominic Thiem, whose ranking has slipped to 194 after a lengthy battle with a wrist injury, crashed out in the first round Sunday, losing 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to Hugo Dellien of Bolivia as Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz prepared to give Roland Garros a glimpse of the future of Grand Slam tennis.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, has yet to win a match in six attempts since his return in March. He has now lost 10 tour-level matches in a row. His last victory came in Rome just over a year ago.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The 28-year-old Austrian, a former World No.3, reached at least the quarter-finals at Roland Garros five years running from 2016 to 2020. He finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2018 and 2019. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the greatest feeling to go in a Grand Slam knowing that all is not perfect in practice. I don&rsquo;t play like I would like to in practice,&rdquo; said the Austrian.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Muguruza bows out</h2>
<p>Former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza was knocked out in the first round on Sunday, losing 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Estonia&rsquo;s Kaia Kanepi, the oldest woman in the tournament.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</em></span></p><p>
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Stunned by Magda Linette in Round One, destiny-believer Ons Jabeur says...

‘Maybe, it was good to lose’

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‘Maybe, it was good to lose’

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