Marketa Vondrousova earned the right to keep playing at the U.S. Open by knocking off No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini 7-6 (4), 6-1 on Friday in New York.

Paolini of Italy lost four of her five service points in the first-set tiebreaker to help Czech ex-Wimbledon champ Vondrousova take the lead into the second set.

The pair were locked into a competitive back-and-forth in the key sixth game of the second set when Paolini sent a backhand stab sailing long to help Vondrousova convert her sixth break point.

“It was a very important game,” Vondrousova said after the match. “Big difference between 4-2 and 5-1. It was a crazy game — and the key to the match.”

Vondrousova hit six aces to just one by Paolini, and was unbroken on her way to winning 47 of 69 service points (68.1 percent).

The 29-year-old Paolini had two straight-set wins leading into Friday’s matchup, including breezing past teenager Iva Jovic in her second-round match. Coming into the U.S. Open, she had been playing some of her best tennis, including a trip to the Cincinnati Open final, where she fell to Polish star Iga Swiatek, and titles in both singles and doubles at the Italian Open earlier this year.

It is the first time Vondrousova has reached the fourth round of a major since last year’s French Open, where she lost to Swiatek in the quarterfinal.

However, the 26-year-old Vondrousova, who is ranked No. 60, is no stranger to exceeding expectations. In 2023, she became the first unseeded woman to win a Wimbledon title.

She will next face ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who defeated Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-1, 6-2 on Friday.

“She’s playing great tennis and won easily today,” Vondrousova said of Rybakina. “I have nothing to lose. I love these matches.

“It’s incredible to be here again and play good tennis.”

–Field Level Media