Day 4 may have wrapped up past midnight, but unfortunately, 2nd seed Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) will not be proceeding past Round 2 of this year’s Australian Open after she was eliminated by Czech Republic’s Markéta Vondroušová out of this three-set showdown. Now Vondroušová will be facing another Czech tomorrow for 3R in Linda Fruhvirtova.
The final score at a quiet & small crowd at Rod Laver Arena was 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.
Gutted to see Jabeur exit this women’s singles’ competition early, having came returned to Melbourne Park with back-to-back runner-up grand slams from Wimbledon & US Open last year. A mix of some pain took her a while to get the ball rolling where she defined her 2R opponent a straight sets opportunity going into the 3rd set decider. But then the inconsistency & the pain not helping much in the end, as she just wasn’t at her best last night expecting to play in the Finals here. Now Jabeur will look to recover for a while before she can be at full force again & try to go one better for the next grand slam (Roland Garros) in late May-early June.
And congrats to Vondroušová with the upset win where she was firing in all cylinders from start to finish. Although there are some mistakes that didn’t help her wrap up in straight sets during the 2nd stage, especially when playing against one of top player in particular like Jabeur at the moment. Now she hasn’t been at her best as of late apart from being alright at the Australian Open, such as the 4R in 2021 & 3R in 2022. However, she already has a final to her name before at the 2019 Roland Garros against the now-retired Ash Barty, where she ended up in 2nd while Ash got her breakthrough moment with her first major title. Surely, this tournament is the perfect time now to prove that she has unfinished business to do v the elite.
