Second seed Ons Jabeur has been knocked out in the second round of the Australian Open by a defiant Marketa Vondrousova.
Jabeur looked unsettled and unable to find the answers for the deadly-focused Czech, as she was defeated 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
The world No.2 is the latest top seed to exit Melbourne after Rafael Nadal’s shocking defeat to unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald on Wednesday.
The Tunisian was caught out very early in the first set, committing a mammoth 18 unforced errors as Vondrousova broke her serve twice to rush to a 3-0 lead.
Her struggles continued in the second set as she went on to make another 19 unforced errors but was able to hold her serve, which the world No. 86 broke back in the 7th game.
Jabeur, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, broke right back in the 8th game, but the lefthanded Czech responded in the 9th game.
The highest-ranked African in the world served for the set to take the 10th and 12th games, ultimately winning the set.
However, the third set was not different as another stream of errors made it easy for the 23-year-old to cruise to an early 5-0 lead and eventually had no problem seeing out the set.
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The defeat meant that all of Africa’s representatives in the singles event of the opening Grand Slam of the year have been knocked out, after Egypt’s Mayar Sherif lost in the first round and South Africa’s Lloyd Harris lost in four sets to Marton Fucsovics in the second round.
Former world No. 14, Vondrousova, will face compatriot and 82nd-ranked Linda Fruhvirtova in the third round over the weekend.
