Australian women tumble on day two of the Open
M Keys d. D Aiava 6-2, 6-2; J Konta d. A Tomljanovic 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10-7)
The dream run for Australians in the women’s draw ended on Tuesday after Australia’s third highest-ranked player Ajla Tomljanovic and wildcard Destanee Aiava both went down at Melbourne Park.
Tomljanovic – who gained Australian citizenship only last year – went down to Brit Johanna Konta, while Sydney-based wildcard entry Aiava was beaten in just over an hour by 17th seed American Madison Keys, a former US Open finalist.
Konta, who sits 10 places above the Australian in the world rankings at No.37, took almost three hours to advance to the second round in a hard-fought, see-sawing encounter.
Both players looked to have strangleholds on the match at different points, with Konta’s consistency and attacking endeavour eventually coming out on top in a final set decided by the new 10-point tiebreaker.
It was the pair’s second encounter in as many weeks, Tomljanovic having beaten the former Open semi-finalist in straight sets at the Brisbane International.
The Croatian-born Tomljanovic has been dogged by injury in recent years.
The 25-year-old breached the world top 50 in early 2015 but shoulder surgery a year later meant her ranking had plummeted into the 900s by 2017.
Fighting her way back into form via the ITF Tour, Tomljanovic – who will begin residing in Australia following the summer of tennis – recently said she remains nervous about re-injuring herself.
"It’s tough now with my history," she said.
"I feel one thing and maybe in my head it’s bigger than it really is ... my biggest fear is taking time off and injuries."
On Monday Australians Kimberly Birrell, Zoe Hives, Astra Sharma and highly-fancied Ash Barty all advanced to the second round.
Countrywomen Daria Gavrilova and Sam Stosur are both in action on Tuesday.