Jabeur shocked, contenders cruise in rain-soaked Melbourne

Ons Jabeur made a humbling early exit at the hands of teenager Mirra Andreeva but title contenders Coco Gauff and Jannik Sinner both got safely through their second-round contests at a rain-hit Australian Open on Wednesday.

The wet weather that swept across Melbourne prevented the start of play on the outer courts for more than three hours but the more high-profile matches continued under closed roofs on the three main showcourts.

Tunisian sixth seed Jabeur could hardly blame the conditions, such was the one-sided nature of her stunning 6-0 6-2 loss to 16-year-old Russian Andreeva on Rod Laver Arena.

“It was probably my best match,” said Andreeva, who still has to find time for school work along with her training.

“The first set I didn’t expect that I would play this good. The second set was also not bad. It was an amazing match. I’m super happy with the level that I showed today on the court.”

Alex de Minaur, whose recent form has some in Australia thinking the 10th seed might just be the one to end the country’s 48-year wait for a home men’s champion, followed Andreeva on Rod Laver Arena.

The 24-year-old Sydneysider benefited from a retirement in the first round and Australia’s recent Davis Cup final loss to Italy was on his mind during his 6-3 6-0 6-3 win over Matteo Arnaldi.

“I thought I just had to be solid here, just use the crowd,” De Minaur said.

“It’s no secret that it was heartbreaking to lose the Davis Cup final at the end of last year … today was a little bit of revenge for Australia.”

DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

Sinner, the driving force behind Italy’s first Davis Cup triumph, was delighted that the inclement weather forced the roof of Margaret Court Arena to be closed for his match against Jesper de Jong.

The fourth seed, who skipped all the warm-up tournaments this year, hit a rich vein of form at the end of last season on indoor courts and simply dominated the Dutch qualifier 6-2 6-2 6-2.

“Roof closed, it’s a little bit different. I love the conditions,” Sinner said.

“But it’s part of a tournament when it’s raining, that you can try to adapt yourself to different situations.”

The rain finally relented and the roof was back open for U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff’s second-round clash with fellow American Caroline Dolehide. It initially looked like the women’s fourth seed would follow Sinner’s lead but Dolehide dragged her into a real scrap and Gauff was forced to fight until her fourth match point to prevail 7-6(2) 6-2.

“It was really hard, I started off playing well but she does well hitting the ball heavy so it’s tough to be on the offensive,” said Gauff.

“I wasn’t nervous today, I was just trying to play good tennis.”

The 19-year-old will next play another compatriot in Alycia Parks, who beat former U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 7-5 6-4 in one of the first matches completed on the outside courts.

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki also fell victim to a young Russian in qualifier Maria Timofeeva, the Dane cursing herself after winning the first set comfortably on John Cain Arena but going out 1-6 6-4 6-1.

“It definitely sucks and it’s disappointing. I felt like this was my match to win, and I didn’t,” said the 2018 Australian Open champion.

“I feel like the match kind of slid out of my hands.”

Wozniacki’s exit follows that of Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka in the first round, leaving the tournament without any of the trio of mothers and former champions who returned to the Grand Slam this year.