The sixth-seeded Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) achieved a convincing win in her first match of 2024. The Tunisian tennis player qualified for the second round of the Australian Open after defeating Ukrainian qualifier Yulia Starodubtsewa by 2-0 (6:3, 6:1) in the first round.
Ons Jabeur last played at the WTA Finals in Cancun last year and missed the pwarming tournaments in Australian in the beginning of January.
In the next round, she will face 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva (Russia), and this will be their first match. The Russian talent named Ons Jabeur as one of her idols in tennis, but the two had not even trained together until now.
The Tunisian is the only top ten main draw to withdraw from the official events ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year. Understandably, she showed some hesitation early on, double-faulting to lead to an early break for her rival. Ons Jabeur, however, responded in perfect fashion and won the next four games to secure an unassailable 4:1 lead. She closed the first set in 37 minutes, and in the second she was even more convincing – 6:1 after another 30 minutes of play.
En route to the second round, Ons Jabeur broke Yulia Starodubtsewa a total of six times, allowing her to win just 41% of her first serve points and 45% on her second serve. The Ukrainian tennis player, making her first Grand Slam main draw appearance, recorded just five winners in the entire match and made 35 unforced errors as the Tunisian sealed her victory with 15 winners.
The youngest player in the Top 100, Mirra Andreeva, on her part, eliminated Bernarda Pera (USA) after 2-0 (7:5, 6:1) in the first round.
Meanwhile, the qualifier Anastasia Zakharova (Russia) eliminated Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) after 2-1 (2:6, 6:0, 6:3), while Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) defeated Jaqueline Cristian (Romania) by 2-0 (6:2, 7:5) and Magdalena Frech (Poland) won her first round match versus Daria Saville (Australia) by 2-1 (6:7, 6:3, 7:5).
Elise Mertens (Belgium) also advanced to the second round after retiring in the second set of Mayar Sherif (Egypt). The Belgian tennis player won the first set by 6:2 and was leading with a break in the second, when her opponent withdrew from the match.
The 10th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) defeated the Czech teenage talent Linda Fruhvirtova by 2-1 (6:2, 3:6, 6:2).
