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Aussie young gun bundled out in first grand slam match

Emerson Jones ahead of her first match

Source: Australian Open

Aussie young gun Emerson Jones has lost her first grand slam match, going down in just 53 minutes to Elena Rybakina at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old Gold Coaster was bundled out of the Australian Open by the sixth seed 6-1, 6-1, in just 53 minutes.

Australia’s world No.1-ranked junior had hopes of fashioning a boilover against former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, but was instead ousted from the Australian Open in a first-round mismatch.

Ash Barty’s pre-Open tip to win the women’s title, Rybakina looked a player on a mission after entering the year’s first grand slam with her former coach serving a provisional WTA suspension for alleged breach of its code of conduct.

Rybakina slammed the ban on the eve of the Open and took her anger out on 16-year-old Jones in a ruthless 53-minute showing on Margaret Court Arena.

The 2023 Open runner-up crunched 11 aces and 26 winners in an at-times unplayable display that former quarter-finalist Alicia Molik lauded as “poetry in motion”.

“First match I’m always a bit nervous. She is very young and I think she has a great future and many more years on tour, but I’m pretty happy with my performance,” Rybakina said.

“I’ve watched her matches, of course. When you don’t know the opponent, at least me, I’m trying to focus on myself and I know that serve is a big key in my game.

“I was focusing on that. Of course, I needed a couple of games to get used to her shots. She is very talented.”

For all her endeavour, Jones was mostly powerless to stop Rybakina in the opening set.

The free-hitting Kazakh clubbed 11 winners to Jones’ one and broke the underdog twice to take the set in 26 minutes.

After a strong service hold to open the second set, Jones had a window of opportunity with Rybakina serving at 0-30 in the second game.

But, once again, the 2023 AO finalist stepped up to seize back control with a succession of searing winners.

Growing frustrated, the young wildcard Jones double-faulted on game point at 1-1 and paid the price as Rybakina reeled off two more winners before the underdog flayed a backhand wide.

It was more of the same when Jones dropped serve again in the fifth game as Rybakina took the wind out of the challenger’s sails with an awesome display of ball-striking.

Rybakina urged the 2024 Australian Open and Wimbledon junior finalist to continue backing herself as she finds her feet in the professional ranks.

“Obviously just to try to work hard, listen to her team because I think she has great support and plenty of opportunities to play with great players,” Rybakina said.

“She just needs to be patient and work hard.”

Elsewhere, Aussie No.1 Kim Birrell is also out of the Australian Open, after losing 6-2, 6-2 to German Eva Lys in 70 minutes.

alex de minaur

Australian hope Alex de Minaur begins his Open campaign later on Tuesday. Photo: AAP

De Minaur steps up

Later on Tuesday, Alex de Minaur takes centre stage at Melbourne Park, as generation next also arrives on day three of the Open.

De Minaur opens his campaign in the feature night match on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday night against Dutch dangerman Botic van de Zandschulp.

Australia’s eighth seed plans to feed off the frenzied home-crowd support as he begins his quest to become the first men’s local champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

“I genuinely can’t wait to get out there and play in front of my home crowd,” de Minaur said ahead of his eighth Open tilt.

“I know they’ve got my back from the very first point to the last and, jeez, I’m excited to get started.”

Novak Djokovic-slaying world No.25 Alexei Popyrin also opens his tournament on Tuesday night, up against Frenchmen Corentin Moutet in his first slam as a seed.

Another Australian, Olivia Gadecki, takes on another Russian in Veronika Kudermetova later on Tuesday.

David Taylor on Emerson Jones

Source: AAP

Raducanu through to second round

Meanwhile, former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has put aside an interrupted build-up to book a spot in the second round.

The high-profile British player suffered a back spasm earlier in the month, then refused treatment for a painful ant bite a few days ago due to worries she could inadvertently ingest a contaminated substance.

Playing her first competitive match since November, Raducanu downed No.26 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) on Tuesday in a match featuring eight service breaks in the first set and 12 in total.

Raducanu mixed nine aces with 15 double faults, but her serve held up when it mattered most in the second-set tiebreak.

Since becoming the first player – man or woman – to win a grand slam title after coming through qualifying at the 2021 US Open, Raducanu has had to deal with crippling levels of expectation in her home country.

Even her decision to refuse treatment for the ant bite was closely scrutinised. Raducanu said the high-profile doping cases involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek had made her more wary than ever.

The 22-year-old’s round-two opponent will be American Amanda Anisimova, who downed Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle 6-2 6-3.

-with AAP

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