MELBOURNE, Australia — Former No. 1-ranked Maria Sharapova‘s run of first-round exits at the majors continued with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to 19th-seeded Donna Vekic at the Australian Open.
Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam title winner, was given a wild card for the main draw at Melbourne Park after her year-end ranking slipped to 136 in 2019 after a season interrupted by injuries. The 2008 Australian Open winner reached the fourth round here last year, missed the French Open and then lost in the first rounds at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
In the previous match at Rod Laver Arena, second-seeded Karolina Pliskova clinched a 6-1, 7-5 win with a late service break against Kristina Mladenovic in the opening match at Rod Laver Arena on Day 2 at Melbourne.
Pliskova, who lost to eventual champion Naomi Osaka in the semifinals here last year, started the season with a title in Brisbane.
“It’s a new beginning here,” Pliskova said. “The weeks before, nobody really counts, and nobody remembers. But I had some very good matches.”
Sixth-seeded Belinda Bencic also advanced with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Johanna Konta, the 2016 Australian Open semifinalist, lost her first-round match to Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday. It was only her second match since she lost in the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Open, due to a tendinitis-related problem in her right knee.
Konta lost in the first round at the Brisbane International and then withdrew from the Adelaide International in an attempt to manage her injury. Even before she left for Australia, the British No. 1 told officials that she wouldn’t play Fed Cup this year.
The 12th-seeded Konta appeared to be moving without issue Tuesday but was outclassed by the 25-year-old Tunisian player who beat her the previous time the two played, last year at Eastbourne. Jabeur broke Konta to win the first set, and the British player replied with her only break of the match to open the second, but Jabeur dominated the rest of the way.
“I think ultimately the main thing was to start playing again, and I am,” she said. “And how I physically felt out there is obviously a massive tick for me compared to where I was in September of last year. Before Brisbane, I had been out for almost four-and-a-half months. So it’s been quite a bit of time, not far off getting a protected ranking.”
Jabeur said her goal this year is to make it into the top 20 — she’s currently 78th — and to inspire other African Arab players to pick up the sport. “It would be nice to see more of us out here on tour,” she said.
After torrential rain hit Melbourne Park on Day 1, organizers had to move dozens of events to Tuesday, including the Konta-Jabeur match.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.