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Local trio Ajla Tomljanovic, Lizette Cabrera and Jordan Thompson have bitten the dust on day two of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
Tomljanovic was unable to join boyfriend Nick Kyrgios in the second round, the 24-year-old falling 7-5 6-3 to former French Open finalist Lucie Safarova in one hour and 26 minutes.
Fellow women’s wildcard Cabrera followed Tomljanovic out the exit gates with a fighting 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 loss to Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia before Thompson suffered yet another gallant five-set defeat.
The Australian Davis Cup star went down 6-3 6-1 4-6 3-6 6-3 to Argentine Nicolas Kicker after battling a stomach injury throughout the three-hour, 10-minute encounter on Tuesday.
Tomljanovic, who cracked the top 50 in 2015, was on the back foot throughout against Safarova, with her first-serve percentage finishing at 50 per cent.
The 29th-seeded Czech was cantering through the first set world No.107 Tomljanovic grabbed the break back, courtesy of a lucky let-cord, to make it 4-all.
But the former world No.5’s experience and class shone in crunch time, turning the screws on Tomjanovic’s serve at 5-all and shutting the door on the first set in 49 minutes.
Tomljanovic dug her way out of multiple break-point holes in consecutive service games to start the second, but was offering little resistance at the other end.
As the double faults continued to pile up, seven for the match, Tomjanovic’s resolve eventually wilted with back-to-back breaks killing off her chances.
Ashleigh Barty, meanwhile, was vowing to embrace the added home-town pressure when she begins her Open campaign on Tuesday night.
The Australian No.1 plays the last match on Rod Laver Arena, taking on Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
“There’s nothing better than walking out onto an Australian Open court with the crowd behind you,” the world No.17 said.
“I’d certainly love to play my best tennis and have my best run in a grand slam here, so fingers crossed I can band it all together and play well this week.”
Other Australians in action on day two include Destanee Aiava, against world No.1 Simona Halep, and fellow teen Alex de Minaur, who takes on Czech 19th seed Tomas Berdych.
De Minaur is fresh off his run to the Sydney International final and not without hope against the former Wimbledon finalist.
Thanasi Kokkinakis will play De Minaur’s Sydney conqueror, exciting Russian Daniil Medvedev.
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