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Dokic joins Aussie exodus

Dokic joins Aussie exodus

01/19/2012 09:53:43 AM

Jelena Dokic has continued the local contingent's rotten run at the Australian Open on Thursday after she was comprehensively picked apart by No.9 seed Marion Bartoli in their second-round clash on Rod Laver Arena.

Dokic was swept aside in 72 minutes 6-3 6-2 and joined compatriots James Duckworth and Matthew Ebden as other Melbourne Park fourth-day casualties.

The former world No.4 was no match for Bartoli and the result meant Dokic has now failed to get past the second round of the Australian Open since her dream run to the quarter-finals in 2009.

The two women held serve for the first three matches of the match before France's Bartoli made the first move by breaking Dokic in the fourth game.

Dokic responded immediately by breaking back to make it 3-2 but when trailing 30-40 in the eighth game, the Australian double-faulted to hand Bartoli the ascendancy and the Frenchwoman clinched the first set in the very next game.

The Australian got off to the worst possible start in the second set when she was broken in the first game and after Bartoli saved two break points in the sixth game she broke Dokic again to take a 5-2 second-set lead and booked her spot in the third round soon after where she will face China's Jie Zheng.

Dokic almost doubled Bartoli's unforced error tally (28-15) and unsurprisingly the Frenchwoman also comfortably won the point count (61-42).

And the news wasn't much better for Ebden who self-imploded on Margaret Court Arena after squandering a two-set lead to No.24 seed Kei Nishikori to be beaten in five and bow out of the Australian Open in spectacular fashion.

Ebden looked set to progress to the third round after conceding only four games in the opening two sets.

But after losing the third set, Ebden won just two more games in the final two sets to lose 3-6 1-6 6-4 6-1 6-1 in three hours.

Nishikori will now face either No.12 seed Gilles Simon or Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the round of 32.

Wildcard Ebden, competing in his first Grand Slam event, could hardly put a foot wrong in the first two sets as he made just nine unforced errors compared to Nishikori's 27.

But after losing the third set to the revitalised Japanese world No.26, few would have envisaged what happened next as Ebden proceeded to capitulate, committing 29 unforced errors to Nishikori's 14 and the Australian could only manage 34 points in the final two sets while his opponent helped himself to 57 on the way to his remarkable win.

Earlier, Duckworth went down fighting in his Grand Slam debut campaign in four sets to men's No.9 seed Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.

Duckworth, who turns 20 on Saturday, put up an excellent fight in just his fifth Tour match, taking the first set before succumbing to the experienced Serb 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in a match which lasted three hours and 11 minutes.

Tipsarevic, playing in his seventh Australian Open campaign, was forced to call on some of his best tennis, with 42 winners to just 31 unforced errors as he booked just his second third-round appearance at the Australian Open.

A clash with No.17 seed Richard Gasquet looks a little more straight forward than Tipsarevic's last third round appearance here when he was beaten in a five-set epic by Roger Federer in 2008.

While Duckworth would have been disappointed to give up his chance at a third round Grand Slam match, he can feel he has made giant strides in the past month having secured his first two wins at Tour level.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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