15 January,2025 08:19 AM IST | Melbourne | AFP
Elena Rybakina
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina dished out a harsh tennis lesson to teenager Emerson Jones on Tuesday, racing into the Australian Open second round 6-1, 6-1.
The sixth seed from Kazakhstan demonstrated her pedigree as she manoeuvred the 16-year-old World Jr. No.1 from Australia to all parts of Margaret
Court Arena.
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Rybakina served 11 aces and lashed 26 winners as she took just 53 minutes to bring Jones' first Grand Slam appearance to an abrupt end.
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"She has a great future and many more years on tour, but I am pretty happy with my performance," said Rybakina.
Jones is highly rated in Australia and is tipped to follow in the footsteps of former Melbourne Park champion Ash Barty.
At 5-1 down, she showed a glimpse of her talent when she engineered three break points, only for Rybakina to fire down four consecutive aces and a forehand winner to bully her way to the first set.
Rybakina admitted that she had had to do her homework on Jones. "I watched her matches," she said. "It took me a couple of games to get used to how she hits the ball."
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