(Refiles to ‘International’ in first paragraph)
ADELAIDE (Reuters) – Second seed Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock exit at the Adelaide International on Wednesday after a 7-6(6) 6-1 defeat to world number 100 Kaja Juvan of Slovenia in the second round.
World number two Sabalenka, a semi-finalist at last year’s Wimbledon and U.S. Open, struggled with her serve, racking up 18 double faults, and committed 49 unforced errors in the shock loss to the 21-year-old at the Australian Open warm-up event.
Juvan won a tight first set after trailing 2-0 and saved a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak, before racing ahead 3-0 in the second to storm to victory in an hour and a half.
“I really enjoyed the first set. I love when matches get tight, when it’s competitive and when it’s a really tight fight,” Juvan said after sealing her place in the quarter-finals.
“I was feeling a little bit sorry at some points because I … knew she’s not doing the best with the serve and we all know how that feels at one point.
“I know she can do it better, but on the other hand, I was just saying to myself, ‘Focus. Stay here until the end. It can turn at any point.’ I was really just trying to stay there until the very end and really fight.”
World number one Ash Barty will face American Coco Gauff later on Wednesday while Greece’s Maria Sakkari takes on Shelby Rogers in the second round.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
