Another Open, another exit for Stosur

DEATH, taxes and Samantha Stosur failing to perform at her home slam.

The Queenslander’s lamentable record at Melbourne Park continued last night with a first-round loss to rising Ukrainian star Dayana Yastremska — her fourth-straight defeat in the Australian Open’s opening round.

Stosur, the only Australian woman to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980, lost to the 18-year-old 7-5, 6-2 in 78 minutes. The 34year-old’s latest defeat was typically disappointing, collapsing from an early break to lose 12 of the next 15 games.

She came out swinging, overcoming her opponent with powerful strokes to lead 4-1, much to the delight of the Melbourne Arena crowd. Then it unravelled.

It was also a tale of woes for Daria Gavrilova who made her earliest Australian Open exit in four years after being bounced out in the opening round by Tamara Zidansek from Slovenia.

The feisty Gavrilova had reached the last 16 at Melbourne Park in 2016 and 2017 but bowed out 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 44 minutes.

Luckless Ajla Tomljanovic created her own small but unwanted piece of tennis history as the first Australian to bow out of a grand slam tournament in a super-tiebreaker.

The world No.47 dropped serve only once in her opening-round clash with Britain’s Johanna Konta but still found herself on the wrong end of a 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 7-6 (10-7) scoreline in a marathon lasting two hours and 51 minutes.