Tunisian Ons Jabeur stunned 2016 semi-finalist and 12th seed Johanna Konta in straight sets on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Australian Open.
Jabeur defeated Konta 6-4, 6-2 at Melbourne Park in a match that lasted one hour and four minutes.
Jabeur had never progressed past the first round of the Australian Open before following three successive defeats in 2015, 2018 and 2019.
The Tunisian fired 19 winners and converted 4 out of 6 break points to dispatch Konta, who had played only one match since last year’s US Open in September due to a knee injury.
The 25-year-old had also defeated Konta in straight sets in the third round of the Eastbourne International in June last year.
Jabeur, currently ranked 78th in the world, will next play Caroline Garcia of France who defeated American Madison Brengle.
Meanwhile, in the men’s draw South Africa’s Lloyd Harris was knocked out of the tournament following a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Diego Schwartzman.
Harris (8) hit twice as many aces as Schwartzman and more winners (23 to 20) than the Argentine but ultimately made too many unforced errors (47 to 18) and converted only one of three break points as his challenge faded away.
The South African narrowly missed out on winning a maiden ATP title following a 6-3, 6-0 defeat to Russian Andrey Rublev on Sunday.
