Jabeur stunned by Russian teenager Andreeva in Australian Open 2nd round

Sixth seed Ons Jabeur from Tunisia was stunned by Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 in the second round of the Australian Open on Wednesday. Andreeva, 16, clinched her first win against a Top 10 player in just 54 minutes, as she sets up her next match against Diane Parry of France who downed Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova 7-5, 6-2.

"I'm really inspired by Ons, by the way she plays," said Andreeva, who is currently ranked 47th in the world. "In the first set, I showed amazing tennis. I honestly didn't expect that from myself. I just wanted to go and play on this big court for the second time, just to enjoy tennis and I did."

Later at the post-match conference, the 16-year-old revealed that she felt considerably nervous ahead of the clash.

"…I saw that she was nervous too. I know I'm not the only one who is nervous before the match. I just decided to just enjoy, because it's Rod Laver Arena, I'm playing against the person that I like. I decided just to play, and I think I played okay," said Andreeva said.

"I knew that she was going to do a lot of slices and drop shots, so since yesterday I was working on it," she added.

Jabeur, who is a three-time Grand Slam finalist, has crashed out the opening Grand Slam of the year early in the second round twice in a row, as she was undone by 24 unforced errors compared to Andreeva's 13.

Meanwhile, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark, who is returning from a four-year absence, lost 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Maria Timofeeva of Russia in her first Australian Open since the 2020 edition. She is one of three former Australian Open champions and new mothers making their Melbourne comebacks alongside Germany's Angelique Kerber and Japan's Naomi Osaka, who both went out in the first round.

"Losing now and losing then, it doesn't really change," said Wozniacki after the match. "You want to win everything. When you have the family here you want to win even more because you want to stay longer and not have to move around.

"It definitely sucks and it's disappointing. I felt like this was my match to win and I didn't. I sit here with a very disappointing feeling, because looking back, I feel like the match slid out of my hands.

"At this point, there's nothing I can do about it but playing a Grand Slam you want to keep winning," she added. 

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)