ABU DHABI: Ons Jabeur and Naomi Osaka were eliminated from the doubles competition at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open presented by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council in straight sets by Magda Linette and Bernarda Pera.
The first-time pairing had the backing of most of the crowd inside Stadium Court at the International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City, as they faced a duo who stepped in at the last minute to replace Xinyu Wang and Saisai Zheng, who were forced to withdraw after the latter picked up a wrist injury.
While the quality of world No. 6 Jabeur and four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka was evident in spells, their opponents performed well as a partnership throughout the match and booked their place in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
It rounded off a frustrating day for Osaka, the former world No. 1, who suffered a straight-sets defeat at the hands of America’s Danielle Collins in the singles competition.
Collins produced the performance of the day to progress to the last 16, while there were also wins for Heather Watson, Cristina Bucsa, Magda Linette and Sara Sorribes Tormo at the WTA 500 event.
Collins, the 2022 Australian Open runner-up, and Osaka, a two-time champion at both the US Open and Australian Open, went head-to-head on Stadium Court. Both players barely dropped a point in their service games early on and the American, at one stage, fired three consecutive aces.
After breaking Osaka’s serve, it was Collins who eventually edged the first set 7-5, and while her performance levels intensified during the second, Osaka struggled to regain rhythm in her play.
Collins dominated the second set, breaking Osaka’s serve on three occasions to secure an impressive 7-5, 6-0 victory and set up a last-16 clash with world No. 5 Elena Rybakina later this week.
Watson, meanwhile, maintained her impressive form in the tournament by following two qualifying wins with another success over French Open semifinalist Kudermetova to seal her place in the next round.
The Brit, 31, produced two solid performances in qualifying at the weekend and picked up where she left off, sustaining her impressive form throughout the first set, which she won 6-3.
Kudermetova responded well in the second and, at one point, looked on course to take it to a third set, but Watson’s quality rose to the fore late on with the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion eventually progressing 6-3, 7-5.
