Rybakina teaches teenager harsh lesson at Australian Open

MELBOURNE: Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina dished out a harsh tennis lesson to teenager Emerson Jones on Tuesday, racing into the Australian Open second round 6-1, 6-1.

“She has a great future and many more years on tour, but I am pretty happy with my performance,” said Rybakina, who lost in the final to Aryna Sabalenka two years ago. Jones, who studies at the National Tennis Academy in Queensland, is highly rated in Australia and tipped to follow in the footsteps of former Melbourne Park champion Ash Barty.

At 5-1 down, she showed a glimpse of her talent when she engineered three break points, only for Rybakina to fire down four consecutive aces and a forehand winner to bully her way to the first set. Rybakina admitted that she had had to do her homework on Jones.