Ajla Tomljanovic will turn her attention to trying to launch another deep run at Wimbledon after letting a match-winning lead slip away in a tough first-round defeat at Roland-Garros.
Tomljanovic, who needed a wild card to make the main draw after a torrid run of setbacks over the past two years, won the first set against Australian Open semifinalist and No. 30 seed Dayana Yastremska, and then got a triple break point before the match took a vicious turn.
Ajla Tomljanovic started strongly, winning the first set against 30th seed Dayana Yastremska.Credit:
The Ukrainian hitter escaped that dire situation before overcoming Tomljanovic 40-0 in the seventh game of the second set on her way to a roller-coaster 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Another Australian, Aleks Vukic, followed Tomljanovic out of the tournament soon after, losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to China's Zhizhen Zhang. Jordan Thompson is the only other Australian in action on the opening day, taking on Germany's Maximilian Marterer.
Eight other Australians, led by 11th seed Alex de Minaur, will begin their Roland-Garros campaign over the next two days. Thanasi Kokkinakis was the only Australian to get past the second round last year and drew compatriot Alexei Popyrin in his first match of 2024.
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It was not the first time Yastremska had a mid-match reversal of fortune against Tomljanovic, having won 5-2 in the final set to beat the Australian in the Thailand Open final five years ago.
Yastremska, whose 32 winners doubled Tomljanovic's tally, had never won a match at the French Open in four previous attempts, but a seven-game 2-3 run in the second set saw her take the definitely control.
Tomljanovic will be disappointed not to have capitalised, especially after holding three consecutive break points in the fourth game of the second set following two Yastremska double faults, but showed signs of tiring as her opponent aggressively worked her way out of trouble.
