British No. 3 Sonay Kartal suffered a straight-sets defeat against Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the first round at the Australian Open on Sunday.
The 23-year-old, competing in the main draw at an overseas major for the first time, was beaten 6-1, 7 (7)-6 as the Spaniard dominated in her Australian Open debut.
After taking the first game of the match, Kartal could do little to slow Bouzas Maneiro down as her opponent took the next nine in quick succession.
In the second set, Kartal fought hard to prolong her Australian Open campaign and profited off of Bouzas Maneiro’s nerves. The Brit saved both match and game points but was bettered 5-7 in the tie break to put a premature ending to her first overseas Grand Slam.
Kartal was the only Briton of the seven singles representatives to play on the opening day in Melbourne.