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Rising Australian Astra Sharma has been knocked out of the French Open by brilliant Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who got the "revenge" that she'd been after.
Ons Jabeur had made no bones about how she was out for "revenge" - and Astra Sharma has been the one to suffer as the Tunisian's wizardry sent the Australian spinning out of the French Open.
Perth's Sharma had won the pair's previous encounter at the Charleston Open final in April to lift her maiden WTA title and left Jabeur, who'd been the overwhelming favourite to win, bursting to prove a point.
She did so with a brilliant exhibition at Roland Garros on Thursday, the No.25 seed asserting her all-court superiority with a 6-2 6-4 victory full of terrific variety and skill in just 64 minutes.
Sharma fought back belatedly deep into the second set but it was far too little, too late.
"Too good," admitted the Western Australian, as she acknowledged the excellence of Jabeur, the trailblazer who was feted at last year's Australian Open after becoming the first Arab woman to reach a grand slam quarter-final.
Jabeur had been seeded to play Ash Barty in the third round, until the top seed's injury-hit exit against Magda Linette.
"I wish Barty a good recovery. I know she has been playing a lot of matches. I honestly wanted to play her," said Jabeur.
Sharma, who'd been tormented by Jabeur's astute use of the drop shot, only really found her stride at 5-2 down in the final set when she broke the Tunisian's previously untouchable serve.
"I started to play the right way towards the end of that second set. I just ran out of time," she said.
"Unfortunately, it took too long and she closed me out."
Wildcard Sharma, though, did take encouragement from at least having battled through one round at Roland Garros.
"It was a great opportunity. The crowd was really loud, really great. It was a special match for sure.
"But going forward, being able to play consistently at the highest levels week in and week out, to kind of assert myself on to other people in the biggest matches, biggest moments, that's what I need to do."
