Israelis bow out at Aus Open

ISRAEL’S three top players have all been dispatched from the first round of the Australian Open, in a disappointing opening day of action at the year’s first grand slam that saw Dudi Sela, Shahar Peer and Julia Glushko fail in their respective hitouts with tough opponents.

Sela looked the goods when he took the first set off Finland’s Jarko Nieminen 6-3, but was then unable to get up in a second-set tiebreak.

The 28-year-old composed himself to win another tiebreak in the third, before his opponent took full control to win the last two sets 6-3, 6-3.

Peer put in a poor performance in a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Romanian Monica Nicolescu, giving up a first-set lead and providing little resistance in the second.

Glushko fought hard against 26th-seed Lucie Safarova from Czech Republic, even leading 5-2 in the opening set on the back of several quality shots.

But the 24-year-old gave up five consecutive games to lose the set 7-5, before regaining the momentum with a 6-3 win in the second set.

However, a disappointing display in the deciding set saw Safarova overrun Glushko 6-1.

Full coverage in this week’s AJN.

ASHLEY SHENKER AT MELBOURNE PARK

Photo: Peter Haskin

Israelis bow out at Aus Open

ISRAEL'S three top players have all been dispatched from the first round of the Australian Open, in a disappointing opening day of action at the year's first grand slam that saw Dudi Sela, Shahar Peer and Julia Glushko fail in their respective hitouts with tough opponents.

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