Harriet Dart was sent packing in straight sets by Dalila Jakupovic in the opening round of the Monterrey Open to end the British stay in tennis tournaments around the world this week.
Jakupovic won in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to enter the second round of the competition after injuries and fitness concerns to Heather Watson and Katie Boulter had earlier meant that Dart was the only British player remaining in tennis action this week. There’s no ATP action in a rare free week in the men’s tennis calendar.
The 136th-ranked Dart had gone into the match as the second favourite against the 92nd-ranked player and struggled right from the beginning.
Having earlier made the semi-final at the Croissy-Beaubourg competition, Dart would have hoped for some confidence going into this encounter but she went down to her opponent whose last tournament was a Miami Open main draw appearance. Jakupovic had lost to Venus Williams in her first round match there.
Incidentally, Jakupovic had recently played against another British player, Johanna Konta in the Fed Cup and stretched her to the limit before going down.
Earlier, both Watson and Boulter had opted out of the Monterrey Open despite being scheduled to feature in their opening round matches. They will now hope to make a comeback and kick-start their clay court swing in the coming weeks in a bid to make it through to the main draw of the French Open.
British number one Johanna Konta will begin her clay court swing at the Rabat Open that will begin later in the month of April.
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