Australian Gibson pays heavy price for unforced errors

John Salvado |

Talia Gibson has missed a golden chance to advance to the third round at Melbourne Park.
Talia Gibson has missed a golden chance to advance to the third round at Melbourne Park.

Talia Gibson has let slip a golden opportunity to advance to the third round of a grand slam for the first time, with the young Australian wildcard falling to Diana Shnaider at Melbourne Park.

Gibson had three match points in the 10th game of the second set of Wednesday’s AO second-round encounter but failed to convert any of them, with Shnaider grabbing the lifeline and going on to win 3-6 7-5 6-3 in two hours 13 minutes.

The free-swinging West Australian did shade the outright winners count 39-24.

But a more telling statistic was the 49 unforced errors committed by the 21-year-old, compared to just 24 from the more composed and match-hardened Russian.

Diana Shnaider.
Diana Shnaider proved too steady for Aussie hope Talia Gibson. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

“(Gibson) played amazing and honestly it was very hard to believe that I was able to pull this out and win the match,” said Shnaider, who will play No.21 seed Elina Svitolina from Ukraine in the third round on Friday.

“It was tough and I’m super happy that I was able to do that.”

Gibson had started the tournament strongly with victory over another  Russian, Anna Blinkova.

The Australian was in the box seat to advance to the third round of a major for the first time when she had the three match points at 5-4 in the second set.

But once that opportunity slipped by, No.23 seed Shnaider took control as the unforced errors continued to mount up alarmingly for Gibson.

Storm Hunter.
Storm Hunter’s AO run has come to an end in the second round. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

While Gibson was left to rue a golden chance gone begging, countrywoman Storm Hunter was clearly outclassed in her second-round clash with Hailey Baptiste.

Hunter is on the comeback trail after recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon.

The 31-year-old had done very well to advance through qualifying, before sending Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on her way in the opening round.

But Baptiste presented a much stiffer challenge, with the powerhouse American winning 6-2 6-1 in a match that lasted little more than an hour.

Hailey Baptiste.
Hailey Baptiste did a demolition job on Storm Hunter. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

Another four Australians are in singles action on Wednesday, headed by men’s No.6 seed Alex de Minaur who takes on Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic in the feature night match on Rod Lavera Arena.

The others playing in the second round on day four are marathon man Jordan Thompson, Priscilla Hon and Ajla Tomljanovic.

The total of 11 Australians to have advanced to round two in Melbourne is the equal highest this century.

AAP