A single statistic, the opposite of a perfect 10, reflected a tale of disappointment for Shellharbour’s Ellen Perez on Thursday.
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Perez and teammate Arina Rodionova, wildcards in the Australian Open women’s doubles tournament, bowed out in straight sets to Chiese Taipei sister Hao-Ching and Latisha Chan.
But the opportunities were there, as Perez and Rodionova had 10 break point opportunities on the Chan duo’s serve, but failed to convert one of them.
As a result, the Chans progressed to the second round 6-3, 7-5 on court 12.
The Chan sisters are highly-credentialed doubles players, with Latisha a doubles champion at the US Open, when she teamed up with Martina Hingis in 2017 and became world No.1.
Hao-Ching reached the doubles final at Wimbledon in 2017 with Monica Niculescu, and the US Open mixed doubles with Michael Venus.
The Chans had 73 per cent of first serves in, compares to 62 and converted 12 more points as a result.
They also capitalised on both break point chances, as Perez and Rodionova continued to put pressure on the Chan service game without success.
The loss came after Perez went down 6-4, 6-0 to China’s 24-year-old world No.65 Yafan Wang in round one of the singles competition.
It was her second appearance at a major, after also being in the main draw at the 2016 US Open.
But it remains a big stride for Perez’s career on the world tour, collecting a $75,000 pay cheque for the singles effort alone to help launch her push towards a top 100 ranking this year.
Perez started the new year with a career-high ranking of 175 in the singles and 88th in the doubles.
Perez had a run of Australian circuit finals appearances last year, including in Bendigo, Toowoomba, Brisbane and Darwin.
In Darwin, Perez lost the decider to Kimberley Birrell, who is in the third round against No.2 seed Angelique Kerber.