By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pakenham’s Destanee Aiava has gone down in the second round of Australian Open qualifying.
The 22-year-old was awarded a wildcard to the qualifying tournament after some strong results last year.
She started qualifying on the right foot, with a 6-3 6-3 win over world number 180 Ipek Oz.
She won 85 per cent of her points on first serve and broke the Tunisian three times, but was unable to back it up against Arianne Hartono.
Aiava went down 6-3 3-6 6-7 in heartbreaking fashion, losing the deciding set in a tiebreaker after again being quite strong on serve.
The right-hander has played in the main draw four times since 2017 but is still searching for her maiden Australian Open win.
Hartono went on to win her next match which qualified her for the main draw.
