- Tunisian loses to Jared Donaldso in the singles
- World No. 1 also bows out early in the doubles
LONDON: Malek Jaziri will have to wait another year to improve his modest Wimbledon record after he bowed out of two events at the first hurdle.
The top men’s Arab player was beaten in straight sets in the men’s singles by Jared Donaldson on Monday and then exited the men’s doubles on Thursday, he and his partner Radu Albot losing in four sets to Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak.
The defeat to Donaldson would have hurt the most as Jaziri has been in the form of his life in singles play this year and was fancied to reach the second round of Wimbledon for only the second time in his career.
He has tasted victory over top-ten players Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic this year so beating Donaldson, the 21-year-old American, was well within Jabeur’s capability, but he struggled to get his first serve going, landing just 57 percent of his efforts in play and then only winning 65 percent of points on his first serve. He failed to win a single break point. He managed to take the first set to a tie break but then folded, losing 6-3, 6-1. Donaldson went on to lose to Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-setter in the next round.
Jaziri then hoped to pick himself up in the doubles and reach the third round for the first time, but he and Albot, his Moldovan partner, lost 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Albot could have been forgiven for having one eye on his singles tournament as he faces John Isner in the last 32.
Jaziri earned £39,000 ($51,000) in prize money for playing in the first round of the singles and shared £11,500 with Albot for playing in the doubles. He has earned nearly $3 million in career prize money.