Donna Vekic's recent poor form continues after the Croatian tennis star was ousted by a qualifier in her opener at the WTA 500 tournament in Merida.
After a first-round bye, the No. 5seed was in action on Wednesday, losing 1-6 2-6 to world No. 103 Maya Joint.
Throughout the entire match, the 18-year-old dictated play and controlled everything, which ultimately resulted in a dominant win.
In the Merida round-of-16, the rising Australian star int will play against Elina Avanesyan, who defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Meanwhile, Vekic picked up her fourth consecutive defeat and probably won't enter Indian Wells high on confidence.
How Joint beat Vekic?
The qualifier made a lightning start to the match, claiming back-to-back breaks to quickly open a very comfortable 5-0 lead.
In the sixth game, the No. 5seed finally managed to hold to on to one of her service games and get on the board.
However, it didn't change much since Joint routinely closed out the first set in the following game.
Early in the second set, Vekic had her first break point in the second game - but failed to convert.
And she paid the price for that as the world No. 103 then registered back-to-back breaks to open a 5-1 lead before serving out for the match in the eighth game.
During the match, Joint created 15 break point opportunities and converted four.
On the other side, Vekic didn't realize any of her two break point chances.
It was the first meeting between the two.
