Tahlia Kokkinis’s breakout run at the Australian Open Juniors has come to an end.
The 16-year-old was defeated by world No.7 Japanese player Sonobe Wakana 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday.
Kokkinis, who was handed a wildcard entry into the junior girls’ singles tournament, was unable to keep her giant-killing streak going.
After being outplayed in the first set the Queenslander broke her more fancied rival to take a 4-2 lead in the second.
But a medical time-out interrupted her flow and Sonobe struck back, breaking the home hope to level at 4-4 and then again to wrap up the victory.
It was the Greek Australian’s first Grand Slam quarterfinal and had she won, would have faced fellow Aussie Emerson Jones in the semi-final.
The two were the first Australian pair to advance to the girls’ singles quarterfinals at a major since Baijing Lin and Sara Tomic at Australian Open 2016.
After her previous match where she beat Brooke Black, Kokkinis, the world No.117 said the experience has felt amazing.
“I loved the crowd getting behind me again, and I feel like every time I have a match, I have this inner belief and knowing that this crowd’s always gonna be with me,” she said.
With AAP