Former World No.5 Sara Errani probably suffered one of the worst defeats of her career. The Italian has been suffering continuous early-round exits for a long time. Errani experienced a Qualifying R1 exit at 2022 WTA 250 Melbourne Summer Set 1, as well as at the 2022 Australian Open 2022. 

Hoping to get a better result, Sara entered the qualifying draw of the WTA 250 Abierto Akron Zapopan (Guadalajara Open) as the 6th seed. However, that turned out to be one of the worst nightmares for Errani as she was stunned in the Qualifying R1 by a 14-year old. 

 This was the third Qualifying R1 exit for Errani in the 2022 season.

Errani stunned by a 14-year-old at WTA Guadalajara

14-year-old prodigy, Czech Republic’s Brenda Fruhvirtova beat the 34-year-old Sara Errani in the Qualifying R1 of the Guadalajara Open. Brenda took 2 hours, 33 minutes to beat Errani 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 at the Estadio AKRON of the Pan American Tennis Center. 

The first set started with both the players going toe-to-toe against each other, taking the set to a tiebreaker. However, it was Brenda who took the advantage and went on to win the tiebreaker 7/2. 

Composing her game back to place, the experienced Errani took the second set quite comfortably. However, the 14-year-old didn’t seem to give as she changed the gear, raising her game to another level in the third set. She went on to clinch the third set with complete ease. 

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Post-match, Brenda Fruhvirtova said, “It was a really very difficult match, I’m happy to have won, it was very tiring, I’m exhausted, now I have to recover well for the next match.”

She will next face the 21-year-old Swiss Leonie Kung. 

The downfall of Sara Errani

The former World No.5 was one of the top players in the sport till August 2017, when the Irani tested positive in a doping test. The Italian was accused of consuming letrozole, a substance commonly used in the treatment of breast cancer. However, Irani claimed that it was being used by her mother for the treatment of breast cancer, and it was by accident that she consumed the drug. Following the test, she was given a 2-month ban. 

After serving the ban, Sara returned to the court in October 2017. But as they say, when the time is not good, even your stars can not protect you. 

In June 2018, her ban was increased from 2 to 10 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Errani, who had already served 2 months, now served an additional 8 months being out of the court. 

She made her tour comeback in February 2019 at the WTA Dubai Open. However, from February 2019 to February 2022, Sara Errani has been struggling to find her form. She has been witnessing early-round/qualifying round exits in almost all tournaments in the past 3 years.

The former World No. 5 today stands on the 108th spot in the WTA rankings.

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