Update 4:30 pm. While Jelena Dokic was sick before she stepped on Pat Rafter Arena on Wednesday, her Australian Open campaign looked in far worse shape 46 minutes later.
A renowned fighter, Dokic revealed she may have been better off retiring in an embarrassing 6-0 6-1 annihilation by German Andrea Petkovic at the Brisbane International.
But she staunchly denied her confidence and Open hopes suffered a disastrous blow during a painful 24 hours for Australian women in the tournament’s second round.
The 26-year-old followed top seed Samantha Stosur and fellow wildcard Sally Peers out the back door, handing Petkovic an intriguing quarter-final clash with Melbourne’s ‘Stosur slayer’ Jarmila Groth.
Dokic, hoping to repeat her 2009 giant-killing run at Melbourne Park later this month, just could not cope with a stomach virus as the German world No.32 wiped her off the court.
She had overcome the virus for a shaky straight sets win over Russian qualifier Anastasia Pivovarova on Monday night but the former world No.4 said it left her with “nothing to give”.
“I wasn’t in the match at all,” Dokic admitted. “I’ve been sick for a couple of days and I think it’s taken its toll.
“I went to a doctor and we think it’s a stomach virus I’ve had for two days.
“I don’t like to make excuses for anything – I never do – but when you’re playing a top-35 player you’ve got to have everything to give.
“I try to really play through no matter how I’m feeling, I don’t want to go off the court and retire.
“The same was today [but] sometimes in these situations it is better to stop.”
In a continuation of some of her troubles against Pivovarova, Dokic never held her serve against the crafty German and handed over a huge number of free points through unforced errors.
Petkovic, who was previously guided by Dokic’s new coach Glenn Schaap, took the first set in just 17 minutes, icing it with an ace.
Dokic lost 10 straight games to be 4-0 down in the second set before breaking the German, only to give the break straight back.
Dokic said she would deal heavily with the loss “mentally” and strongly believed she would be fit and back on track for her home-town return at the Sydney International, starting Sunday.
“It is not a big deal,” she said. “I’ll move on from this and take all the best things I did good this week and work on the things that are still my weaknesses.
“I take a lot of confidence from the first match.”
Petkovic has a 1-all record against hard-hitting world No.42 Groth and is braced for a huge challenge on Thursday.
“She’s a very dangerous player,” the 23-year-old said. “She can just hit her opponents off the court if she has a great day.”