Filipino-Australian Lizette Cabrera and partner Maddison Inglis exited the 2021 Australian Open after a 2nd round loss in the doubles tournament on Friday, February 12 at Court 8 in Melbourne Park.

Wild cards Cabrera and Inglis faltered to event No. 7 seed Japanese pair Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-0, to end their campaign.

Despite another early exit, Cabrera still managed to hit a milestone with her first 2nd round appearance in a Grand Slam.

In the opening frame, the home bets got off to a good start, going up 5-2 before the Japanese tandem found their footing and managed to extend the set by equalizing at 5-5.

The Australians, who had hoped to bank on their homecourt edge, converted back-to-back games to gain the 1st set advantage.

But the neck-and-neck action continued in the 2nd set as both pairs held their serves.

When Cabrera and Inglis were a game away from stealing the match, the Japanese pair showed signs of life with 4 straight winners to break serve and go up 6-5.

Still determined to end it in a sweep, the Australians countered to bring the set to a tie break but they yielded to the seeded duo, who dragged the match to a deciding set.

With momentum on their side, the Japanese pair left the Australians with no answers, completely shutting them out to take the match and advance to the 3rd round.

Cabrera was booted out of the singles tournament last Monday, February 8 when world No. 2 Simona Halep overpowered her on opening day.

A full-blooded Filipino who grew up in Australia, Cabrera started playing tennis at the age of 4, and was exposed to a variety of sports such as golf and inter-school sports, but decided to focus on tennis at the age of 9.

In order to fund her tennis career, her parents Ronnie from Pampanga and Dolly from Basilan – who moved to Australia in their early 20s – worked in a slaughterhouse.

Now, the Filipino-Australian is based in Brisbane for her tennis career and managed to practice with world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and other top Australian tennis players like Inglis, Kim Birrell and Priscilla Hon. – Rappler.com