points they needed to win the match, 6–4, 6–4. At the Australian Open, Erakovic wasdrawn in the first round of qualifying against Michelle Larcher de Brito, and took the first set 6–0 in 26 minutes. Although her first service game had three deuces, Larcher de Brito's set was full of unforced errors. The second set was more even, with both players making more mistakes than winners, until Erakovic dropped her serve for the third time in the set, meaning that Larcher de Brito levelled the set count at one-all. The third set saw more of the same before Larcher de Brito, having held one match point at 4–5, was able to break Erakovic's serve again at 5–6 to win the match 0–6, 6–4, 7–5. With her doubles ranking having also tumbled during her time out, and despite having made the semifinals at Auckland, Erakovic was unable to find a partner ranked high enough to get her into the doubles draw for the first major of the year. Rio and Rabat Erakovic resumed in the Rio Open, where she teamed up again with Soler Espinosa in the doubles. Seeded second, they started with a comfortable 6–2, 6–2 win over Carolina Alves and Heidi El Tabakh, but the second round match was far tougher. Their opponents, Tara Moore and Conny Perrin, broke Soler Espinosa's first service game, but the seeds broke back to level at four all. Erakovic and Soler Espinosa were unable to convert either of two break points at 6–5 to take the set, and a tie-break followed. Down 2–4 at the first changeover, Moor and Perrin then picked up five consecutive points to take the set. In total contrast, Erakovic and Soler Espinosa raced through the second set to win 6–0 in just 27 minutes, a rain break halfway through doing nothing to stop their progress. The match tie-break saw them battle back from 2–5 down to lead 8–7, but Moore and Perrin were able to take the next three points to complete an upset result, 7–6, 0–6, [10–8]. In the singles, Erakovic started with an epic three-hour marathon against María Teresa Torró Flor. Breaking the Spaniard's serve twice, and holding three set points on her own serve at 5–2, 40–0, Erakovic served three consecutive double faults as she dropped that game, and her next, before Torró Flor won a 14-point game to go ahead 6–5. Erakovic held serve