sets, and was then defeated by eventual semifinalist Záhlavová-Strýcová, again in three sets. She won her first singles qualifying match at the Sydney International, but lost her second to defending doubles champion Tímea Babos in straight sets. Reunited with Arantxa Parra Santonja in the doubles, the partnership went out in the first round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza, losing in straight sets in under an hour. The following week saw the start of the first Grand Slam event of the year, the Australian Open. Drawn against 24th seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the first round, she lost 5–7, 0–6. Reunited with Puig in the doubles, they were drawn against 13th seeds Krajicek and Záhlavová-Strýcová, again losing, by 7–6, 6–7, 3–6. Her run at this tournament had exactly the same consequences for Erakovic as her experience in Washington the year before – she was unable to compete in the qualifying rounds of the next tournament, the Dubai Championships. She was, however, able to sign up for doubles, partnered this time with Heather Watson. They defeated the Chan sisters in the first round 13–11 in a super tie-break. In the second round they faced seventh seeds Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik. Watson dropped both her service games in the first set, and they each dropped one in the second set. Despite saving three match points on Srebotnik's serve at 2–5 in the second set, and winning the game, Erakovic and Watson were unable to prevent Garcia from serving out her last game to love to win the match 6–3, 6–4. Erakovic stayed in the Persian Gulf to compete the following week's Premier tournament in Doha, but retired due to a viral illness in her first singles qualifying match, when down 3–6, 0–3 against Tímea Babos. It was not a memorable end to her 500th singles match on the professional tour. The illness may have been more severe than Erakovic first thought, as several other players also pulled out of the tournament with the same complaint. Luckily her first doubles match, with new partner Gabriela Dabrowski, was not scheduled until two days later, and they beat the Ukrainian pair of Yuliya Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk 10–8 in the super tie-break. They didn't fare so well in the second round (quarterfinal), when beaten 6–3, 6–2 by Chan Hao-ching and Casey Dellacqua, managing to win only five service points in the second set. Erakovic missed