Kimberly Birrell is one win away from a main draw appearance at the Australian Open. (Photo: Tennis Australia)
A pair of Australian wildcards, playing in their first ever ATP-proper doubles tournament, caused an enormous upset on Wednesday, defeating the top seeds of the Adelaide International. Also in Adelaide, local player Thanasi Kokkinakis came from behind to defeat second seed John Isner in a sapping encounter.
Meanwhile, Jordan Thompson was unable to get over the line in Sydney as Aleksandar Vukic moved into the Adelaide International quarter-final.
Adelaide International 2 (ATP)
Following an excellent win last night, Thanasi Kokkinakis played American second seed John Isner.
The American, known universally as the biggest server in the world, took the first set in a tiebreaker.
The second set also reached a tiebreaker, with Kokkinakis taking his first points off Isner’s second serve for the entire set with the score locked at 6-6. This would ultimately lead the South Australian to serve on set-point, winning it and letting out a huge roar.
The match saw zero breaks of serve as the third set reached a decisive tiebreaker.
Kokkinakis secured a mini-break with the first point of the third set tiebreaker and rallied to take the match, 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-6(4).
The Adelaide local has played terrific tennis across the two ATP events in his home city during the past fortnight and will face fellow Australian Aleksandar Vukic for a spot in the semi-final.
Vukic wiped higher-ranked opponent Steve Johnson off the court in a great display of tennis, 6-4 7-5.
Aussie pairing Aaron Addison and Thomas Fancutt pulled off the upset of the summer so far. Playing against the top seeds, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, the Australian wildcards lost a first set tiebreaker before squeezing home in the final two sets to progress to the quarter-final, 6-7(4) 6-4 (10-8).
Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith fought valiantly but lost to third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 7-6(2) 7-6(3).
Sydney Tennis Classic (WTA)
Ajla Tomljanovic exited the Sydney Tennis Classic after crumbling to fifth seed Spaniard Paula Badosa, 6-3 6-4.
Astra Sharma and Dutch partner Arantxa Rus will look to take it to Japanese second seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara. Originally scheduled for Wednesday evening, the match will now be played on Thursday afternoon.
Sydney Tennis Classic (ATP)
After Tuesday’s excellent win, Jordan Thompson was bounced out of the tournament by big-serving American Reilly Opelka.
The Australian was frustrated throughout the match, which led to a full racquet smash early in the second set. The fourth seed had control of the full match, defeating Thompson 6-3 6-2.
In the doubles, John Peers and Serbian partner Filip Polasek will take to the court tomorrow against Marcus Daniell and Denis Kudla for a quarter-final spot. Alexei Popyrin and Matt Reid will also play, hosting eighth seeds Andrey Gobulev and Franko Skugor. Both matches were originally scheduled for Wednesday but moved due to inclement weather.
Adelaide International 2 (WTA)
Later tonight, Maddison Inglis will tackle fourth seed Slovakian Tamara Zidansek on centre court at Memorial Drive. The winner will face American Lauren David in the quarter-final. Inglis is the only Australian woman in action in Adelaide today.
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Australian Open qualifying
Kimberly Birrell led the Aussie charge at Australian Open qualifying on Wednesday. The 23-year-old bundled out Ekaterine Gorgodze in a brilliant display of tennis, 6-2 6-1. Birrell will face 11th-seed Harriet Dart on Friday, with the winner to go straight through to the main draw of the Australian Open.
After yesterday’s remarkable win, 16-year-old Taylah Preston was sadly bundled out in straight sets, 6-0 6-0.
Marc Polmans took the first set over Portugal’s Joao Sousa. The Portuguese 17th seed then controlled the match, winning 3-6 6-0 6-4.
Max Purcell, Philip Sekulic, and Dane Sweeny were all bundled out in straight sets.
Purcell was furious in his 7-6(2) 7-6(8) loss, getting aced on the final point of the match and taking a photo of the ball-mark on the court, believing it had landed out despite hawk-eye suggesting otherwise.
Jason Kubler fought hard but lost a three-set encounter with the higher-ranked Tomas Etcheverry.
Rinky Hijikata was down a set before unfortunately retiring hurt.
Australian Open
Top-ranked Australian men’s player Alex de Minaur and world No. 1 Ash Barty hit the practice courts at Melbourne Park today ahead of the Australian Open.
The pair will be looking to go deep in the tournament during the next fortnight.
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