Bernard Tomic loses opening round of qualifying for Australian Open

Hopes are high that the small Australian women’s contingent in the main draw at Melbourne Park will expand as five more players won through to the second round of qualifying on Tuesday.

Australia’s top ranked woman Kimberly Birrell and fellow 26-year-old Maddison Inglis led the way with straight sets victories to move within two wins of an Australian Open berth.

Birrell was challenged early by Japan’s Sara Saito but settled from 2-0 down in the first set as she hit 36 winners to 17 on the way to a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory.

The Queenslander closed in on her sixth Australian Open appearance, where she has twice made the second round in 2022 and 2024.

But qualification will require Birrell to win a rematch with her friend Priscilla Hon on Wednesday, after she worked over Hon in a three-set battle at the Brisbane International on December 30.

Hon, also 26, fought for nearly three hours to beat American Usue Maitane Arconada 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 on Tuesday afternoon.

Inglis, who reached the third round at Melbourne Park in 2022, produced an assured performance to beat Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot 6-3, 6-2 within 75 minutes.

Jaimee Fourlis lost a gruelling three-hour, 43-minute battle against fifth seed Sara Sorribes Tormo, but veteran Arina Rodionova advanced to the second round with a straight sets win, while Astra Sharma overcame a slow start to beat Japan’s Mai Hontama in three sets.

Taylah Preston, who won along with Destanee Aiava after their opening matches went ahead on Monday, had the tough task of beating British third seed Harriet Dart on Wednesday after she dispatched Australian wildcard Lizette Cabrera in her first-round tie.

As the evening session began, Dane Sweeny had been the only Australian male to progress through to the second round after a 7-6, 6-2 victory over France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Jason Kubler, Marc Polmans and Pavle Marinkov all succumbed to first-round losses, as did South Australian Petra Hule at the hands of her Croatian namesake Petra Martic.

Qualifying wildcard Hayden Jones, the older brother of teen sensation Emerson Jones, suffered a heartbreaking defeat in his marathon first-round clash against Denmark’s August Holmgren.

Jones fought back from a first-set defeat to force a decider, but lost in a 10-point match tie-break by the narrowest of margins to be sent packing in a 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 7-6 (10-8) loss.

He lost without his serve being broken, saving nine break points during the bout which lasted more than three hours.

Tomic dreams dashed in first-round wipe-out

If he still wants to pursue a return to the Australian Open, Bernard Tomic will need to wait another year after he was easily dispatched in his opening round qualifying match on Tuesday.

Tomic’s bid to play in his first grand slam since 2021 lasted just 61 minutes as he went down 6-3, 6-1 to Slovakian Jozef Kovalik at Melbourne Park.

His elimination came as 18 Australians hit the court following a rain affected first day of qualifying on Monday.

Tomic, the former world no. 17, had worked hard ahead of the qualifying tournament to drag his ranking back from no. 825 to 214 in little more than two years, but any signs of that effort were not present as he watched winners from his opponent sail past him on the baseline.

He played in far-flung places including India and Thailand, making a pittance in a bid to return to the elite level, but he was comprehensively beaten by the Slovakian Kovalik.

Tomic listed his coach for the tournament as his 26-year-old sister Sara Tomic, who reached a career-high ranking of 379 during her own singles career in 2016.