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Opinion
I applauded in my previous article the colour and excitement that the current 32 qualifiers will bring to the Australian Open when it commences on 8 February.
The list includes players who range in age from 17 (Carlos Alcaraz) to 35 (Sergiy Stakhovsky), range in past performance levels from a grand slam finalist (Sara Errani, 2012 French Open) to seven grand slam debutantes, and from those who are currently achieving their best ranking ever (Aslan Karatsev, Greet Minnen, Francesca Jones and Mayar Sherif) to those who are more than 150 places adrift from their peak (Stakhovsky, Viktor Troicki, Bernard Tomic and Rebecca Marino, a massive 274 places below her 11 July 2011 ranking of 38).
Another important aspect of the qualifying tournament is the geographical diversity that proves that tennis really is the world game. In both the men’s and the women’s 16 qualifiers, 13 different countries are represented, and the players come from 20 different countries, with only Russia successful in having four players make it through the tournament (two men and two women).
Neither of the Russian men despite their age (Roman Safiullin is 23 and Aslan Karatsev is 27) have made it into a grand slam main draw before, and one of the women (Ludmilla Samsonova) has never advanced beyond the first round in a grand slam despite the 2021 Australian Open being her fifth attempt.
The one successful exception is Valeria Savinykh, who in her only chance so far made it through to the Round of 32 in the 2013 Australian Open.
Unlike the men’s draw, where only three of the seeded players eventually made the cut, eight of the 16 successful female qualifiers were seeded. This included the No. 1 seed, Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan, whose world ranking of 104 would have had her on the cusp of direct entry into the main tournament in any event.
In fact the lowest-seeded player (No. 21) to make it through the qualifiers, Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria had a WTA world ranking of 136, highlighting how closely the seedings followed the world rankings and how tight the competition for a spot on the courts at Melbourne Park was.
Of the women, only three were ranked above 200, and this included two of the teenagers, Clara Burel (France) and Francesca Jones (Great Britain), both up-and-comers and the aforementioned Rebecca Marino, whose ranking was 312.
At first glance the results achieved by the Australian women in the qualifying event appear poor, with only two of the eight contenders (25 per cent) making it through to the second round and none making it through to Round 3.
This is in sharp contrast to the men’s draw, where 75 per cent made Round 2 and three went on to Round 3, with Bernard Tomic qualifying by beating fellow Aussie John-Patrick Smith. However, a closer examination shows that five of the six round losses were to seeded players and, ironically, the most disappointing result was Seone Mendez’s capitulation to Belgium’s Marie Beniot, ranked 237 in the world, in which she won only two games.
Bernie’s back. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Abbie Myers continued her run of first-round grand slam qualifying losses, this time to well-credentialed crowd favourite Eugenie Bouchard, who has one final and two semi-finals in grand slam tennis under her belt.
Storm Sanders took the No. 1 seed and eventual qualifier Kaja Juvan to a tie breaker in the first set, and Alexandra Bozovic gave No. 3 seed and eventual qualifier Greet Minnen a contestant before losing 6-3, 6-4 to the 110th-ranked Belgian.
Australia’s two first-round winners, Ellen Perez and the unranked Olivia Gadecki, both lost in the second round but impressed with their performances in the tournament. Godecki’s second-round opponent, 18-year-old American Whitney Osuigwe, made it through to the main draw at the Australian Open.
Ivana Popovic took 30th-seeded Lesia Tsurenko, who made the final round, to three sets in their encounter, and the unranked Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz performed well enough against the 24th seed to suggest the future of Australian tennis is in good hands.
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