The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Opinion

Aussie women qualifiers’ report card from a special Australian Open

Autoplay in... 6 (Cancel)
Up Next No more videos! Playlist is empty -
Replay
Cancel
Next
Roar Guru
30th January, 2022
0

The field for the women’s qualifying singles almost mirrored the men’s.

Once again there were 14 Australians in the field, but this time only five had made it based on their ranking, while nine had relied on securing a wildcard from Tennis Australia.

One other difference applied: Australia’s Arina Rodionova – because of her rank of 152 – was seeded No. 30 in the qualifying tournament, the only Aussie seed.

A seeding can be a help because it means you will not meet another seed in the first round. By definition your opponent will be ranked lower than you.

This did not turn out to be a big advantage for Arina, as her opponent was ranked only 23 positions lower. She did manage to get past 23-year-old Swiss Susan Bandecchi, but she was eventually beaten in Round 2 by another 23-year-old, Mirjam Bjorklund of Sweden, in three sets.

Sports opinion delivered daily 

   

Lizette Cabrera was the only other Aussie who had a ranking advantage and was therefore expected to win. This she duly did, beating Sachia Vickery of the USA in three sets.

Advertisement

However, she too fell at the second hurdle, losing to the Netherlands’ Richel Hogenkamp, who was ranked even lower than her first-round opponent.

Close examination, however, discloses that Richel is now 29 years old and has experience in the main draws of all four grand slams, having made it through to Round 2 in three of them, so the loss could be considered honourable, particularly as her wildcard entry into the women’s doubles with Priscilla Hon saw them win Round 1.

In most cases the other Australians were pitted against significantly lower ranked players, so it was pleasing to see that at the completion of Round 1 seven of the 14 players had made it through to the second stage.

These included 16-year-old Taylah Preston, who prior to the tournament did not have a ranking but managed to beat 185th-ranked Kurumi Nara of Japan. Taylah, who now has a ranking of 1181, crashed back to earth in Round 2, however, with a double-doughnut display against South Korea’s Jang Su-jeong, who made it through the qualifiers.

Alexandra Bozovic and Catherine Aulia were both first-round losers to seeded players.

By the end of Round 2 six of the seven remaining Aussies had been eliminated and, as was the case in the men’s draw, one solitary player was left to continue the battle.

Advertisement

In the men it was Matthew Ebden who had success in the doubles tournaments; in the women’s singles qualifying tournament it was 740th-ranked Kimberly Birrell.

After beating Russia’s Marina Melnikova, ranked 504 places above her, in Round 1 she took on and beat Ekaterine Gorgodze, ranked in the low 100s and the 22nd seed for the tournament, before succumbing to 11th seed (also ranked in the low 100s) Harriet Dart of the United Kingdom.

It was an impressive tournament by Birrell, whose ranking has now risen to 669, which will hopefully give her confidence for the tennis tournaments ahead.

The outstanding success of Jaimee Fourlis in the mixed doubles, where she and Jason Kubler made it to the big stage before losing in the final, and the smatterings of success in other events at the Australian Open, including the junior events, suggest that Australian tennis is in fairly good shape and that Ashl Barty will not be the only Aussie we continue to follow with interest in 2022.

close