Australian Open Qualifiers (R128) - Jan 19- Feb 1 Season I
Australian Open
Qualifiers (R128) - Melbourne
Top Half
Section One
Section Two
Section Three
Section Four
Bottom Half
Section Five
Section Six
Section Seven
Section Eight
In section one of the draw,
Caresh Mahboob caused the big upset of the first round of qualifying with a straight sets win over top seed
Mikel Fosdike of France. Fosdike looked off his game against the young CWLand representative and paid for it dearly as Mahboob romped home to a
6-3 7-5 victory. In the same section,
Brett Read was not so lucky as he received a thorough smashing at the hands of
Morton Blundell of the Bahamas. Blundell was too classy for the 28-year old and ended his Open campaign before it really began with a
6-4 6-3 win.
Ryan Fredericks managed to come back from a set down against Swiss 24-year old
Alex Karlen to advance to the round of 64. The pair were evenly matched in the opening set before Karlen took it in a tiebreaker, but "Ranga" found his touch and waltzed home to an emphatic
6(3)-7 6-2 6-4 win.
In the second section,
Jamee Hancianu was disappointing in his three set loss to Serbia's
Savo Petkoviä. Hancianu surprised all by making it to the second round of the Brisbane International where he narrowly lost to Australian
David Champion, but the 22-year old Serb was a good match for the Romanian-born youngster. Hancianu had a fantastic opportunity to take the match after winning the second set 7-5 - the only thing stopping from the match finishing there was the fact he blew two set points in the first tiebreaker. He dropped a game on service early in the third and that was all she wrote for Hancianu as he lost
6(6)-7 7-5 4-6.
In the third section,
Randy Smeltz also advanced to a second round showdown with
Henrik Henrikkson of Sweden after a come-from-behind victory over nineteenth seed
Scott Whitehouse. Whitehouse looked comfortable in the opening set with a 6-3 win, but Smeltz made a stunning comeback of the course of the next two sets to seal the match
3-6 6-4 7-5 in emphatic fashion. In an all CWLand showdown,
Hamish McSporran proved too good for
Suryakant Singh in an odd match of conflicting momentum. McSporran took the first set 6-3 but looked as if he'd fall apart at the seams as Singh raced back into the match by taking the second set 6-1. But somehow Singh took little to no momentum into the decider, being smashed 6-0 and finding himself knocked out of the tournament.
In section four,
Jefferson Drake also got off to a winning start by overcoming
Shaun Lesley of South Africa in a hard-fought slog. The three set thriller won't put him in the best of fitness for his clash against tenth seed
Sam Cunningham despite a dominant opening set. Drake claimed the opener 6-2 before losing the second in slightly more competitive fashion than Lesley managed to drop the first. It took 45 minutes for a long third set to be decided 7-5 to hand Drake a pass into a second round showdown with the Kiwi Cunningham.
Despite winning the second set of his section five match,
Andy Pimpkins' lack of fitness was costly against Chile's
Patricio Sãnchez as the world number 149 took a three set victory. Sãnchez broke Pimpkins early in the first set and held his lead to claim it 6-4, before Pimpkins rallied to wipe Sãnchez off the court in the second. But the CWLander was still breathing heavily despite relatively little running and relied solely on his serve against Sãnchez who, admittedly, had some trouble in returning many of the powerful shots. But he did manage one break of service in the fifth game to seal a
6-4 2-6 7-5 win.
Section six was slightly less successful for CWLand as only
Mat Mitchell advanced out of the three players. Mitchell was impressive against Israeli fourteenth seed
Yitkhak Eban and took the first set off the 22-year old in nearly three quarters of an hour. But it seemed like the higher ranking of Eban may prevail as he blew away Mitchell in the second set following two breaks of service. But Mitchell rallied to break once early and once late in the third to claim the match
7-5 2-6 6-2 to book a second round match with
Anothy Ficher of the US. Whilst Mitchell had some success, the same could not be said for
Billy Spleen and
Jean-Paul Valley as the both suffered first round exits. Spleen was never really in the hunt against China's
Kim Gai as he bowed out in straight sets, but Valley managed to take Puerto Rican
Brendan Tito to three sets before exiting
3-6 6-3 3-6 in a mathematician's dream.
Rob "The Lob" Bowenburg also caused an impressive upset for the Isle of CWLand as he upstaged
David Lebègue of France in three sets. The sixth seeded Lebègue looked in ordinary touch early and, despite breaking the serve of Bowenburg in the first game, soon dropped serve twice in a row and conceded to first set 4-6. But the sixth seed quickly ran out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and, despite holding serve for a consolation two games, Bowenburg seemed intent on conceding the set and storing his energy. The tactic worked off as he traded solid service games with the sixth seed in the third set and prevailed in a tense tiebreaker
6-4 2-6 7-6(9).
Rock Daniels also had a much-needed victory with a straight sets thumping of Portugal's
Ricardo Couto. Couto couldn't break the serve of the steady CWLander and paid for it dearly in a
3-6 3-6 loss. Another CWLander to advance here was
Sven Oxenstierna who continued his impressive touch with a straight sets thumping of
Robert Franklin. The 26-year old journeyman couldn't match it with "The Ox" and soon capitulated in a pair of 4-6 sets.
CWLand cult figure
Heath Davis had an enjoyable come-from-behind victory over
Yan Zin Hlet of Myanmar. The sixteenth seed could have easily seen a different result on any other day such was the close nature of the match, but Davis was eventually the more solid looking of the two as he broke very late in the first set to take it 7-5. But the slightly built sixteenth seed hit back at Davis to break in the second game of the second set - a break he would hold for a 6-4 win. It seemed only fitting that the match went to a deciding tiebreaker, and it was the larger and stronger Davis who prevailed against the five foot eight inch Burmese veteran - advancing
7-5 4-6 7-6(6). Elsewhere,
Spas Delev completed his first professional victory as he took a three set win over Ireland's
Eoin O'Malley. The Irishman managed to win the second set 6-0, but his brief show of form wasn't able to make up for two poor sets as he lost
2-6 6-0 3-6.
Seeds Out: 1-Mikel Fosdike (FRA); 4-Michael De Kinsele (ITA); 6-David Lebègue (FRA); 9-Matthew Oertel (RSA); 14-Yitkhak Eban (ISR); 15-Ivan Genov (BUL); 16-Yan Zin Hlet (MYA); 18-Yevgeny Pushkov (RUS); 21-Max Eisenhauer (GER); 24-Luis Nadal (POR); 26-Miguel Sanchez (MEX); 30-Ali Irmak (TUR)