Jordan Thompson is among a history-making six Australians to progress to the second round at an ATP 250 tournament in Mexico this week.
Los Cabos, Mexico, 21 February 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Six Australians have advanced to the second round in singles at an ATP 250 tournament in Mexico this week.
Third seed Alex de Minaur received an opening-round bye in the 28-player draw, while his compatriots Jordan Thompson, Max Purcell, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Rinky Hijikata and Aleksandar Vukic all scored first-round wins.
With all these Aussies avoiding each other in the round of 16, it means six of the eight second-round matches at the tournament will feature an Australian competitor.
> READ MORE: Aussies dominating at Los Cabos
It is a history-making effort, marking the best result for Australians at an ATP Tour event of this size in 28 years.
The last time this happened was in 1996, when Jason Stoltenberg enjoyed a title-winning run at Coral Springs in America. He was joined in the second round by Aussie peers Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, Richard Fromberg, Pat Rafter and Michael Tebbutt.
The previous best effort was five Australians progressing to the round of 16, which has been recorded just twice since 2000. This happened at Brisbane in 2015 (Kokkinakis, James Duckworth, Sam Groth, John Millman and Bernard Tomic) and at Los Cabos in 2022 (Hijikata, Thompson, Purcell, Kokkinakis and Jason Kubler).
Australian men are also enjoying success elsewhere on tour this week, with Alexei Popyrin and Chris O’Connell scoring opening-round wins at an ATP 250 tournament in Doha.
> READ: O’Connell upsets world No.25 Struff in Doha opening round
AUSSIE RESULTS
LOS CABOS
Men’s singles, first round
[3] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Bye
[7] Max Purcell (AUS) d Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) 6-4 4-6 6-4
[8] Jordan Thompson (AUS) d [WC] Ernesto Escobedo (MEX) 6-4 6-3
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d [6] Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 6-3 7-6(2)
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d Jack Draper (GBR) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) d [WC] Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez (MEX) 7-6(5) 7-6(10)
DOHA
Men’s singles, first round
Chris O’Connell (AUS) d [6] Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-4 6-4
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) d [WC] Abdullah Shelbayh (JOR) 3-6 6-3 6-4
COMING UP
LOS CABOS
Men’s singles, second round
[3] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Alex Michelsen (USA)
[7] Max Purcell (AUS) v Nuno Borges (POR)
[8] Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [Q] Emilio Nava (USA)
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v [2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)
Rinky…
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