Thanasi Kokkinakis, Daria Saville and Astra Sharma won their opening-round qualifying matches in Madrid, putting each of them one victory away from a main-draw berth.
Madrid, Spain, 23 April 2024 | Matt Trollope
It was an impressive day for Australian players in Madrid Open qualifying, with three of the four in action progressing to within one win of the main draw.
Thanasi Kokkinakis continued his impressive form on clay, dominating Gregoire Barrere in a 6-2 6-2 win to notch his sixth win from his past seven matches.
Kokkinakis, who recently won the ATP Challenger title on green clay in Sarasota to return to the top 100, will face former world No.3 Dominic Thiem for a place in the main draw.
The win over Barrere was also especially sweet for Kokkinakis, who lost to the Frenchman in the first round of last week’s ATP event in Bucharest.
Should he beat Thiem, Kokkinakis would become the seventh Aussie man into the main draw of the Masters 1000 tournament, along with seeds Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson, plus Christopher O’Connell, Max Purcell, Aleksander Vukic and Alexei Popyrin.
Saville, meanwhile, rebounded strongly after the loss of the second set to complete a 6-1 5-7 6-2 win over Anastasia Zakharova.
Similarly to Kokkinakis, Saville has been in strong form, and especially on clay, reaching the second round in Charleston after qualifying.
She has now won 10 of her past 14 matches and earlier this month got back in the top 100 after more than a year outside, her ranking arc affected by a serious knee injury.
Saville, a quarterfinalist at the Madrid 1000 event back in 2016, next takes on qualifying fourth seed Jaqueline Cristian.
Meanwhile, Sharma continues to find form on clay after a 4-6 6-1 6-4 win against 21st seed Katie Volynets.
The West Australian, who reached the third round in Charleston earlier this month, faces Maria Lourdes Carle in the final round of qualifying.
Carle defeated emerging Aussie Taylah Preston 6-2 7-5 in her first qualifying match in Madrid.
Aussies in action – Madrid
RESULTS
Women’s singles, qualifying first round
[16] Daria Saville (AUS) d Anastasia Zakharova 6-1 5-7 6-2
Astra Sharma (AUS) d [21] Katie Volynets (USA) 4-6 6-1 6-4
[8] Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG) d Taylah Preston (AUS) 6-2 7-5
Men’s singles, qualifying first round
[8] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d Gregoire Barrere (FRA) 6-2 6-2
COMING UP
Women’s singles, qualifying final round
[16] Daria Saville (AUS) v [4] Jaqueline…
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