Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz def. Rebecca Marino 6-4, 6-4
Homegrown South-Australian Kempenaers-Pocz further announced herself as one of Australian tennis’ brightest, up and coming stars. Despite giving up 14 years of experience and over 1300 places in the WTA rankings to her opponent Rebecca Marino, the 17-year-old managed back-to-back breaks of serve late in the first set and to open the second, on route to her first career win at a WTA tournament. Kempenaers-Pocz, who has been representing Australia since she was 12 when selected on the 2017 ITF World Junior Finals team, will now receive a boost in the WTA rankings and is set to play Noweigan Ulrikke Eikeri tomorrow as she vows for a place in the Adelaide main draw.
Daria Saville def. Caty McNally 6-3, 6-4
After a difficult 2021 season on the injury front, Dasha was back on the winners list today with a victory over 4th seed Caty McNally. Rocked by injury and after undergoing Achillestendon surgery, Saville managed very little competitive tennis last year, taking part in more weddings than WTA level matches over the past 11 months. However, after a triumphant return to the court, coming in her first match since marrying husband and fellow tennis player Luke in December, Saville appears raring to go again in 2022. She will met 8th seed Katie Boulter tomorrow morning, eyeing a spot in the main draw, and has also been awarded a wildcard for the upcoming Australian Open.
Madison Inglis overcame fellow Aussie Alexandra Bozovic 6-4, 6-4 in a tight contest and will face Irene Spaniard Burillo-Escorihuela in tomorrow’s final round of qualifying. 23-year-old Inglis is continuing to strive towards a top 100 debut and will be assisted with a wildcard entry into the Australian Open later this month.
17-year-old South Australian Edward Winter was awarded a wildcard into his home event but was unable to overcome a 1500+ gap in the ATP rankings from his Japanese opponent Taro Daniel. Winter failed to capitalise on his break point opportunities, eventually going down 6-4, 6-4 in 81 minutes.
Henry Lamchinniah was comfortably beaten 6-0, 6-1 by Belarusian Egor Gerasimov. The unranked 16-year-old was a little out of his depth against the world number 113, but has a bright future ahead of him.
Meanwhile, 27-year-old Aussie Abbie Myers fell to her higher ranked Italian opponent Lucia Bronzetti 6-4, 6-1.
Matt Ebden and John Patrick-Smith both respectively suffered tough defeats after taking the first set.
Ebden went down 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to Columbian Daniel Elahi Galan, before JP Smith fell 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 to Moldovan Radu Albot. However, both Ebden and Smith’s campaigns in Adelaide are still alive, with the pair entering the doubles main draw together seeded 5th.
The 2nd and final round of qualifying takes place tomorrow and some main draw matches will also get underway.
Comments