Five Young Aussies Join James Blake In Second Round of qualifying

Written by: Staff on 9th January 2013

Five Young Aussies Join James Blake In Second Round of qualifying

epa03379568 James Blake of the US hits a return to Milos Raonic of Canada during their match on the sixth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 01 September 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JUSTIN LANE |

Wildcards Jordan Thompson (NSW), Alex Bolt (SA), Matthew Barton (NSW), Matt Reid (NSW) and Adam Feeney (NSW), along with former world No. 4 and No. 9 seed James Blake (USA), have all won their first round matches of Australian Open qualifying at Melbourne Park today.

Eighteen-year-old Thompson scored the biggest scalp of his fledgling pro career, holding his nerve to come back from a set down over veteran Frenchman Nicolas Renavand 4-6 6-2 9-7.

South Australian Alex Bolt, 20, continued his good form with a 7-6(5) 6-4 win over Boy Westerhof (NED). In 2012 the left-hander slashed his ranking more than 500 places – from 892 to 380 – on the back of three Futures title wins and a further three finals appearances.

Sydneysider Matt Reid, 22, won 6-2 6-4 over Brazil’s Ricardo Hocevar; Adam Feeney took three sets to overcome Daniel Kosakowski (USA) 5-7 6-4 6-3, and Matthew Barton scored a convincing 6-1 6-3 victory over Kamil Capkovic (SVK).

Fellow wildcard entrant Thanasi Kokkinakis (SA) endured a marathon three-set clash with American Steve Johnson, eventually going down 6-4 6-7(5) 15-17 after almost four hours on court.

The 16-year-old rising star and world No. 758 took it right up to Johnson, who is ranked almost 600 places above him at No. 175, to show he has a big future in the sport.

Former world No. 4 James Blake ended Marius Copil’s (ROU) qualifying campaign, his 6-4 6-4 win earning the ninth seed a place in the second round.

The women’s qualifying event gets under way at Melbourne Park tomorrow with Sally Peers (Vic), Anastasia Rodionova (Vic) and Brisbane International semi-finalist Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) all in action on Show Court 3.

Topics: Adam Feeney, Alex Bolt, Australian tennis news, Jordan Thompson, Matt Reid, Nicolas Renavand, Sports, Tennis Australia, Tennis News

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dusanVemic says:

January 9, 2013 at 4:29 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Five Young Aussies Join James Blake In Second Round of qualifying: http://t.co/nc5APoEk @AustralianOpen #tennis