The earliest round of fixtures in the Australian Open Qualifying first round produced few shocks, but the one that was produced proved huge.
Britain’s Dan Evans will be in the second round of the Australian Open Qualifying event,as he shocked top seed Luca Vanni 7-6, 6-4. Evans looked the more comfortable throughout on a hot day predicted to break forty degrees. The British player had gone up an early break and though Vanni was able to recoup the service, he lost the tiebreak, Evans continued to press, and broke and served the match out from four-all in the second.
Bjorn Fratangelo is the main person to benefit from Evans’ win, as the seventeenth seed saw off Canadian Frank Dancevic 7-6, 6-1. Fratangelo stepped up to win a tiebreak after a competitive first set. Dancevic then visibly wilted in the heat, as Fratangelo cruised through the second set. Evans and Fratangelo will not have a potential meeting until the final round of qualifying.
James Ward continued the feel-good factor for the Brits, as he beat Canadian Peter Polansky in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4. He will face thirty-second seed Dennis Novikov of the United States, after he beat Marc Polmans 6-4, 7-6.
John-Patrick Smith (16) won his match 6-4, 6-0 over Michael Linzer, Ruben Bemelmans (2) 7-6, 6-3 over Harry Bourchier, and Kimmer Coppejans (14) over Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-3. Michael Berrer (9) continued the theme as he defeated Tristan Lamasine 7-5, 6-2, as did Igor Sijsling (28) 6-3, 6-3 over Eduardo Struvay. Radu Albot (10) and Yuichi Sugita (12) also won.
Young Taylor Fritz was most impressive in a 6-3, 6-1 win over Hiroki Moriya. Fritz sets up an tasty encounter with Michael Berrer in the second round. Young South Korean Duckhee Lee was beaten by Oriol Roca Batalla in straight sets. Mischa Zverev could be one to watch out for, as the German with the dangerous serve raced past Andrea Arnaboldi 6-2, 6-2.
Other results:
James McGee defs. Calvin Hemery 6-3, 6-4
Amir Weintraub defs. Luke Saville 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Ben Mitchell defs. Darian King 6-2, 6-4
Stephane Robert defs. Alex Bolt 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Yannick Mertens defs. Farrukh Dustov 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
Vincent Millot defs. David Guez 6-3, 7-6
Egor Gerasimov defs. Nils Langer 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
