The second day of the Men’s Qualifying at the Australian Open saw half of the second-round matches played, with Americans in particular enjoying success.
All four Americans in action on Thursday were successful in progressing to the final round of qualifying. The biggest win was for eighteen year-old Taylor Fritz, who ousted ninth seed Michael Berrer 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. Fritz showed brilliant composure in coming back from a heavy defeat in the second set, breaking immediately in the third, and never relinquishing the lead from that point. His opponent in the final round will be the in-form Mischa Zverev who accounted for Norbert Gombos (23) by an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 scoreline. It suggests that Zverev might well be showing some of the form that once saw him reach a career-high ranking of No. 45 in 2009.
The top section of the draw will see Briton Dan Evans, the conqueror of top seed Luca Vanni, take his place in the final round after he beat Amir Weintraub 7-5, 6-7, 6-2. Evans had served for the match in the second set, but was broken, and also gave up a lead in the tiebreak before finally winning in three. His opponent will be American Bjorn Fratangelo (17) after he recovered from the loss of the first set to defeat Oriol Roca Batalla of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Ruben Bemelmans (2) survived Egor Gerasimov of Belarus as they played out a closer than anticipated 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win for Bemelmans. He will play Jozef Kovalik after the Slovakian beat Matteo Donati 6-3, 6-2.
Tim Smyczek (3) is yet another American in the final round of qualifying. He won the first set comfortably before going down four-one in the second set. However, he won the final five games to ensure a deciding set was not required. He will face Kenny de Schepper (29) after the Frenchman survived an epic encounter with Estonian Jurgen Zopp. De Schepper managed to outlast his unseeded opponent 7-5, 5-7, 12-10 in a match lasting three hours and twenty-five minutes.
Yuichi Sugita (12) was another seed who narrowly avoided a shock, beating Belgian Yannick Mertens 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. He will face the fourth American winner on Thursday, Dennis Novikov (32), who defeated Briton James Ward 6-4, 7-5.
Karen Khachanov and French veteran Stephane Robert ensured that the final match from their section will feature no seeds, as Khachanov defeated Kimmer Coppejans (14) 6-3, 6-2, and Robert ended the hopes of Dutchman Igor Sijsling (28) 7-5, 7-5.
Renzo Olivo followed up his excellent win over Elias Ymer in the first-first round, with a win over Australian Benjamin Mitchell in the second. The Argentinian won the final two sets after losing the first on a tiebreak with the final score 6-7, 7-5, 6-2. He will face Vincent Millot after the Frenchman won the final match of the day, defeating John-Patrick Smith (16) 6-2, 7-5.
Selected picks for Friday’s Matches in bold.
Denys Molchanov vs Ryan Harrison (19)
Di Wu vs Thomas Fabbiano (26)
Marinko Matosevic vs Alejandro Gonzalez (24)
Oliver Anderson vs Adrian Menendez-Maceiras
Go Soeda (8) vs Alexander Kudryavtsev
Jan-Lennard Struff (5) vs Radek Stepanek
Peter Gojowczyk vs Frances Tiafoe
