A qualifying tournament that had already seen its fair share of shocks continued the trend on the final day.
High-profile Australian Bernard Tomic was a disappointing exit for the home crowds. He lost 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego. It is the first time that Sonego has ever featured in a grand slam qualifying draw, and it will be his first main draw appearance at a slam.
The highest-seeded player left in draw was 4th seed Bjorn Fratangelo after Taylor Fritz, Nicolas Mahut, and Marco Cecchinato, all lost before the qualifying round. Fratangelo joined them as he lost 7-5, 6-1 to 22nd seed Quentin Halys.
11th seeded American Ernesto Escobedo also fell. He lost 6-2, 6-7, 6-1 to 25th seed Casper Ruud. The young Norwegian will now feature in his first Australian Open main draw. He had lost to Reilly Opelka in qualifying last year.
It appeared that Stefan Kozlov’s marathon exploits of the first two rounds finally caught up with him in the final round. The young American had endured two long matches before his meeting with 17th seed Dustin Brown. The mercurial German talent won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Bradley Mousley’s fine run through qualifying ended in a straight sets loss to young Spaniard Jaume Munar, 7-5, 6-2.
Perhaps the match of the round was that between the United States’ Denis Kudla, and 20th seed Matteo Berrettini. After trading the first two sets, Berrettini stormed to a 5-2 lead in the decider. Kudla rallied, winning five straight games, and saving two match points in the process to win 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Dennis Novak will feature in his first Australian Open main draw. He was the 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 winner over Japan’s Go Soeda. The United States’ Kevin King is also a first-time main draw member at the Australian Open. He earned his place by way of a 6-4, 7-6 win over John-Patrick Smith.
His compatriot Mackenzie McDonald successfully qualified for a grand slam for the first time. The former NCAA stand-out had been a wildcard entrant at the 2016 US Open. However, he won three rounds to qualify. The final match being a 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 win over French veteran Stephane Robert.
Vaclav Safranek qualified for his second grand slam in succession. The Czech had qualified and then lost to Grigor Dimitrov at the US Open. This time he sealed his place at the Australian Open with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Andrea Collarini.
India’s Yuki Bhambri continued his fine recovery from injury to reach the main draw. The 15th seed defeated 26th seed Peter Polansky 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 for his place.
13th seed Ruben Bemelmans had few problems in qualifying. After close encounters in the first two rounds, the Belgian finally earned a straight sets win over Duck Hee Lee 6-4, 6-4.
Germany’s Matthias Bachinger also made the main draw. He won 6-1, 6-4 against Alejandro Gonzalez.
