Kokkinakis, Tomic among Aussies in Wimbledon qualifying
Eight Australian men will begin their quest to reach the main draw at Wimbledon on Monday via the qualifying tournament at Roehampton.
London, UK, 25 June 2018 | tennis.com.au
Thanasi Kokkinakis will continue the road back from his latest injury setback when he takes part in the Wimbledon qualifying draw.
Kokkinakis is one of eight Australian men in action at Roehampton in south-west London as the qualifying tournament gets under way on Monday. The women’s qualifying draw is still to be released, with play in that event commencing on Tuesday.
Another is Bernard Tomic, who will look to continue his impressive form when he takes on Matteo Donati of Italy.
Tomic, seeded 30th in qualifying, has won 12 of his past 15 matches and most recently reached the semifinals of the ATP event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
DRAW: Wimbledon men’s singles qualifying
Kokkinakis, meanwhile, injured his right knee in a fall at the Monte Carlo Masters and missed the bulk of the clay-court season, returning only at Roland Garros.
He lost in the first round at the Surbiton Challenger on grass before reaching the second round of qualifying at Queen’s Club, scoring a win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
He opens his Wimbledon qualifying campaign against Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.
Kokkinakis and Tomic are both first on Monday’s schedule – which begins at 11am local time (8pm AEST) – as are fellow Aussies Alex Bolt and Akira Santillan.
Bolt has drawn French 13th seed Quentin Halys, while Santillan faces Bosnia’s Tomislav Brkic.
Later on Monday more Aussies will take to the courts, including Marc Polmans, who is second on the Court 4 schedule against Germany’s Matthias Bachinger.
Three of his compatriots – John-Patrick Smith, Max Purcell and Jason Kubler – feature in the last matches of the day on their respective courts.
Kubler advanced to the semifinals of the recent Ilkley Challenger and will tackle Belgium’s Arthur De Greef, while Smith will attempt to qualify for the second time – he reached the main draw in 2015 – and lines up against Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus.
Max Purcell, the youngest of the Aussie troupe at 20 years of age, will play No.21 seed Donald Young.
The women’s qualifying draw gets under way on Tuesday, with Australians Arina Rodionova, Olivia Rogowska, Lizette Cabrera, Priscilla Hon and Jaimee Fourlis in action.