Miami, USA, 22 March 2022 | Leigh Rogers

Two Australians, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Storm Sanders, have advanced to the final qualifying round at this week’s Miami Open.

Kokkinakis made a promising start to his qualifying quest, powering past Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano 6-1 6-3 in the opening round.

World No.97 Kokkinakis fired seven aces and did not face a break point in the 76-minute encounter.

The 25-year-old is hoping to make his fourth main draw appearance at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, where he memorably beat world No.1 Roger Federer to reach the third round in 2018.

To secure a place in this year’s main draw, Kokkinakis will need to beat Italian veteran Andreas Seppi in the final qualifying round.

The news wasn’t so good for fellow Aussies in the men’s qualifying singles draw, with Aleksandar Vukic, Alex Bolt, Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden all losing their first-round matches.

Sanders needed two hours and 20 minutes to overcome German Jule Niemeier in the opening round of the women’s qualifying singles competition. The 27-year-old Australian eventually prevailed 6-1 5-7 6-4 against the No.17 seed.

Sanders now plays world No.87 Wang Xinyu of China for a spot in the main draw.

Maddison Inglis and Priscilla Hon both exited in the opening round, leaving Sanders as the last Aussie standing in the women’s qualifying singles draw.

Aussies in action – Miami

TODAY’S RESULTS
Men’s qualifying singles, first round
[6] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) 6-1 6-3
[3] Kevin Anderson (RSA) d Alex Bolt (AUS) 6-3 6-4
[10] Taro Daniel (JPN) d Max Purcell (AUS) 6-2 6-2
Jack Sock (USA) d [18] Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) 6-4 2-6 6-4
Nicolas Kicker (ARG) d [Alt] Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-2 6-1

Women’s qualifying singles, first round
Storm Sanders (AUS) d [17] Jule Niemeier (GER) 6-1 5-7 6-4
[9] Lauren Davis (USA) d Priscilla Hon (AUS) 6-4 6-0
[21] Ekaterine Gorgodze (GEO) d Maddison Inglis (AUS) 6-7(5) 6-4 7-5

COMING UP
Men’s qualifying singles, final round
[6] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v [16] Andreas Seppi (ITA)

Women’s qualifying singles, final round
Storm Sanders (AUS) v [2] Wang Xinyu (CHN)

Men’s singles, first round
[25] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Bye
Jordan Thompson (AUS) v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)
John Millman (AUS) v Qualifier
[WC] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) v Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

Women’s singles, first round
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) v Qualifier
Astra Sharma (AUS) v Naomi Osaka (JPN)
[WC] Daria Saville (AUS) v Greet Minnen (BEL)

Men’s doubles, first round
[4] John Peers (AUS)/Filip Polasek (SVK) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)/Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Matthew Ebden (AUS)/Max Purcell (AUS) v Alex de Minaur (AUS)/Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP)
[WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Nick Kyrgios (AUS) v Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/Andres Molteni (ARG)

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