Eastbourne, Great Britain, 24 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers

Eastbourne, Great Britain

James McCabe has achieved an impressive career first, qualifying at an ATP tournament for the first time in Eastbourne.

The 20-year-old from Sydney made the most of an alternate spot in the qualifying competition, notching a milestone first top-100 win to upset world No.76 Mackenzie McDonald in the opening round.

World No.346 McCabe then continued his winning run in the final qualifying round, edging out a hard-fought 6-7(1) 7-6(4) 7-5 victory against British hope Charles Broom.

He bravely saved three match points during the 10th game in the second set, then fought back from a 3-5 deficit in the deciding set to triumph in a three-hour and 16-minute battle.

This propels McCabe into his third tour-level main draw, having competed at Adelaide as a lucky loser and the Australian Open as a wildcard earlier this year.

Max Purcell has also qualified at the ATP 250 grass-court tournament, securing a main-draw berth with a 7-6(6) 6-4 victory against British wildcard Henry Searle.

The 18-year-old Searle won the Wimbledon boys’ singles title last year and peaked at world No.3 in the ITF world junior rankings earlier this season.

Purcell is competing in Eastbourne for the first time since making his singles breakthrough at the tournament in 2021, when he progressed to his first ATP semifinal.

Aussies in action – Eastbourne

RESULTS
Men’s qualifying singles, final round
[6] Max Purcell (AUS) d [WC] Henry Searle (GBR) 7-6(6) 6-4
[Alt] James McCabe (AUS) d Charles Broom (GBR) 6-7(1) 7-6(4) 7-5
[7] Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) d [2] Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) 7-6(3) 6-4

COMING UP
Men’s singles, first round
[Q] James McCabe (AUS) v Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA)
[Q] Max Purcell (AUS) v Laslo Djere (SRB)

Men’s doubles, first round
[3] Matt Ebden (AUS)/John Peers (AUS) v Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/Skander Mansouri (TUN)
Max Purcell (AUS)/Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) v [1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/Joe Salisbury (GBR)

Mallorca, Spain

An impressive season of firsts continues for Adam Walton, who has qualified at an ATP 250 grass-court tournament in Mallorca.

The 25-year-old from Queensland clinched his place in the main draw with a 6-2 7-6(4) victory against German Daniel Masur.

World No.107 Walton had never competed at a professional grass-court event before this month and had not recorded a grass-court win before this tournament.

After scoring back-to-back wins to qualify at a grass-court event for the first time, Walton’s reward is a first-round meeting with world No.92 Yannick Hanfmann.

Walton joins in-form compatriot Rinky Hijikata, who is coming off a career-best run at an ATP 500 grass-court tournament in London, in the main draw in Mallorca.

Aussies in action – Mallorca

RESULTS
Men’s qualifying singles, final round
[4] Adam Walton (AUS) d [8] Daniel Masur (GER) 6-2 7-6(4)

COMING UP
Men’s singles, first round
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v Luca Nardi (ITA)
[Q] Adam Walton (AUS) v Yannick Hanfmann (GER)

Bad Homburg, Germany

Ellen Perez is carrying Australian hopes at a WTA 500 grass-court tournament in Germany this week.

The 28-year-old from New South Wales is the top seed in the women’s doubles draw alongside American partner Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

With only three wins from their past eight matches, the accomplished duo of Perez and Melichar-Martinez are looking to recapture their promising early season form. Since advancing to three WTA finals during February and March, they have not won back-to-back tour-level matches together since April.

The top-10 ranked pair begin their campaign in Bad Homburg against world No.77 Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands and world No.63 Wu Fang-Hsien from Chinese Taipei.

Aussies in action – Bad Homburg

COMING UP
Women’s doubles, first round
[1] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) v Arantxa Rus (NED)/Wu Fang-Hsien (TPE)

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