Pro Tour Tennis 2023
Round two wrap
Thursday saw a full session of second round singles action at the $25,000 NT International Mens ProTour event. Another top-seed fell, and more up-and-comers made the most of their opportunities.
The biggest upset of the day saw third seed and top 500 ranked Australian Thomas Fancutt bowing out in two close sets to wildcard Jayden Court. Court is having a successful two weeks in Darwin after making the second round last week where he pushed the eventual champion Blake Mott to three sets. That effort helped secure him a wildcard for this week’s event and he is now into the quarter-finals. Jayden had almost cracked the top 1000 back in 2019. Currently unranked, he will now bounce back into the ATP tour rankings after his Darwin results.
The other three seeds left in the draw progressed relatively comfortably. Fourth seeded Kiwi Ajeet Rai moved past his countryman and qualifier Corban Crowther 7-6 6-3.
Last week’s winner Blake Mott had another strong win, knocking out Joshua Charlton 6-1 6-2 in 65 minutes.
Jake Delaney, the sixth seed, was also effective against fellow Aussie Zaharjie-Zak Talic 6-2 6-2.
Two qualifiers scored wins meaning they are both on a run of four wins from two qualifying and two main draw matches.
American qualifier Henrik Wiersholm took two sets to eliminate New Zealander Alexander Klintcharov 6-2 6-4. Australian Scott Jones needed a 3rd set tiebreak to finally squeeze past Japan’s Taiyo Yamanaka.
Earlier in the week, Jones had beaten Luke Sorensen in the last round of qualifying but Sorensen then snuck into the main draw after a withdrawal and has made the most of the opportunity. Sorensen served big in his second round match to defeat Ethan Cook in three sets and book a place in the quarter-finals.
Kody Pearson of Australia is also there, after Corey Gaal withdrew with injury battles trailing 0-2 in the first set.
Friday features
Quarter-final matchups kick-off at 3pm at the Darwin International Tennis Centre with free entry. Centre Court seating is under shade, and the canteen is open till play ends.
First up on Centre Court is a clash between the 4th seed Ajeet Rai of New Zealand and 5th seed Blake Mott of Australia. Mott has won all seven of his singles matches in Darwin so will be aiming for that impressive streak to continue.
On Court 1 at 3pm, qualifier Scott Jones takes on wildcard Jayden Court. Court will be looking to make his first semi-final at this level since 2019 and for Jones, this is his first ProTour quarter-final and will be aiming to push further.
The matches following will see 6th seeded Jake Delaney taking on Luke Sorensen on Centre Court, while out on Court 1, Kody Pearson will try and stop American qualifier Henrik Wiersholm’s run of four wins.
Doubles semi-finals will follow the Singles tonight, come to see a showcase of the top two seeded pairs. Blake Bayldon and Brandon Walkin are the top seeds this week and play Corban Crowther of New Zealand and Tai Sach of Australia. The second seeded team of Thomas Fancutt and Ajeet Rai face the Japanese duo Geni Inoue and Taiyo Yamanaka.
The Darwin Tennis International 2 continues until Sunday September 24 at the Darwin International Tennis Centre. Free entry, under shade seating, and the canteen is open till play ends.
Saturday 23rd: play starts 3pm
Sunday 24th: Mens singles finals start at 3pm
Full results, schedules and player profiles at https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/m25-darwin/aus/2023/m-itf-aus-09a-2023/
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