GB Tennis

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6  players with direct entry to the Australian Open

 

Men's Singles

Jack Draper

Cameron Norrie

Jacob Fearnley

 

Women's Singles

Emma Raducanu

Sonay Kartel

Fran Jones

 

Katie Boulter misses out on direct entry - at 106 she needs 3 to drop out if she wants to avoid going through qualifying. 

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Plenty of Brits in action this week.

 

ATP250 Brisbane - Cameron Norrie is the 7th seed and will take on Ugo Humbert in the first round. Jacob Fearnley was the 6th seed in the qualifying draw but fell in the first round of qualifying to  wildcard Dane Sweeny 6-1 7-6.

 

In the doubles, Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool are the top seeds and have a bye in the first round. 

 

WTA250 Auckland - Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartel and Fran Jones are all competing. Boulter will face off against  Yuliia Starodubtseva in the first round whilst Kartal will be against 6th seed  Janice Tjen and Jones has a tough opener against 2nd seed  Emma Navarro.

 

A lot of the Brits who will be competing in the Australian Open qualifying are looking to get some early matches in on the Challenger circuit.

 

George Loffhagen lost in the first round of qualifying for the Workday Canberra International, losing 5-7 6-4 0-6 to  Hugo Grenier but there were wins for Arthur Fery 3-6 6-4 6-0 over  Daniel Jovanovski and Jack Pinnington-Jones won 0-6 6-1 6-4 against  Gilles Arnauld Bailly

 

Ryan Peniston is competing in the BNC Tennis Open in New Caledonia and he will take on Moerani Bouzige in the first round.  

 

 

 

 

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Some decent results from the Brits on court over the last couple of days:

 

ATP250 Brisbane - Cameron Norrie overcame a slow start to see off  Ugo Humbert 1-6 7-6 7-5 in the first round. He's up against  Aleksandar Kovacevic in the round of 16. 

 

In the doubles, Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool are the top seeds and have a bye in the first round. 

 

WTA250 Auckland - Despite some tough draws, all three Brits advanced to the round of 16.

 

Katie Boulter looked to be cruising when she went out to a 6-3 5-0 lead before being pegged back by up  Yuliia Starodubtseva. Boulter was able to hold her nerve to serve out for a 6-3 6-3 win. Boulter will next face top seed  Elina Svitolina. 

 

Sonay Kartal needed 3 sets to overcome 6th seed  Janice Tjen 6-1 6-7 6-3. Next up for Kartal is  Ella Seidel. 

 

The best performance came from Fran Jones who scored her first win over a top 20 player with a hard fought 7-5 2-6 6-4 win over 2nd seed  Emma Navarro. She will face qualifier  Sinja Kraus in the round of 16

 

On the Challenger circuit Jack Pinnington-Jones advances to the 2nd round of the Workday Canberra International having come through 2 rounds of qualifying and taking out 5th seed  Brandon Holt in the first round. Unfortunately however Arthur Fery retired from his second qualifying match trailing 3-6 2-3 against  Rafael Jodar. 

 

And in New Caledonia, Ryan Peniston could take advantage of his chances and lost in the first round 6-4 6-7 4-6 to  Moerani Bouzige

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BBC reporting that  Zheng Qinwen has withdrawn from the Australian Open which if confirmed, means that Katie Boulter would move to within 2 places of direct entry.

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Had seen suggestion online that Katie Boulter had made it into the Aus Open main draw due to withdrawal of  Yafan Wang but she is still included in the qualifying draw which has been released today. Seeded 7th, she is scheduled to face  Luisina Giovannini. 

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 Casper Ruud has withdrawn from this week's Davis Cup qualifier - should make the tie more straightforward for 

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Both Raducanu and Boulter into finals - can't imagine we've had too many occasions when  have had finalists in multiple events in the same week.

 

And by reaching the finals, Raducanu overtakes Leylah Fernandez which I think is the first time since 2022 that she's been ranked ahead of the player she defeated in the US Open final. 

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's path to Davis Cup finals looks like it could be easier than expected as  currently leading  2-0 and are just 1 game away from taking the doubles.