Matosevic out as Aussies stumble

The qualifying rounds of the Australian Open have not gone well for the locals, with Arina Rodionova the last Aussie remaining.

Marinko Matosevic's run of six Australian Opens in a row has come to a halt with the Victorian knocked out of the qualifying draw at Melbourne Park on Friday.

The former world No.39 was defeated by Colombian 24th seed Alejandro Gonzalez 6-1 4-6 6-1 to complete a miserable run for the 11 locals hoping to qualify for the men's draw.

John Patrick Smith, Oliver Anderson and Ben Mitchell all made it through to the second round but failed to advance to Saturday's final round where the 16 qualifying spots in the main draw will be decided.

Mitchell will consider himself unlucky after he made the final of December's wildcard play-off at Melbourne Park only to pull out of the match against James Duckworth to fly home to Brisbane for the birth of his first child.

He was then overlooked for a discretionary wildcard and suffered a second-round defeat at the hands of Argentinian Renzo Olivo on Thursday.

The seven-strong contingent of Australian women haven't fared much better with Arina Rodionova the only player still in with a chance to qualify for the season-opening grand slam.

Rodionova was the only one to make it to the second round of qualifiers where China's Ying-Ying Duan retired three games into their match.

She must defeat Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland to qualify for the main draw.

Rodionova narrowly missed out on a wildcard entry after she was defeated by Perth teenager Maddison Inglis in the final of the wildcard playoff the day after she married Richmond AFL player Ty Vickery.


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2 min read
Published 15 January 2016 6:13pm
Updated 15 January 2016 6:16pm
Source: AAP

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