Inspired wildcards Thanasi Kokkinakis and Storm Hunter and jubilant Jason Kubler have given Australia a flying start to the French Open with rousing first-round victories in Paris.
Hunter continued her magical run from qualifying with a 4-6 6-2 6-4 defeat of higher-ranked Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz to ignite Australia’s 2023 campaign.
Kokkinakis then showcased his huge game with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over British 20th seed Dan Evans before the resurgent Kubler completed Australia’s banner first day with a tenacious five-set triumph.
The former world No.1 junior battled away for almost three and a half hours to see off Argentine qualifying lucky loser Facundo Diaz Acosta 1-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-1 to give Australia an unlikely three-from-three start at the year’s second grand slam.
The injury-plagued Kokkinakis blasted winner after winner to notch his first win at Roland Garros since reaching the third round as a teenager back in 2015 for his thus-far best grand-slam result yet.
Guaranteed a return to the world’s top 100, the 27-year-old Kokkinakis will have the chance to equal that last-32 grand slam showing on Wednesday against either Switzerland’s 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka or Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Hunter earlier on day one also made a mockery of her lowly ranking to record her maiden grand-slam main-draw victory.
The 28-year-old rallied from a service break down in the deciding set to join Sophie Ferguson (2010) as only the second Australian woman to progress to the second round at Roland Garros as a qualifier.
Hunter had fallen in the first round of all seven of her previous grand-slam main-draw appearances – five times at the Australian Open and at the 2021 French and US Opens.
But the unsung hero of Australia’s charge to the final of last year’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals teams’ event once again rose to the occasion.
“It was honestly a great match and I’m just so happy to win my first match in a slam,” Hunter said. “It’s really amazing.”
Ranked 110 places below Parrizas Diaz at world No.204, Hunter refused to throw in the towel after surrendering a 4-2 lead to drop the first set after losing four straight games.
She had fought desperately to claim the first service break of the match on her fifth opportunity in the sixth game, before briefly losing her way.
Staying cool, Hunter broke Parrizas Diaz in the fourth game of the second set with a series of forceful forehands before levelling the match at one set apiece.
She trailed 4-2 in the deciding set but again rallied with some do-or-die groundstrokes from the back to secure her breakthrough win in two hours and 10 minutes.
Hunter’s reward is a second-round clash with either newly-crowned Stuttgart champion and one-time world No.3 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine or Italian 26th seed Martina Trevisan.
But Kim Birrell fell painfully short of converting her wildcard entry into a second-round foray, losing 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 to Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean.
– AAP
