Fran Jones and Billy Harris advanced to the second round of Australian Open qualifying, but three more British players suffered defeats at Melbourne Park.
Jones began her bid to reach the main draw for the second time with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, while Harris came from a set down to beat Japan’s Yuta Shimizu 6-7 (4) 6-4 6-4.
However, Paul Jubb lost 6-4 6-4 to Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina, Lily Miyazaki was edged out 5-7 6-4 7-6 (8) by Belgium’s Marie Benoit and Jan Choinski fell 6-4 7-5 to France’s Titouan Droguet.
Securing an opening round WIN in @AustralianOpen qualifying 💪
— LTA (@the_LTA) January 7, 2025
Billy Harris fights back to beat Yuta Shimizu 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in Melbourne #BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/HA3mu1zS7W
Cruz Hewitt, the 16-year-old son of former Wimbledon and US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt, also lost on the second day of qualifying.
Watched by his father on a packed court three, Hewitt lost 6-1 6-4 to Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Australia’s Bernard Tomic, who won the boys’ singles title in Melbourne in 2008 and reached a career-high 17th in the world in 2016, also suffered a straight-sets defeat to Slovakia’s Jozef Kovalik.
Britons Harriet Dart and Heather Watson made it through to the second round of qualifying on Monday.
Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal, Jodie Burrage, Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley all have direct entry into the main draw.
