Tomic shocks with two-year first
As 16 Australians began their Wimbledon qualifying quest, forgotten man Bernard Tomic achieved a rare feat, beating a player inside the top 100 for the first time in two years to earn his place in an ATP main draw at a grass-court event in Spain.
It's the first time since the 2021 Australian Open that Tomic, now down at 243 in the rankings, has booked a place in a tour-level event.
The 32-year-old, who has been traversing the world playing lower level and Challenger events in his bid to get back to the top, defeated world No.77 Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 at the grass court Mallorca Championships.
It set up a clash with fellow Aussie, Rinky Hijikata, who is already qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon, one of eight men and five women locked in for the year's third grand slam.
The Mallorca event is among a swath of grass-court events where Australians already qualified for Wimbledon are rounding out their preparations.
James Duckworth beat British wildcard Johannus Monday 6-4 6-2 and Aleksandar Vukic downed American Jenson Brooksby 7-5 6-3 to book their places in the Eastbourne International men's main draw.
Kim Birrell also made it through Eastbourne qualifying to join Australian No. 1 Daria Kasatkina, and teen star and Maya Joint in the women's event.
Former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic also took a walkover win over Germany's Eva Lys, to make it into the Bad Homburg WTA main draw.
AUSTRALIANS QUALIFIED FOR WIMBLEDON
Men's singles:
Alex de Minaur
Alexei Popyrin
Jordan Thompson
Aleksandar Vukic
Rinky Hijikata
Chris O'Connell
Adam Walton
James Duckworth
Women's singles
Daria Kasatkina
Kimberly Birrell
Maya Joint
Ajla Tomljanovic
Olivia Gadecki
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