Aussie army of 16 seek golden tickets for Wimbledon
With 13 Australians - eight man and five women - already guaranteed in the main draw next week, recent Ilkley Trophy winner Schoolkate will spearhead the challenge to join them in the cut-throat qualifying tournament at nearby Roehampton.
Players will have to come through three qualifying matches at the venue 5km from the All England Club to nail down one of the coveted 16 places in each of the singles draws a week on Monday.
Making the main draw will guarantee each qualifier at least a Stg 66,000 ($A137,000) pay-out even if he or she loses in the first round.
Schoolkate, who earned the biggest win of his burgeoning career at the picturesque Challenger event in Ilkley that likes to dub itself the 'Wimbledon of the North', has moved to 102 in the rankings and seeks a maiden appearance at the grass-court slam.
The 24-year-old, who's second seed for the qualifying event, opens on Monday against Argentine world No.198 Facundo Diaz Acosta.
Last year, Alex Bolt had just 10 minutes notice as an alternate that he would be a late replacement in the qualifying draw and went on to surprise everyone, not least himself, by going on to battle into the main draw.
This year, somewhat better prepared, the 32-year-old Murray Bridge veteran will face Frenchman Harold Mayot first up, hoping to make the main draw for a fourth time.
Four other Aussie men - Li Tu, Jason Kubler, James McCabe and Omar Jasika - will also open their bids on Monday while the world No.1 junior Emerson Jones will lead the women's qualifying challenge that begins on Tuesday.
Jones, who reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon junior finals last year, will be joined in the draw by Talia Gibson, Priscilla Hon, Daria Saville, Astra Sharma, Destanee Aiava, Maddison Inglis, Lizette Cabrera, Arina Rodionova and Taylah Preston.
Meanwhile, even though Alex de Minaur is not in action in any of the final pre-Wimbledon grass-court events after his early exit at Queen's Club, seven SW19-bound Australians will feature in the final warm-up tournaments this week.
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 to the traditional seaside event, defeating Anna Bondar 6-2 6-3 in Eastbourne qualifying, to join the country's top pair, Daria Kasatkina and Maya Joint, in the women's event.
Ajla Tomljanovic, a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, beat Germany's Eva Lys, who retired when 6-4 3-2 down, to make it into the Bad Homburg WTA main draw.
But the Aussie result of the day was achieved by a man who won't be heading to Wimbledon -- the enigmatic 32-year-old Bernie Tomic who reached the main draw of the Mallorca ATP event by defeating US world No.77 Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 for his first win over a top-100 player in more than two years.
Remarkably, now down at 243 in the rankings, Tomic booked his place in a tour-level event for the first time since he qualified for the 2021 Australian Open, and he'll face compatriot Rinky Hijikata in Monday's first round.
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