Six of the state’s best at Brisbane

QUEENSLAND’S status as the main nursery of Australian tennis ranks has been acknowledged with a fourth local, Ben Mitchell, being handed a wildcard into the Brisbane International.

Mitchell joins fellow Queenslanders John-Patrick Smith, Priscilla Hon and Alja Tomljaniovic, a Croatian import regarded by Tennis Australia as a Queenslander, in the main draw when the Brisbane International starts on Sunday.

Mitchell’s wildcard comes after the world No. 233 reached the final of the Australian Open wildcard playoff series, which he defaulted on December 20 to be at the birth of his first child in Brisbane.

Six Queenslanders will start in the Brisbane International, an unprecedented representation in the seven-year-old old tournament.

Bernard Tomic is the seventh seed for the men’s singles and top-ranked Australian Sam Stosur a direct entry to the women’s field.

Townsville native Smith ( pictured) watched three countrymen — Thanasi Kok Kokkinakis, John n Millmann and Jameses Duck- wor th h smashh through t h e top-100 0 barrier foror the first time this year.

Despite reaching a careerhigh world ranking of 108, having qualified for back-to-back majors at Wimbledon and the US Open, 26-year-old lefthander Smith failed to follow suit and crack the top 100.

“It was kind of a bummer — I was trying to make one last push after the US Open,” Smith said.

“I went on to (play at) Cary and Columbus when really I should have taken some time off, relaxed, then gone hard again.

“But I was almost top 100. You just want to keep playing until you get it. You look at the tournaments and think ‘I’ll be seeded there’ and start thinking ahead too much.”