CABRERA’S OPEN BID AT AN END
TOWNSVILLE junior Lizette Cabrera has been eliminated from Australian Open qualifying after falling in straight sets to Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure at Melbourne Park yesterday.
The 21-year-old would have entered the clash full of confidence after dropping just two games in her opening match against Spaniard Georgina Garcia-perez, but failed to make any inroads on Bonaventure’s serve in the 6-4 6-3 defeat.
The world No.234 had played in the last two Australian Open main draws courtesy of wildcards from Tennis Australia, but was beaten in the first round both times.
It means Townsville will have no representatives in the singles draw after JohnPatrick Smith went down in his first qualifying match against German Matthias Bachinger on Tuesday.
There was better news for Thanasi Kokkinakis, who steadied to seal his passage into the final stage of qualifying, surviving a wobble against second-round opponent Sebastian Ofner.
The South Australian defeated the Austrian world No.180, 6-4 7-6 (7-4), losing composure in the second set before rallying in the tiebreak.
His reward is a thirdround playoff today against Canadian Peter Polansky, with a place in the main draw on the line.
However fellow Australians Isabelle Wallace and Kaylah Mcphee crashed out.
Wildcard entrant Wallace claimed the biggest scalp of her career earlier in the week by beating Wimbledon finalist, German Sabine Lisicki, but fell 6-3 6-2 to Dutchwoman Richel Hogenkamp in the second round.