How Australian Tennis Players Have Played At the Australian Open 2024?

The 2024 Australian Open is in its second week as the fourth round of battles has begun. While there have been a few upsets, only one seeded player from the top 10 in the men’s draw has failed to reach the second week at Melbourne. Meanwhile, only three players from the top ten have reached the fourth round of the women’s draw.

The home crowd fans had a lot to celebrate as there were 21 Australians in the main draw of the singles competition. Six Australians qualified for the women’s main draw. In the men’s draw, 15 players qualified for the main draw, which has been the most since 1988. The performances have been a bit disappointing from the fan’s perspective.

Taylah Preston

Taylah Preston has been one of the rising stars from Australia on the WTA tour. She was ranked No. 836 in April 2023 and ended the season at No. 203. Preston had been regularly competing on the ITF tour and was rewarded with a wildcard entry at this year’s Australian Open. It marked her first appearance in the singles main draw of a grand slam.

18-year-old 🇦🇺 Taylah Preston [WC] has gone down 6-2, 6-2 to 🇺🇦 Elina Svitolina [19] – #AusOpen Round 1, in her Grand Slam main draw debut.

➡️ Preston will also play doubles with Arina Rodionova later this week.#TheFirstServe pic.twitter.com/I6BWiceeRt

— The First Serve (@TheFirstServeAU) January 15, 2024

Preston faced Elina Svitolina in the opening round and lost the match in 59 minutes. The match saw the 18-year-old hit 14 winners, along with 27 unforced errors. Preston hopes to use her experience at the upcoming events on the tour this year.

Olivia Gadecki

Olivia Gadecki achieved her career-best ranking of No. 120 at the start of this season. She made her debut at the Grand Slams in singles during the 2023 edition of the Australian Open. Gadecki advanced to the second round and lost to Marta Kostyuk. This year, the wild card entry could not secure a victory in the opening match against Sloane Stephens.

Gadecki was serving much faster than Stephens but could not take control of the rallies. She could only win three points on her second serve in the 56-minute match. The 21-year-old will now focus on improving her skills at the baseline.

Kim Birrell

Kim Birrell made her WTA tour debut at the Hobart International in 2016. She was ranked No. 341 at the time and defeated Danka Kovinic in the opening round. Kovinic was ranked No. 55 at that time, as Birrell lost the next match to Dominika Cibulkova. Three years later, Birell entered the third round at a grand slam for the first time in Melbourne.

This year, the 25-year-old was given a wildcard entry into the main draw. Birell faced a tough opening round against Jelena Ostapenko. She was down 2-5 in the opening set but fought back to take it to the tiebreak, where Ostapenko regained her form. In the second set, Birell could only win one game and could not break the Latvian’s serve once.

Daria Saville

Daria Saville was one of the highest-ranked Australian players in 2017. She was No. 20 in 2017 and had reached the fourth round in Australia twice. Injuries kept her out of the tour most of the time, as her rankings fell to No. 788 in September 2020. Since then, Saville has been attempting to make a comeback to the sport. She reached the semifinals at the 2024 Hobert International.

The 29-year-old received a wildcard and played against Magdalena Frech in the opening round. In the three-hour contest, Saville committed 62 unforced errors, including 26 in the third set. She could not get past Frech whenever she came to the net. Saville’s 30th appearance at a grand slam ended in a heartbreaking first-round loss.

Ajla Tomljanovic

Ajla Tomljanovic first played at the Australian Open a decade ago. Since then, she has been featured in seven editions. Ahead of this year’s Australian Open, Tomljanovic made a comeback to the tour after missing most of the 2023 season due to a knee injury. She played four matches and lost three of them before coming to Melbourne.

Tomljanovic faced Petra Martic in the opening round. The pair had earlier played in the qualifying stages of the Australian Open in 2011, where Martic won. This time, Tomljanovic emerged as the winner in two hours and 54 minutes with her superior volleys and passing shots. She could not make it to the third round as Ostapenko overpowered Tomljanovic.

Storm Hunter

One of the senior players from Australia, Storm Hunters, came through the qualifying rounds to enter the main draw. She was playing at the Australian Open for the seventh time and was looking for a victory at the event. Hunters hit 44 winners in her first-round victory against Sara Errani and won a three-setter against Laura Siegemund in the second round.

Hunter’s best grand slam performance came to an end in the third round against Barbora Krejcikova. She could not compete against Krejcikova’s serve. After two hours and 30 minutes, Hunter bowed out of the 2024 Australian Open singles competition. She was the only Australian woman to have reached the third round in the singles main draw.

Thanasi Kokkinakis

The 2024 Australian Open marked the 20th grand slam appearance of Thanasi Kokkinakis. He started the 2024 season with two opening-round defeats in Australia.

Kokkinakis was involved in a four-hour battle in the opening round against Sebastian Ofner. In the next round, the 27-year-old lost out in a three-hour and twenty-minute match against Grigor Dimitrov.

Max Purcell

Max Purcell played two events before playing at the 2024 Australian Open. He secured his first victory at the event in his third attempt. Purcell beat qualifier Mate Valkusz in a match that saw 88 winners in four sets. In the next round, the 25-year-old lost the match after hitting 93 winners in three hours and 50 minutes against Casper Ruud.

Alexei Popyrin

In his two matches at this year’s Australian Open, Alexei Popyrin hit 108 winners in front of his home crowd. He defeated fellow Australian and wildcard entry Marc Polmans in the opening round.

𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 FROM ALEXEI POPYRIN! 🤩

Djokovic falls further behind in the 2nd set 👀#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/DAAtkfBlDD

— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 17, 2024

In the next round, he was able to take a set-off against Novak Djokovic. Popyrin had four set points in the third set but could not convert those chances as Djokovic went on to win the set and the match.

Jordan Thompson

Since 2014, Jordan Thompson has been present at the Australian Open every year. He ended his three-match losing streak after beating Aleksandar Vukic in the first round. The match yielded 110 unforced errors in four hours and five minutes. In the second round, Thompson was ousted by Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets.

Christopher O’Connell

Christopher O’Connell started his Australian Open campaign with a long and grueling win against Cristian Garin. O’Connell faced Ben Shelton in the next round. Shelton’s service games provided him with the lead over O’Connell.

The American had recorded one of the fastest serves of the event in the match against O’Connell. Shelton’s fastest serve was 143 miles per hour, and O’Connell could not match the speed of his groundstrokes.

James McCabe

In the first grand slam match of his career, James McCabe put on quite a show for the fans against Alex Michelsen. Although McCabe ended up losing the match in four sets, he showed the world why he deserved a wildcard entry. The 20-year-old hit the fastest serve by an Australian so far at this year’s edition; his serve was recorded at 135 miles per hour.

Marc Polmans

Polmans had a tough outing this time in Australia. The wildcard faced Popyrin in the opening round and was pushed beyond the baseline by his groundstrokes.

Popyrin prevails!

Because of points like this @AlexeiPopyrin99 wins the battle of the Aussies out on JCA, defeating Marc Polmans 6-3 7-6(3) 6-2.#AusOpen • @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/gh6xQMaVSZ

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2024

In the second set, Polmans was a few points from leveling the score, but unforced errors cost him the match. He had three chances to break Popyrin’s serve in the match but failed to convert any.

Adam Walton

Adam Walton made his debut in the majors at the 2024 Australian Open. The wildcard entry faced Matteo Arnaldi in the opening round. Walton’s second serve seemed to have contributed to his loss against Arnaldi. The 24-year-old was on the back foot in long rallies and could only make two breakpoints out of 11.

Dane Sweeny

Dane Sweeny had lost in the qualifiers of the Grand Slams four times before entering this year’s Australian Open as a wildcard.

He faced Francisco Cerundolo in the first round and pushed the match to five sets. Sweeny could only hit a single ace in the match and was not taking risks.

Jason Kubler

Jason Kubler was seeking his second win in his fourth appearance at the Australian Open. He faced Daniel Elahi Galan in the opening round and was a minute short of reaching the five-hour mark. The wildcard hit 62 winners and 83 unforced errors, while Galan hit 61 winners and 73 unforced errors. Both players were not hesitant to take risks, but Kubler lost the match.

James Duckworth

James Duckworth was the oldest player in the men’s draw to be awarded the wild card in the 2024 Australian Open. The 31-year-old faced Luca Van Assche, who was six years old when Duckworth turned professional in 2010.

A massive effort by James Duckworth 😢

The Aussie went down after an epic five-set match against Luca Van Assche. pic.twitter.com/l2AtP9Q9gX

— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) January 15, 2024

Duckworth could not get his volleys right at the net, but he was serving well. Assche played a controlled game to win the match in five sets.

Aleksandar Vukic

Vukic was playing at the Australian Open for the fourth consecutive year. He had reached the second round in 2022. He faced Thompson in the opening round, as the fans witnessed 66 points at the net.

Vukic could only win 14 of them. The 27-year-old could not handle the pressure, as unforced errors in the second and final set cost him the match.

Omar Jasika

In the qualifiers, Omar Jasika had lost a set in each match before entering the main draw. It marked his return to the Grand Slam for the first time since the 2017 Australian Open.

Jasika was going head-to-head against Hubert Hurkacz in the first set of the opening match. Hurkacz won the set in a tiebreak and annihilated Osika in the following two sets with his serve and volleys.

Rinky Hijikata

Rinky Hijikata has been playing well in the last few months of the tour. He achieved a career-best ranking of No. 70 in October last year. Hijikata faced Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round.

The match saw both players hitting ace after ace. Struff came to the net on 84 occasions for 56 points. Hijikata lost a thrilling match in the tiebreak of the fifth set.

Alex De Minaur

Alex De Minaur is currently the highest-ranked Australian on the ATP tour. No. 10 has had six wins in seven matches this year. De Minaur was the last Australian to depart from Melbourne in the singles competition. He reached the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third time in a row. The last Australian player to achieve this feat was Lleyton Hewitt, from 2003 to 2005.

De Minaur beat Milos Raonic in the opening round, and the Canadian withdrew in the third set. The 24-year-old only needed two hours for a win in the second and third-round matches. He lost to Andrey Rublev in five sets. The match lasted for four hours and 14 minutes, as De Minaur missed out on a well-deserving second quarterfinal Grand Slam appearance.

It has been a mixed bag for the Australian contingent at their home slam. While many showed glimpses of their brilliance, many have also been found wanting. Hopefully, better luck will prevail in the next major.