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Alex de Minaur, Max Purcell and Aleksandar Vukic lead a robust Aussie contingent at this week’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai.
Shanghai, China, 3 October 2023 | Leigh Rogers
The unimaginable depth in Australian males’s tennis is obvious at this week’s Shanghai Masters, the place an unprecedented 11 Aussies characteristic within the singles major draw.
That is the highest-ever illustration of Australians within the singles major draw at an ATP Masters 1000 occasion.
The ATP Masters 1000s are a collection of tournaments that had been launched in 1990 and are thought of the tour’s largest occasions exterior of the 4 Grand Slams.
World No.12 Alex de Minaur leads the Aussie cost in Shanghai this week, receiving direct acceptance alongside compatriots Max Purcell, Alexei Popyrin, Aleksandar Vukic, Chris O’Connell, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
An extra 4 Australians – Rinky Hijikata, James Duckworth, Dane Sweeny and Philip Sekulic – earned their place by means of qualifying.
It marks the primary time that 22-year-old Sweeny and 20-year-old Sekulic have certified at an ATP Masters 1000 event.
> READ: Philip Sekulic – A rising star of Australian tennis
“Tennis in Australia goes very well proper now,” Duckworth mentioned beating compatriot 20-year-old James McCabe within the ultimate qualifying spherical.
“There’s so many within the draw, so it’s in all probability an excellent likelihood you’re taking part in one in all them at some stage. However I feel all of us do a reasonably good job of simply kind of placing that behind us and going on the market and competing.
“Then we get round one another, you realize, off-court and it’s an excellent camaraderie.”
The earlier file for variety of Australians in an ATP Masters 1000 singles major draw was eight.
This was final achieved in 1999, when Pat Rafter, Mark Philippoussis, Jason Stoltenberg, Scott Draper, Andrew Ilie, Lleyton Hewitt, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde all competed in Miami.
The Australian males are additionally setting a brand new event file in Shanghai, the place their earlier highest illustration was three (set in 2018 with De Minaur, Nick Kyrgios and Matt Ebden).
The overall variety of Australian males competing at this 12 months’s event, together with doubles and qualifying, is nineteen.
AUSSIES IN ACTION – Shanghai
RESULTS
Males’s qualifying singles, ultimate spherical
[1] Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d Benjamin Lock (ZIM) 6-1 6-4
[3] James Duckworth (AUS) d [21] James McCabe (AUS) 7-6(6) 6-2
[19] Dane Sweeny (AUS) d [12] Seongchan Hong (KOR) 6-2 6-1
Philip Sekulic (AUS) d Arthur Weber (FRA) 6-4 6-3
[2] Aleksandar Kovacevic (USA) d [13] Li Tu (AUS) 6-2 6-7(8) 7-5
[16] Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) d Luke Saville (AUS) 6-3 6-3
[18] Stefano Napolitano (ITA) d [4] Marc Polmans (AUS) 6-7(3) 6-6 def.
COMING UP
Males’s singles, first spherical
[11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Bye
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP)
Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [Q] Terence Atmane (FRA)
Chris O’Connell (AUS) v Botic van de Zandschulp (NED)
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Matteo Arnaldi (ITA)
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v [WC] Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Max Purcell (AUS) v [Q] Hsu Yu-Hsiou (TPE)
[Q] Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v Laslo Djere (SRB)
[Q] James Duckworth (AUS) v Yannick Hanfmann (GER)
[Q] Dane Sweeny (AUS) v Taro Daniel (JPN)
[Q] Philip Sekulic (AUS) v Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
> VIEW: Shanghai Masters males’s singles draw
Males’s doubles, first spherical
[4] Matt Ebden (AUS)/Rohan Bopanna (IND) v Matwe Middelkoop (NED)/Andrea Mies (GER)
Alex de Minaur (AUS)/Max Purcell (AUS) v [1] Ivan Dodig (CRO)/Austin Krajicek (USA)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS)/Cameron Norrie (GBR) v Hubert Hurkacz (POL)/Ben Shelton (USA)
John Friends (AUS)/Nikola Mektic (CRO) v Kevin Krawietz (GER)/Tim Puetz (GER)
> VIEW: Shanghai Masters males’s doubles draw
Guide on-line, play at the moment: Go to play.tennis.com.au to get out on courtroom and have some enjoyable!
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