American Ryan Harrison may not have won a match in qualifying at the Australian Open in 2015, but the nineteenth seed will have the chance to qualify in 2016 after making the final round. He defeated Denys Molchanov 6-3, 6-1. Despite Harrison’s success, a number of seeds fell out of contention on Friday.
The biggest surprise was the loss of fourth seed Alejandro Falla. Falla, who came close to beating Roger Federer in the first round of Wimbledon 2010, lost to Niels Desein 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. The Colombian was only the highest seed to fall as five others joined him. Jan-Lennard Struff (5) had the misfortune to be drawn against wily veteran Radek Stapanek in the second-round, and the Czech defeated the tall German 6-4, 6-4. Go Soeda (8) followed, as the Japanese took his leave following a defeat to Alexander Kudryavtsev, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Radu Albot (10) completed the loss of five top ten seeds, as he lost to James McGee of Ireland 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The losses of seeds did not stop at the top ten however. Konstantin Kravchuk (18) found Yan Bai too difficult to defeat, as the Chinese scored a massive win against the Russian, winning 2-6, 6-4, 8-6 in two hours and eleven minutes. Thomas Fabbiano (26) of Italy was another victim of a Chinese shock, as Di Wu won through instead 6-1, 6-4.
Despite Ryan Harrison’s progression, the United States did see some disappointment, after seeing all their players progress from Thursday’s Men’s Qualifiying Second Round, two departed today. The biggest shock was the loss of young talent Frances Tiafoe, who was surprised by German Peter Gojowczyk 6-3, 6-2. Tatsumo Ito (13) also ended the hopes of Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-2.
Other results:
Daniel Brands (30) defs. Maxime Janvier 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (11) defs. Jordi Samper-Montana 6-3, 6-2.
Saketh Myneni defs. Lorenzo Giustino 6-1, 7-6.
Alejandro Gonzalez (24) defs. Marinko Matosevic 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Adrian Menendez-Maceiras defs. Oliver Anderson 6-4, 6-2.
Mirza Basic (22) defs. Marius Copil 6-3, 7-6.
Aleksandr Nedovyesov defs. Aldin Setkic 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.
Marco Trungelliti defs. Dennis Novak 6-3, 6-4.
Pierre-Hugues Herbet defs. Marco Chiudinelli 7-6, 6-4.
