Brown, Stakhovsky & Troicki On Brink Of Australian Open Qualification

Three ATP Tour veterans — Dustin Brown, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Viktor Troicki — all stand one victory away from qualifying for the Australian Open. The qualifying competition is being held in Doha due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brown, 36, who is bidding to compete in the main draw for the first time in three years, struck eight aces and won 80 per cent of his first-service points to beat No. 22 seed Carlos Taberner 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday. He will next play Maxime Cressy, who fired 21 aces to overcome Yannick Maden 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Stakhovsky, 36, who last played in the main draw in 2016, recovered from 1-5 down in the first set to beat Jason Kubler 7-6(4), 6-4 and now plays another Australian, Dane Sweeny, in the final qualifying round on Wednesday.

Troicki, a month shy of his 35th birthday, knocked out Ulises Blanch 7-5, 6-3. The Serbian, who reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2011 and 2015-17, will next face No. 11 seed Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who defeated Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, former World No. 17 Bernard Tomic saved one match point at 4-5, 30/40 in the deciding set to edge past Tristan Schoolkate in a final 10-point tie-break, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(3). He will next challenge his fellow Australian, John-Patrick Smith, who beat Tallon Griekspoor 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Former World No. 23 Damir Dzumhur, who competed in the main draw third round in 2014 and 2018, defeated Julian Lenz 6-2, 6-2 and the seventh seed now meets Kimmer Coppejans.

Fifth seed Taro Daniel was a 6-3, 6-4 victor over Maximilian Marterer and now plays Elias Ymer, who defeated No. 27 seed Marc-Andrea Huesler 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Robin Haase also overcame Gian Marco Moroni 6-4, 7-5 and now plays Quentin Halys in the final qualifying round.

Carlos Alcaraz bounced back from a slow start in both sets to beat Evgeny Karlovskiy 7-6(1), 7-6(4). He will next face second seed Hugo Dellien, who beat Andrew Harris 6-4, 7-6(6). Michael Mmoh saved two match points at 4-5 in the third set to scrape past Zhe Li 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) and he now prepares to face Arthur Rinderknech.

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