Local lad Alex Bolt continued to surge at his home town event claiming another big scalp and joined a trio of his countrymen in the round of 16 at the Adelaide International as two significant withdrawals thinned the Australian contingent.
Both Ajla Tomljanovic and Alexei Popyrin pulled out of the event to ready themselves for the Australian Open which begins on Sunday with Popyrin dealing with a leg injury he suffered in his Brisbane International loss last Wednesday.
Tomljanovic, who is building up to the opening grand slam of 2024 having returned from a long injury layoff, played four games with the Australian team at the United Cup in first Perth then Sydney and pulled out before her opening match in Adelaide.
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There are no female Aussies left in the tournament after Perth teenager Taylah Preston went down to world no.20, Caroline Garcia from France.
But amid the exits, Bolt, the left-hander from Murray Bridge ranked 283 in the world who won his way in to the main draw through qualifying, accounted for Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild winning 6-3,6-2.
Bolt, 31, who doesn’t have a place in next week’s Australian Open, hit 25 winners to just 11 from his higher-ranked opponent, taking down the world no. 75 in just over an hour. He will play top seed Tommy Paul in the round of 16.
The victory came as fellow Aussies Jordan Thompson and Chris O’Connell also secured another match in Adelaide with straight sets wins.
Thompson, who took down 22-time grand slam champ, Rafael Nadal, in Brisbane last week, easily accounted for Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta, winning 6-2, 6-2 in an 82-minute stoush on centre court.
It was a fourth win in five matches so far in 2024 for the current world no.47 and he’ll take on world No.25, Italian Lorenzo Musetti in his next clash.
Earlier in the day, O’Connell upped his Australian Open preparation with a straight-sets win over world No.42, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech at The Drive.
His 6-4,6-4 win came after O’Connell lost to Popyrin in Brisbane last week and ensures another round of crucial match preparation before the world No.66 heads to Melbourne.
“I’ve had a lot of injuries. If I can get a full schedule together and play week-in, week-out, my tennis is going to do the rest,” O’Connell said after his win.
“It’s always tough getting that first win of the year. Pretty happy I got through this one.”
O’Connell, will faced Russian Alex Shevchenko in the next round, with the trio of Aussies to fly the flag after defending champion Thanasi Kokkinakis suffered an opening round loss on Monday night.
As the only remaining Aussies female in the draw 18-year-old wildcard Preston, who is from Perth, gave up a third set lead in a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 loss to Garcia.
Preston, who has been given a wildcard in to next week’s Australian Open, looked on track for an upset after seizing the second-set and was up 3-1 in the third before her more experienced opponent fought back to take the victory.
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