Cruz Hewitt and Bernard Tomic Out of Australian Open Qualifying

Fran Jones and Billy Harris advanced to the second round of Australian Open qualifying, while several other British players were eliminated at Melbourne Park. Jones secured her spot with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, and Harris triumphed over Japan's Yuta Shimizu in a closely contested match. In contrast, Paul Jubb, Lily Miyazaki, and Jan Choinski faced defeats, with Jubb losing to Juan Pablo Ficovich and Miyazaki narrowly edged out by Marie Benoit. Notably, Cruz Hewitt, son of former world number one Lleyton Hewitt, lost in the first round of qualifying to Nikoloz Basilashvili, while veteran Bernard Tomic also exited after a straight-set defeat to Jozef Kovalik. Tomic's performance marked his second consecutive failure to qualify for the Australian Open, having last participated in 2022. Players must win three qualifying matches to reach the main draw, set to commence on Sunday.