Jordan Thompson is amongst a history-making six Australians to progress to the second spherical at an ATP 250 event in Mexico this week.
Los Cabos, Mexico, 21 February 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Six Australians have superior to the second spherical in singles at an ATP 250 event in Mexico this week.
Third seed Alex de Minaur obtained an opening-round bye within the 28-player draw, whereas his compatriots Jordan Thompson, Max Purcell, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Rinky Hijikata and Aleksandar Vukic all scored first-round wins.
With all these Aussies avoiding one another within the spherical of 16, it means six of the eight second-round matches on the event will characteristic an Australian competitor.
> READ MORE: Aussies dominating at Los Cabos
It’s a history-making effort, marking one of the best consequence for Australians at an ATP Tour occasion of this measurement in 28 years.
The final time this occurred was in 1996, when Jason Stoltenberg loved a title-winning run at Coral Springs in America. He was joined within the second spherical by Aussie friends Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, Richard Fromberg, Pat Rafter and Michael Tebbutt.
The earlier finest effort was 5 Australians progressing to the spherical of 16, which has been recorded simply twice since 2000. This occurred at Brisbane in 2015 (Kokkinakis, James Duckworth, Sam Groth, John Millman and Bernard Tomic) and at Los Cabos in 2022 (Hijikata, Thompson, Purcell, Kokkinakis and Jason Kubler).
Australian males are additionally having fun with success elsewhere on tour this week, with Alexei Popyrin and Chris O’Connell scoring opening-round wins at an ATP 250 event in Doha.
> READ: O’Connell upsets world No.25 Struff in Doha opening spherical
AUSSIE RESULTS
LOS CABOS
Males’s singles, first spherical
[3] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Bye
[7] Max Purcell (AUS) d Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) 6-4 4-6 6-4
[8] Jordan Thompson (AUS) d [WC] Ernesto Escobedo (MEX) 6-4 6-3
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d [6] Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 6-3 7-6(2)
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d Jack Draper (GBR) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) d [WC] Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez (MEX) 7-6(5) 7-6(10)
DOHA
Males’s singles, first spherical
Chris O’Connell (AUS) d [6] Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-4 6-4
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) d [WC] Abdullah Shelbayh (JOR) 3-6 6-3 6-4
COMING UP
LOS CABOS
Males’s singles, second spherical
[3] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Alex Michelsen (USA)
[7] Max Purcell (AUS) v Nuno Borges (POR)
[8] Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [Q] Emilio Nava (USA)
Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) v [2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v Aleksandar Kovacevic (USA)
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v Dan Evans (GBR)
DOHA
Males’s singles, second spherical
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v [Q] Hugo Grenier (FRA)
Chris O’Connell (AUS) v Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN)
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