Alex de Minaur will play for the primary time because the US Open as the highest seed in Antwerp, whereas Ajla Tomljanovic, Olivia Gadecki and Kimberly Birrell will contest WTA occasions in Asia after qualifying.
Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 14 October 2024 | Matt Trollope
Alex de Minaur will make his return to the match courtroom when he contests the ATP event in Antwerp this week.
De Minaur is the highest seed on the European Open, the place he’ll play for the primary time in a month after taking additional outing to recuperate from a hip harm following his US Open quarterfinal.
He’s considered one of seven Australians in motion at tour-level occasions this week throughout the globe, together with Ajla Tomljanovic, Olivia Gadecki, Kimberly Birrell, James Duckworth, Aleksandar Vukic and Chris O’Connell.
Tomljanovic and Gadecki have continued their spectacular type by qualifying for the principle draw on the WTA 500 event in Ningbo, China.
Tomljanovic, a latest winner on the WTA 125K occasion in Hong Kong, dropped simply 5 video games in two qualifying victories in Ningbo.
Again within the prime 100, she has gained seven of her previous eight matches and features up in the principle draw towards China’s Yuan Yue.
Gadecki, who sits only one spot above Tomljanovic within the rankings at world No.84, got here by way of Ningbo qualifying in similarly-commanding model, successful each her matches in straight units.
The No.1 Aussie lady’s subsequent task is a troublesome opening-round match towards resurgent Czech Karolina Muchova, a US Open semifinalist and China Open finalist.
The winner of that match will face No.2 seed Zheng Qinwen.
Gadecki, Australia’s No.1 lady since reaching the WTA closing in Guadalajara, mentioned her newly-reworked Asian swing schedule in her latest look on The Sit-Down podcast.
Sitting down with Australia’s new No.1 WTA singles participant 👋
Olivia Gadecki is the newest Aussie success story of 2024 🎧 https://t.co/Q6r3CarVU1 pic.twitter.com/rNhxzk0Owd
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) September 23, 2024
In Osaka, Birrell gained two matches in qualifying to arrange a first-round assembly with Zheng Saisai in the principle draw.
Prior to now six weeks, Birrell has gained by way of the qualifying rounds to achieve predominant attracts on the US Open and WTA occasions in Guadalajara, Beijing and Osaka.
Additional west in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Duckworth and Vukic will conflict in an all-Aussie affair within the first spherical of that ATP 250 occasion.
Duckworth arrives in Almaty contemporary of his ATP Challenger title in Hangzhou, China, whereas Vukic superior to the third spherical of the Shanghai Masters earlier this month, upsetting No.8 seed Casper Ruud alongside the best way for his first top-10 win.
AUSSIE WEEKLY WRAP: Duckworth again within the winner’s circle in China
Becoming a member of them in the principle draw is O’Connell, who opens towards Canada’s Gabriel Diallo.
And in Europe, De Minaur will play simply his second event since Wimbledon as he continues to make his approach again from a hip cartilage tear.
The world No.9, who reached consecutive main quarterfinals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open this yr, receives a first-round bye in Antwerp.
He’ll face the winner of the match between Dominik Koepfer and Roberto Carballes Baena.
De Minaur, who peaked at world No.6 in July, has constructed a formidable 40-13 win-loss report in 2024.
