Marino-Hume recovers from second set wobbles to qualify for Australian Open over Williams
Rosedale books spot in main draw with upset win over struggling Henman
Sydney professional Alexander Marino-Hume has qualified for his first ever Open singles and doubles draws, following the conclusion of qualifying for the Australian Open qualifying at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club on Monday.
The first qualifying match of the second round was between the Oratory pro Henry Henman and the Melbourne amateur Paul Rosedale. Henman, having had a tight battle with Sammy Legg in the first round, looked to play more conservatively this time around, but found himself pinned at the hazard end by the ever-chaotic Rosedale. Henman spent just 3 of the first 22 restes of the match at the service end as Rosedale had every shot covered and then some with his big boasted shots. After hitting some poor unforced errors, Henman changed gears and started to hit the ball with more vigour, including a force volley that struck Rosedale in the back to win the sixth game. But it was too little, too late for Henman, as Rosedale rarely made an error as he collected the next two games to take the first set.
The second set was not much better for Henman as he continued to dump balls into the net. Rosedale was untroubled when fetching balls out of the corners and patient enough to wait for the overreaching shot from his opponent. His railroad was consistently able to ellicit a floated volley return from Henman, which he was easily able to put away on the next stroke, if not to win the rally then to gain the upper hand such that he would win it a few strokes later anyway. Rosedale was increasingly pumped up as he approached the finish line, letting out a few audible celebrations on winning key points. He won the second set without dropping only one game, securing his spot in the main draw against Nino Merola.
The last match of singles qualifying was between the Sydney pro Alex Marino-Hume and the Melbourne amateur Rhys Williams. Marino-Hume was too strong throughout, ripping in cut-volleys and covering the court very well. Williams tried to find counterplay but couldn’t find a way to get past Marino-Hume’s racket as he played ball after ball an inch off the floor. Everything was going right for the Sydney pro — even his shot that bounced off the ledge of the winning gallery that Williams retrieved at full stretch, Marino-Hume was still able to deposit into the grille. Marino-Hume’s dedans hitting was also a strength, always able to put Williams’s serve under pressure.
After Marino-Hume won the first set without dropping a game, Williams was able to find more success in the second by returning to the fundamentals: retrieving well and finding the galleries with regularity. The home crowd swung behind Williams as well, cheering on every game and shot he made. Marino-Hume was cruising in the set, up 4/2 and 40-0 with a chase worse than 2 but stood by and watched Williams’s cut-volley float in to beat the chase. Williams went on to win that game which kick-started a resurgence, winning four straight games and the set as Marino-Hume stalled out, searching for a couple of easy points to win the match but they never came.
The third set was tight, with the players exchanging the first five games evenly between them. Gone was Marino-Hume’s confident hitting and Williams’s neat and tidy strokeplay and in its place was a hard-fought dog fight. Both players were in with a shot, but eventually Marino-Hume was able to establish a foothold. Once he had done so, his confidence grew and his strong hitting returned, pushing through the last three games before celebrating as he crossed the finish line to secure his first main draw Open appearance.
After a break of a few hours the two successful singles qualifiers returned to court to face off in the doubles qualifier for the one position available in the main draw, with Marino-Hume partnering Claire Fahey and Rosedale partnering Tony Hollins. Fahey and Hollins played back for their respective pairings, letting Rosedale and Marino-Hume fight it out at the galleries. The service end was the place to be, as each of the senior partners tried to pick off the hazard-end players as much as possible. The pairs were evenly matched throughout the first set, with neither team earning more than a game’s lead. Fahey and Marino-Hume let a set point go by at advantage in the 5/4 game, but won the deciding 5-all game by letting the ball sail into last gallery to lose a better than 6 chase.
The win of the first set helped Fahey and Marino-Hume carry on into the second, opening up a two-game lead for the first time in the match. Fahey in particular was increasingly on top of her game from the service end, patiently working over their opponents until the error eventuated, while Marino-Hume played impressively over the lowest part of the net from his position at the galleries, After losing the third game of the set, she and Marino-Hume pulled away, winning the next three straight games. They gave away one more game with a rare unforced error from Fahey, but that would not stop them going on to win the match and securing their place in the main draw to play Chris Chapman and Camden Riviere.
The main draw matches will begin on Tuesday with four first round open singles matches plus the only match of the women’s singles qualifying, while the doubles main draw will begin on Friday.
Match results:
1:30 PM: Henry Henman lost to Paul Rosedale 2/6 1/6
2:30 PM: Rhys Williams lost to Alex Marino-Hume 0/6 6/4 2/6
6:30 PM: Paul Rosedale & Tony Hollins lost to Claire Fahey & Alex Marino-Hume 5/6 2/6
Order of play for Tuesday (all times AEDT):
11:00 AM: Tony Hollins vs Kieran Booth (6)
Followed by (approx 12:30 PM): Nino Merola vs Paul Rosedale (Q)
Not before 3:00 PM: Steve Virgona vs Alex Marino-Hume (Q)
Not before 4:30 PM: Rachel Hollington vs Rose Blanden
Not before 6:00 PM: Claire Fahey vs Lewis Williams (4)