Australian Open 2025: Francesca Jones and Billy Harris advance in qualifying on mixed day for British hopefuls
Updated 07/01/2025 at 14:39 GMT
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Francesca Jones and Billy Harris navigated the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open on a day in which three more Brits exited. Hopes of a dream Australian Open for Cruz Hewitt were also ended in the first round. The son of former Grand Slam champion and world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt showed glimpses of his potential in a 6-1 6-4 loss to Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Highlights: Hewitt's Cruz son loses in qualifiers to veteran Basilashvili in Melbourne
Video credit: SNTV
Francesca Jones and Billy Harris claimed first-round wins on a mixed day for Great Britain hopefuls at Australian Open qualifying.
Harris came from a set down at Melbourne Park to beat Japan’s Yuta Shimizu 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 and take a step closer to a spot in the main draw for the first time at the opening Grand Slam of the year.
He will face either Edward Winter or Carlos Taberner in the second round.
Also through is Jones, who is hoping to make her second appearance at the Australian Open.
The 29-year-old beat Linda Fruhvirtova 7-5 6-4 in a chaotic match that featured eight breaks of serve – including four in a row to begin the encounter – and lasted almost two hours.
Three Brits exited on Tuesday in Melbourne, however. Paul Jubb rallied from a set and 5-2 down to save two match points and earn one of the breaks back against Argentina’s Juan Pablo Ficovich but eventually lost 6-4 6-4.
Yuriko Miyazaki also saw her hopes of reaching the main draw for the women’s singles extinguished. It came down to the wire, but the Brit was beaten 5-7 6-4 6-7(8) by Belgium’s Marie Benoit.
Jan Choinski also failed to advance, losing in straight sets to Titouan Droguet.
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No dream debut for Hewitt
Earlier, Cruz Hewitt, son of two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, was one of the big-name casualties in the first round.
There was plenty of hype surrounding the 16-year-old as he made his first appearance at his home Grand Slam in front of a packed-out crowd at Melbourne Park.
He could hardly have made a worse start, dropping the first five games to Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, but he dug deep to show glimpses of his potential before ultimately losing 6-1 6-4 in 73 minutes.
The moment of the match came in the fourth game of the second set when the young Australian broke back to restore parity at 2-2 - but Basilashvili, a former top 20 player, responded immediately with another break that he didn’t relinquish.
France’s Richard Gasquet also fell at the first hurdle. The former Wimbledon and US Open semi-finalist recovered from a break down in the first set against Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic before losing it in a tie-break and eventually being beaten 7-6(4) 6-3.
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Watch and stream the 2025 Australian Open live on Eurosport and discovery+
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