Tennis

Australian window: Svrčina advances to the next round of qualification, Kopřiva finishes

Qualifying for the main stage of the Australian Open began on Sunday night and two Czechs were also in action. While Dalibor Svrcina turned his match around and advanced to the next round, Vít Kopřiva bid farewell to the tournament after a poor performance.

Published

2 years ago

9. 1. 2023

Jiří Černý

Svrcina moves on after a struggle

The opening Grand Slam of the season is fast approaching and seven Czechs will try to qualify for the main stage of the Australian Open. Dalibor Svrcina and Vít Kopřiva were on court tonight.

Svrcina, who was also part of the Czech selection at the United Cup, has been making steady progress in his game and moving up the ATP rankings. The 20-year-old Czech is currently ranked 219th, and in the first round of qualifying he faced Britain’s Paul Jubb (218th).

Svrcina’s first participation at the Australian Open eventually ended with a win and advancement to the second round of qualifying. However, it was not an easy match for him. The Czech talent managed to win the first set 6:3, but his opponent had a lot of break points.

This proved to be decisive in the second set, which Svrcina lost 1::6 and was unable to break his opponent’s serve even once. On the other hand, he failed twice on his serve.

In the decisive third set, things did not look too good for Svrcina, but he managed to hold his serve at 2:4 and converted his first break point in the third set in the eighth game.

His opponent was clearly upset and the native of Ostrava took advantage of his opponent’s bad mood on the very next serve when Jubba broke him with a clean game – 6::4.

In the second round Dalibor Svrcina will face the Argentinian “bad boy” Nicolas Kicker (201st), who recently served his almost three-year sentence for match-fixing and betting.

Dalibor Svrcina (222nd) – Paul Jubb (219th) – 6::3, 1::6, 6::4

Kopriva retires from the Australian Open

On the other hand, Vít Kopřiva (140) was the one who didn’t play well at all. The fresh father and winner of the Prostejov Challenger didn’t come to Australia in great shape. Unfortunately, it showed in his qualifying match with home player Dane Sweeney (249th).

After a tough fight, Kopriva lost his first two serves in the opening set and could not break through to a break point – 1::6. The second set looked very similar, the 25-year-old Kopriva failed to hold his serve and his opponent punished him uncompromisingly for these mistakes.

After one match, the Czech player ends his stay in Australia, as he has no more tournaments registered here.

Vít Kopřiva (140th) – Dane Sweeny (AUS, 249th) – 1::6, 1::6