Marinko Matosevic’s career is at the crossroads after the Australian veteran lost in the first round of qualifying at Melbourne Park.
Matosevic won’t play in the Australian Open for the second-straight year after losing to Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, the world No.144, 6-4 6-2 on Wednesday.
He was the highest-profile local loser in qualifying for the year’s first major, but there were wins for John-Patrick Smith, Matt Ebden and Alex Bolt.
Smith prevailed over Augustin Velotti of Argentina 7-6 (8-6) 6-3, Ebden dismissed Kazakh Andrrey Golubev 6-1 6-2 in just 45 minutes and Bolt produced a fine comeback to prevail.
The 25-year-old wildcard defeated Romanian Marius Copil, who boasts one of the biggest serves on tour, 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 6-4 in over two hours.
Joining Matosevic on the losers’ list was Luke Saville, Max Purcell, Marc Polmans, Gavin Van Peperzeel, Scott Jones, Harry Bourchier and Maverick Banes.
Saville, a two-time junior major winner, put up a strong fight but couldn’t overcome hard-running American Denis Kudla.
Kudla moved to the second round of qualifying with a 6-4 7-5 win over 91 minutes.
Max Purcell was cruelled by injury as he lost 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 in a two-hour struggle to Andrey Rublev of Russia.
The 18-year-old looked pained while serving in the final set, limping to defeat.
Australia has six representatives in the women’s qualifying tournament, which begins on Thursday.
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