Baptiste, Zheng Qinwen, Bronzetti qualify for Australian Open

Rising young talents Hailey Baptiste, 20, and Zheng Qinwen, 19, both triumphed in tough three-set battles in the final qualifying round to make their Australian Open main draw debuts.

For the second straight week, No.13 seed Zheng overcame No.28 seed Mai Hontama in a deciding set, winning through 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 in 2 hours and 25 minutes. The Chinese teenager had also defeated Hontama 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of Melbourne Summer Set 1 en route to her first WTA semifinal, and their rematch was another tightly contested stylistic contrast.

The 22-year-old Hontama defended valiantly and came up with some superb shots on the run to force a decider, but ultimately it was Zheng's irresistible easy power that took control of the match again to score the crucial break for 4-2.

Zheng, who was contesting her first Grand Slam qualifying event, will make her main draw debut against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, with the winner potentially facing No.5 seed Maria Sakkari.

Earlier, Baptiste had narrowly survived the in-form Yuan Yue 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, coming from 3-1 down in the second-set tiebreak to end her Chinese opponent's seven-match winning streak. Over the course of the contest's 2 hours and 40 minutes, neither play gave an inch. There were just three breaks of serve in the match, a mid-set exchange in the second act and one in the decider for Baptiste.

The No.168-ranked American struck 45 winners over the course of the match, and conjured some of her best shotmaking when she needed it - the forehand pass to seal the second set and the swashbuckling forehand winner to seal the break for 5-3 in the third.

Trevisan, Bronzetti fly Italian flag

No.2 seed Martina Trevisan needed to save a match point in her first round against Irina Fetecau, but since then the 2020 Roland Garros quarterfinalist has motored through the draw. Trevisan struck 32 winners to just 10 unforced errors in a supreme 6-2, 6-3 performance against No.19 seed Olga Govortsova.

Italian compatriot and No.26 seed Lucia Bronzetti also joined Trevisan in the main draw after coming from a set down to upset No.15 seed Nao Hibino 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Bronzetti, 23, pulled off one of the more underrated feats of the 2021 season when she reached the quarterfinals of the first three WTA main draws of her career in Lausanne, Palermo and Portoroz. Now ranked at No.145, she added a Grand Slam main draw debut to her rapidly growing list of milestones.

College alumnae Hartono, Bektas graduate to major stage

Two stars of the US college system came through tight three-setters to book their spots in a Grand Slam main draw for the first time. University of Mississippi alumna Arianne Hartono, 25, survived a seesaw encounter to defeat No.17 seed Jule Niemeier 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. The Dutchwoman was the NCAA Division I champion in 2018, and was contesting her first Grand Slam qualifying event after rising over 200 ranking places in the past 12 months.

Hartono was joined by University of Michigan alumna Emina Bektas, 28, who held off former World No.24 Christina McHale 6-3, 1-6, 7-6[7]. The No.216-ranked American, fresh off the Traralgon ITF W60 semifinals last week, lost a 5-2 third-set lead as McHale forced a super-tiebreak. However, Bektas gathered herself to strike a series of fine forehands to take control of it.

From ITF W15s to a Grand Slam for Jang and Masarova

In March last year, Jang Su Jeong and Rebeka Masarova squared off at the lowest level of professional tennis - a first-round ITF W15 match in Antalya. Eight months later, they met again with a place in the Australian Open main draw on the line.

Their Antalya match was partly a reflection of the paucity of tournaments available to lower-ranked players as professional tennis continued to get back on its feet following the Covid-19 shutdown. Masarova, then ranked No.737, was also still in the nascent stages of her comeback from the sundry injuries that have beset the Spaniard.

Masarova, the 2016 Roland Garros junior champion and 2017 Australian Open junior runner-up, won that clash 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-3. In Melbourne, though, Jang dealt out a 6-2, 6-3 revenge in 1 hour and 24 minutes to successfully navigate a Grand Slam qualifying competition for the first time in 12 attempts. The No.212-ranked 26-year-old becomes the fourth South Korean woman to play in a Grand Slam main draw this century following Jeon Mi-Ra, Cho Yoon-Jeong and Han Na-Lae.

Voegele saves match points; Marino, Kuzmova, Tsurenko advance

No.25 seed Stefanie Voegele became the third player to win from match point down in this year's qualifying, fending off two to overcome Indy De Vroome 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 51 minutes.

The Swiss former World No.42 used all her experience to book a place in her eighth Australian Open main draw, keeping a watertight ship against her big-hitting opponent. No.252-ranked De Vroome struck 54 winners, but those were outweighed by 68 unforced errors - including 10 double faults, the last of which sealed the final and crucial break of the match at 5-5 in the third set.

Three other former Top 50 players also made their way back to the Australian Open main draw. No.24 seed Rebecca Marino fired 24 aces, including three in the super-tiebreak, to upset No.8 seed Kamilla Rakhimova 4-6, 6-2, 7-6[7]; and former World No.43 Viktoria Kuzmova completed her run through qualifying without dropping a set after defeating Aliona Bolsova 6-2, 7-5. 

No.6 seed and 2018 US Open quarterfinalist Lesia Tsurenko also came through without the loss of a set, completing her qualifying competitiom 6-4, 6-0 over 19-year-old Russian Elina Avanesyan. Tsurenko's reward will be a clash with No.1 seed Ashleigh Barty in the main draw.

2022 Australian Open: The qualifiers and their placements in the main draw

[1] Ashleigh Barty (AUS) vs. [Q] Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)
Varvara Gracheva (RUS) vs. [Q] Lucia Bronzetti (ITA)
[Q] Arianne Hartono (NED) vs. Amanda Anisimova (USA)
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) vs. [Q] Zheng Qinwen (CHN)
[Q] Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) vs. [WC] Wang Xiyu (CHN)
Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) vs. [Q] Cristina Bucsa (ESP)
Zheng Saisai (CHN) vs. [Q] Martina Trevisan (ITA)
[Q] Caroline Dolehide (USA) vs. [27] Danielle Collins (USA)
[Q] Katie Volynets (USA) vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA)
[Q] Jang Su Jeong (KOR) vs. Danka Kovinic (MNE)
Alizé Cornet (FRA) vs. [Q] Viktoriya Tomova (BUL)
[7] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs. [Q] Harriet Dart (GBR)
[Q] Stefanie Voegele (SUI) vs. [25] Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
Marie Bouzkova (CZE) vs. [Q] Rebecca Marino (CAN)
[Q] Hailey Baptiste (USA) vs. Caroline Garcia (FRA)
[Q] Emina Bektas (USA) vs. Liudmila Samsonova (RUS)