Australian Open qualifiers: Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong closer to main draw after plucky win
The 20-year-old edges past Dmitry Popko but has 2 more qualifying rounds to get through to become first Hongkonger to play at Melbourne Park
Coleman Wong Chak-lam took one step towards becoming the first Hong Kong tennis player to qualify for the main draw of the Australian Open when he beat Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Wong edged the Russian-born Popko in a closely fought first qualifying match in Melbourne that lasted two hours and eight minutes.
The 20-year-old Hongkonger, ranked 172 in the world, still has to make it through two more qualifying matches before he gets to the first round of the tournament proper, which starts on Sunday.
Wong dominated the opening game, threatening to break the Kazakh’s serve at the first time of asking with two breakpoints. World No 182 Popko managed to hold serve, but Wong continued to add pressure, winning his first serve to love.
Hong Kong’s No 1 took the set right at the death, after breaking serve to take a 6-5 lead.
The 28-year-old Popko, who was also looking to make it to his first grand slam, won three games in a row in the second set and cruised to a 6-3 win, winning the final game to love.
