Australian Open: Harriet Dart and Liam Broady qualify for first round
- Published
Harriet Dart's best performance at the Australian Open was reaching the second round in 2020
Australian Open 2022 |
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Dates: 17-30 January Venue: Melbourne Park |
Coverage: Daily radio commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Sport website and app, with selected live text commentaries online; TV highlights from middle Saturday. |
Harriet Dart and Liam Broady ensured Britain have seven representatives in the Australian Open singles draw after winning their final qualifying matches.
Dart won 6-3 6-3 against Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old is in the main draw at the opening Grand Slam of the season for the third time in four years.
Later on Friday, British men's number four Broady reached the main draw for the first time with a 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 win over Russia's Roman Safiullin.
Broady, 28, joins fellow Britons Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans in the men's singles, while Emma Raducanu and Heather Watson are in the women's singles.
Broady will play home favourite Nick Kyrgios in the first round at Melbourne Park, while Harriet Dart will face seventh seed Iga Swiatek.
Round one of the Australian Open gets under way on Monday.
"I'm super happy and pleased to be through," said Dart, who has come through qualifying at a Grand Slam for the fifth time in her career.
"Playing three matches in qualifying is never easy. I need to put myself in a position where I'm directly entered in the draw.
"Kimberly and I are good friends and practised a lot together but never played against each other. It is never going to be an easy match when you're playing for a spot in the main draw."
Dart played at Melbourne Park last week in a warm-up event for the Australian Open, winning two qualifying matches before losing in the first round to former US Open finalist Madison Keys.
"I benefitted from playing last week, getting three matches in under these conditions," she said.
"I've also got the experience of coming through qualifying here twice before, so that helped too."
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