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Three Aussies bite the red dirt in Paris

3 minute read

Three more Aussies - Aleksandar Vukic, Marc Polmans and Ellen Perez - have been eliminated in French Open qualifying, leaving only Storm Sanders to fight on.

ELLEN PEREZ.
ELLEN PEREZ. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

It started with a dozen Australian hopefuls all battling to make it through French Open qualifying into the main draw.

Now, there's just one left standing.

Storm Sanders will attempt to join her nine colleagues who are already in the main draw for the clay-court grand slam which will kick off on Sunday when she tackles her final qualifier at Roland Garros on Friday.

The Rockhampton leftie was reminded just how difficult it is to make it through three demanding rounds of qualifying on the Paris red stuff when three more of her Australian colleagues - Ellen Perez, Aleksandar Vukic and Marc Polmans - got kayoed on Thursday.

It looked as if a couple of draining three-setters may have finally caught up with Shellharbour's Perez, who battled again for 81 minutes only to succumb to the 17th qualifying seed, Belgian Greet Minnen 7-5 6-4.

Perez was still battling well deep into the second set but, having fought back from 2-5 to 4-5, delivered a calamitous game, featuring a couple of double faults, including the sickener on match point.

There was no shame in Melbourne's Polmans going out 6-4 6-0 to the highly promising Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles, a 24-year-old from Valencia who's perfectly at home on the clay and could be tough to handle for anyone in the tournament proper.

Sydneysider Vukic's run came to an end after running into an opponent who has happy memories of Roland Garros.

A decade after winning the junior tournament in Paris, Bjorn Fratangelo, who was the first American to win the boys' event after a certain John McEnroe, qualified for the main draw for only the second time in his career.

Vukic, who's been battling with injuries of late, did rally after losing the first set but a couple of early unforced errors in the second set tiebreak set the man from Pittsburgh - who's named after the great Bjorn Borg - on the way to wrapping up a 6-2 7-6 (7-3) win in 80 minutes.

Sanders, who's had a fine year on the road, should start as favourite against the Swiss world No.219 Susan Bandecchi in her qualifying decider, but the 22-year-old has already caused a shock by disposing of Bulgaria's former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova.

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