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Agencies
Dubai
Tsvetana Pironkova and Clara Burel represented two distinct groups of players sealing their place in the main draw at Australian Open 2021 after final-round qualifying victories on Wednesday.
Playing in Dubai, Pironkova and Burel were among 16 women booking their seat on a plane to Melbourne, where they will complete two weeks of hotel quarantine before resuming competition in February.
The Australian Open will be staged at Melbourne Park on 8-21 February.
The first to qualify on Wednesday was No.1 seed Kaja Juvan, a commanding 6-1 6-2 victor over Rebecca Sramkova.
Later, Pironkova, a 33-year-old mother from Bulgaria, was one of several veterans winning her way to Melbourne.
Pironkova is playing in just the third event in her comeback from a three-year tour absence, during which she welcomed son Alexander into the world.
Incredibly, the three tournaments she has played have been majors. And she has had an impact at all of them, reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open and the third round at Roland Garros before qualifying for the Australian Open.
After resuming her career unranked, she is now closing in on the top 100.
“Now that I think about it, I actually played only Grand Slams since I returned, so three in a row,” she laughed after beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-3 7-5. “That’s extra motivation for me, because I really love the Grand Slam tournaments and I am so happy to be here.
“I have a lot of things to work on in my game still; it’s the first matches for the season. But I’m really happy that I was able to fight through all the matches. Today, also, mentally, was kind of tricky.”
Mental challenges have also defined Sara Errani’s recent journey, with the Italian admitting to ausopen.com that she now struggles on court with nerves and tension that prevent her from playing as freely as she did during her top-10 days of 2012 and 2013.
Yet the 33-year-old managed to control those nerves on Wednesday, and was another veteran sealing her place in the AO main draw.
“I’m really happy to have won this match and to go to Australia. It’s a dream for me,” said Errani following her 3-6 6-2 6-4 win over wildcard Ana Konjuh.
Also winning on Wednesday were 30-year-old Canadian Rebecca Marino and 29-year-old Valeria Savinykh.
Russia’s Savinykh beat 13th seed Ysaline Bonventure 6-4 7-5 while Marino will play in the main draw at a Slam for the first time since Australian Open 2013 after beating Maryna Zanevska in straight sets.
French 19-year-old Clara Burel was one of the first to progress, notching another impressive result at Slam level.
When tennis resumed after the COVID-19 shut-down in August 2020, Burel was ranked outside the top 500. She has since risen to No.236, after most notably reaching the third round at Roland Garros as a wildcard.
“Everything I think (is clicking),” laughed the teenager, who is projected to rise to a career-high ranking of No.209 after her AO qualifying result.
“At the beginning (when we resumed) I wasn’t playing that well during the matches, but my practices were really good, and I just kept playing better and better.
“I’m really excited. I’m just really happy to be able to go to Australia this year. It wasn’t easy, but I’m really happy.”
Burel’s form and talent caught the eye of Australian former top-20 star Daria Gavrilova, who narrowly beat the Frenchwoman in September ITF event and tweeted her admiration, before following up with another tweet as Burel was storming through the draw in Paris.
Dubai
Tsvetana Pironkova and Clara Burel represented two distinct groups of players sealing their place in the main draw at Australian Open 2021 after final-round qualifying victories on Wednesday.
Playing in Dubai, Pironkova and Burel were among 16 women booking their seat on a plane to Melbourne, where they will complete two weeks of hotel quarantine before resuming competition in February.
The Australian Open will be staged at Melbourne Park on 8-21 February.
The first to qualify on Wednesday was No.1 seed Kaja Juvan, a commanding 6-1 6-2 victor over Rebecca Sramkova.
Later, Pironkova, a 33-year-old mother from Bulgaria, was one of several veterans winning her way to Melbourne.
Pironkova is playing in just the third event in her comeback from a three-year tour absence, during which she welcomed son Alexander into the world.
Incredibly, the three tournaments she has played have been majors. And she has had an impact at all of them, reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open and the third round at Roland Garros before qualifying for the Australian Open.
After resuming her career unranked, she is now closing in on the top 100.
“Now that I think about it, I actually played only Grand Slams since I returned, so three in a row,” she laughed after beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-3 7-5. “That’s extra motivation for me, because I really love the Grand Slam tournaments and I am so happy to be here.
“I have a lot of things to work on in my game still; it’s the first matches for the season. But I’m really happy that I was able to fight through all the matches. Today, also, mentally, was kind of tricky.”
Mental challenges have also defined Sara Errani’s recent journey, with the Italian admitting to ausopen.com that she now struggles on court with nerves and tension that prevent her from playing as freely as she did during her top-10 days of 2012 and 2013.
Yet the 33-year-old managed to control those nerves on Wednesday, and was another veteran sealing her place in the AO main draw.
“I’m really happy to have won this match and to go to Australia. It’s a dream for me,” said Errani following her 3-6 6-2 6-4 win over wildcard Ana Konjuh.
Also winning on Wednesday were 30-year-old Canadian Rebecca Marino and 29-year-old Valeria Savinykh.
Russia’s Savinykh beat 13th seed Ysaline Bonventure 6-4 7-5 while Marino will play in the main draw at a Slam for the first time since Australian Open 2013 after beating Maryna Zanevska in straight sets.
French 19-year-old Clara Burel was one of the first to progress, notching another impressive result at Slam level.
When tennis resumed after the COVID-19 shut-down in August 2020, Burel was ranked outside the top 500. She has since risen to No.236, after most notably reaching the third round at Roland Garros as a wildcard.
“Everything I think (is clicking),” laughed the teenager, who is projected to rise to a career-high ranking of No.209 after her AO qualifying result.
“At the beginning (when we resumed) I wasn’t playing that well during the matches, but my practices were really good, and I just kept playing better and better.
“I’m really excited. I’m just really happy to be able to go to Australia this year. It wasn’t easy, but I’m really happy.”
Burel’s form and talent caught the eye of Australian former top-20 star Daria Gavrilova, who narrowly beat the Frenchwoman in September ITF event and tweeted her admiration, before following up with another tweet as Burel was storming through the draw in Paris.
