MILDURA Grand Tennis International No.3 seed Brydan Klein advanced to the second round of the main draw with a comfortable win over Thailand’s Chanchai Sookton-eng, winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
It was a dominant display by Klein, who took just 55 minutes to close out Tuesday’s match at the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club.
Klein, 30, served 11 aces as he totally overpowered his unseeded opponent.
Klein, a winner of the men’s singles title in 2008 and 2009 and runner-up last year, started the match brilliantly, winning the opening three games of the first set before Sookton-eng broke through for his first game.
But from there, the big-serving Brit landed three aces in the fifth game to open up a comfortable 4-1 lead, before closing out the opening set 6-3.
Klein gained the early ascendancy in the second set, winning the first four games, before Sookton-eng was able to hold serve, but Klein never looked troubled and despite a couple of unforced errors late in the set – was able to serve out the match.
In the women’s event, No.5 seed Nagi Hanatani was too strong for Australia’s Chiara Di Tommaso, dropping just one game in her 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Sara Tomic advanced through to the main draw after a comfortable win in her third-round qualifying match against Ah San Noelleda.
Tomic dominated, winning 6-2, 6-1.
The win comes on the back of her success earlier in the week when she easily accounted for fellow Australian Evana Bowell, 6-1, 6-2.
It is the second successive year Tomic has had to come through the qualifying rounds, but she believes it is the perfect preparation, providing her with some much-needed match practice.
“I haven’t been playing a lot so I needed the practice,” Tomic said.
“I served well today (yesterday) which got me through.”
In other women’s qualifying matches, two other Australians, Roopa Bains and Annerly Poulos, also made it through to the main draw. In the final round of men’s qualifying, France’s Vincent Stouff made light work of Australia’s Joshua Ryan, winning 6-1, 6-1.
