Big wins and big upsets in pro tour opening

FAVOURITES stormed through and upsets were dealt on the opening day of the main draw of Mildura International Tennis Pro Tour event.

While qualifying matches were also still still being concluded in men’s and women’s singles on Tuesday, some of the top seeds got off to strong early starts on the grass courts of the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club.

Four men’s and women’s main draw singles matches were played, with number one seed Lizette Cabrera off to a flyer.

The 27-year-old needed just over an hour to record a 6-1, 6-3 victory over 19-year-old South Korean Yujin Kim and book her place in round of 16.

Cabrera will meet teenage wildcard Giselle Isabella Guillen after she defeated Carolann Delaunay of New Caledonia in a three set thriller than ran over two hours.

The 16-year-old, who competed at Wimbledon Juniors in 2022, introduced herself to Mildura in style with a blistering opening set winning six straight games, however the contest turned into an arm wrestle in the second set.

Delaunay wasn’t able to take advantage of multiple set points, however once in the tie-break she was able to convert and force the match to a third.

Despite trailing 3-1 in the final set, Guillen won five successive games for a brilliant 6-0, 7-6, 6-3 victory.

The upset of the opening day of women’s action came as Lismore’s Laquisa Khan earned a strong win over Yeonwoo Ku, the fifth seed from South Korea, after an impressive performance.

The 22-year-old came back from losing three straight games in the opening set to take it out, and recovered from a 4-3 deficit in the second set to take the victory 6-4, 7-6.

In the men’s draw, Sydney teenager Pavle Marinkov dealt a huge upset by defeating fourth seed and 2023 Australian Open doubles champion Jason Kubler.

The 31-year-old had been in great recent form with ITF Pro Tour victories in Burnie and Launceston, but his 19-year-old opponent put on a cracking display.

The younger man covered the court superbly to win 6-3, 6-3.

Third seed American Christian Langmo faced a tough arm wrestle against Western Australian Scott Jones, but advanced to the round of 16 in straight sets.

A tie-breaker was needed to split the duo in the opening set and it was looking like potentially more of the same in the second, however Langmo, who nailed 12 aces, would go on to win 7-6, 6-4.

Queenslander Thomas Braithwaite put in a strong performance on centre court with the 25-year-old, who made the quarter final of the Carrara International in December after via qualifying, proving too strong for Ethan Cook winning 6-4, 6-4.

In the final match to conclude, Matt Hulme, runner up in the Vic Grasscourt Championships had a tough two-setter against Kiwi James Watt.

Despite the 209cm New Zealander nailing 16 aces, it was the Aussie who prevailed in two tie-breakers 7-6, 7-6.

Singles and doubles action is set to continue Wednesday from 10am at Mildura Lawn Tennis Club.