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Frank Dancevic qualifies for the Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia – For the second day in a row Saturday, Frank Dancevic unleashed a monster shot down the line on match point – a backhand, as it happened, the wing that everyone always says is his greatest weakness.
For the second day in a row, it went in.
And with that shot, the 29-year-old Canadian qualified for the Australian Open.
Dancevic’s 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory over veteran Potito Starace was not only a crowd-pleaser, it ensured he’ll take home at least $30,000 from the first Grand Slam of the season.
“I had some opportunities in the first set, didn’t play the tiebreaker as well as I wanted to, but just sort of hung in there. Wind was blowing, but I just kept going for my shots the whole match,” he said. “I connected on a few at the right times, got my opportunities and just went for it.”
The news wasn’t as good for countrywoman Stéphanie Dubois, the only other Canadian to reach the final round of qualifying.
Dubois went down 7-5, 6-3 to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, who thus qualified for her first career Grand Slam main draw. It was a huge opportunity lost for the far more experienced Dubois.
Dancevic will play Frenchman Benoit Paire in the first round on Tuesday, in a matchup that will be both stylistically elegant and inevitably dramatic.
The match against Starace was fairly contentious at times. Both players had issues with line calls, none overruled by respected veteran umpire Carlos Bernardes in the chair.
Dancevic said the court, which will be one of the TV courts when the main event starts Monday, was equipped with the Hawkeye replay technology, but that it wasn’t turned on for the qualifying.
But perhaps his only true misstep on the day was criticizing Bernardes fairly vocally as he walked back to the locker room with friends and supporters (and reporters) – only realizing a little too late that Bernardes was walking five feet in front of him.
Uh, oopsie. If he were a hockey player, he'd have been fined for criticizing the officiating in a major way.
No doubt Bernardes has heard worse, though.
Click here for a photo slideshow of Dancevic's big win.
At any rate, everything else came up roses for Dancevic, who said he felt like he hadn’t even played a match all week, instead of coming through three tough ones.
“Today I thought I made some incredible gets, and it showed me that my movement is really good because some of those gets, I’ve never made in my life,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot on my speed lately, and everything feels good – my speed, my endurance.”
You’d think Dancevic, whose back problems threatened to derail his career not long ago, would know better by now than jinx himself like that.
But when you’re winning, everything is beautiful.
And when Dancevic is winning, the world is just that little bit more fun.
“I had two match points for the main draw. One out of the two, if I go for it, I’ve got to make one, right? So why not go for it,” he said. “I’m happy, and just have to keep playing the way I’m playing, and keep entertaining you guys.”
NOTES: In other Canadian tennis news, 41-year-old Daniel Nestor won his second doubles title in as many weeks Saturday at the tuneup event in Sydney. Nestor and new/old partner Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, who have reunited, defeated Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3). Nestor won his season opener in Brisbane the previous week, paired with Mariusz Fyrstenberg of Poland. It is the 83rd title of Nestor's illustrious career.
