No place like home as McCabe and Duckworth advance at AO 2025
Aussies successes were multiplied as a pair of James - McCabe and Duckworth - were among the six local men to advance to the second round at AO 2025.
Melbourne, Australia, 13 January 2025 | Sean A'Hearn
This wasn’t just his first win at a Grand Slam, this was James McCabe’s first win on the ATP tour.
The 21-year-old was all smiles after emerging victorious against talented young Spanish Qualifier, Martin Landeluce, 6-4 6-3 6-4.
“Just really happy to get through it. I’ve lost three or four in a row so just to get that monkey off my shoulder and getting all the experience on the bigger stages against the bigger players, you can’t really prepare for that, you just gotta go through it. Hopefully I can keep going,” McCabe said.
McCabe was dominant throughout, winning 26 more points and never really being troubled by the Spaniard.
Next facing American, Alex Michelsen in the second round – an upset winner over 11th seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas – McCabe hopes to go one better against a player who narrowly beat him in four sets last year.
“That’s the plan, so hopefully I can get the win this time but Alex is an amazing player. He’s 30 or 40 in the world now and just beat Tsitsipas so it’s gonna be a battle. I’m looking forward to it and it’s gonna be fun.”
First tour-level win for James McCabe and @SonnyBWilliams loves it ❤️
McCabe wins in straight sets 6-4 6-3 6-4 to make it through to the AO second round for the first time.@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/dXGtLulKZv
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 13, 2025
The Aussie also had an unlikely hype man, rugby star Sonny Bill Williams in his corner, who McCabe turned to for advice during the match.
“I’ve known Sonny ever since I was a kid, we’re really close,” he explained.
“Sonny’s like a brother to me. Being at the top of rugby he has a lot of experience with pressure and everything that comes with it. I’m grateful for his words of wisdom out there.”
Earlier in the day, James Duckworth broke a five-match losing streak at Grand Slams, defeating Swiss player, Dominic Stricker, 6-2 6-4 6-2 in just over an hour and a half.
Setting a fifth appearance in a second round at Melbourne Park, the 32-year-old says the wins get sweeter with age.
“I think they become more special. At 19 I win my first round and think this is easy,” Duckworth told Tennis.com.au.
“As you get older you appreciate how difficult it is and how strong the game of tennis is worldwide and how hard it is to win those matches, so you develop a greater appreciation for winning matches at Grand Slams, for sure.”
https://twitter.com/TennisAustralia/status/1878660275102183933
In particular, the Aussie veteran relived his favourite Australian Open memory, which also happened to be his first Grand Slam victory as a fresh-faced 19-year-old.
“It was definitely the second round in 2012. I was playing Janko Tipsarevic who was [ranked] eight or nine in the world at the time. We were at a set-all and one guy in the crowd got up and he started an ‘Old McDonald had a farm chant’ and the whole crowd was quacking,” Duckworth fondly recalled.
“Packed Margaret Court Arena and everyone was quacking. It was awesome.”
Replacing a packed MCA with a boisterous Court 3 – which is Duckworth’s “favourite court in the world” – the crowd cheered on the Aussie veteran to victory.
The 32-year-old was solid throughout the match, led by his superior serve, while balls were flying off the error-strewn racquet of Stricker, who appeared to be struggling with back pain.
He will next play Spaniard, Roberto Caballes Baena, who upset the 23rd seed, Alejandro Tabilo 1-6 6-2 6-3 7-6(1).
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