{"id":21468,"date":"2026-01-15T10:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=21468"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T02:09:16","slug":"hunter-inglis-continue-australian-open-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2026\/01\/15\/hunter-inglis-continue-australian-open-dream","title":{"rendered":"Hunter & Inglis Continue Australian Open Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It has been a long road back to playing at Melbourne Park for Storm Hunter. Australian Open 2026 qualifying marks the first time since rupturing her Achilles in April 2024 that Hunter has competed at the venue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Countless hours spent hitting balls on a scooter at the National Tennis Centre throughout her rehabilitation with coach Rohan Fisher and husband, Loughlin, have prepared the 31-year-old for this moment. Visualising a return to the court as she \u00a0rehabbed at the same venue only willed her on even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2024, when I made the third round after qualifying was unbelievable. It was a dream come true for me, and then after my Achilles, I would come and hit with [my foot] on a scooter \u2026 just hitting on these courts and being like \u2018okay, the goal is to get back out here moving, playing in front of crowds,\u201d said the West Australian turned Melburnian. \u201cThere was obviously nothing set up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a few tears during those moments just not knowing [whether I would return], that\u2019s why yesterday was so emotional, just to come back and be like, \u2018okay, it\u2019s the next chapter and that was really special. It didn\u2019t matter for me whether it was quallies or main draw, just to be out on the courts again\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a 6-4 7-6(1) victory over No.27 seed Lola Radivojevic on Wednesday, Hunter now stands one win away from making her main-draw return. While Hunter was yet to comprehend the magnitude post-match, a double fist pump from Nicole Pratt mid-interview told the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cPratty\u2019s been in my corner since I was 16, 17,\u201d she said of the Culture Amp Billie Jean King Cup coach, who was in her courtside box at KIA Arena against Radivojevic. \u201cShe\u2019s the one who believed in me from the start when I was on the courts in WA on my own. She was the one that was like, \u2018I believe in you\u2019, and I\u2019m very lucky that she\u2019s so passionate.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s put a lot of work into me, even when I started playing singles last year and I was playing, it was terrible. I was crying mid-matches and she just kept me on the straight and narrow, and was like, \u2018we\u2019re gonna get there\u2019. Days like this make it worth it for her as well as me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter meets Taylor Townsend in her final-round match on Thursday, as the Australian aims to qualify for her seventh Australian Open singles campaign.<\/p>\n

Pratt\u2019s support also helped Maddison Inglis progress to the final round of qualifying. With Pratt and Sam Stosur watching courtside, Inglis came from a break down to defeat American Claire Liu 7-6(6) 2-6 6-4 on her 28th birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty good birthday present. Probably couldn\u2019t ask for my birthday to go any better,\u201d she said. \u201cTo ave their support is really special. I think Pratty came from Storm\u2019s match after she had finished so it was perfect timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love having Pratty on the side. She\u2019s been there for a few really good wins, and she always has great things to say, so to have everyone there was super special.\u201d<\/p>\n

After two heartbreaking exits in Australian Open qualifying, Inglis hopes to return to main-draw competition at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose matches have hurt for a while,\u201d said Inglis, who has lost in the final round of AO qualifying in back-to-back years. \u201cIt\u2019s my favourite tournament, it\u2019s a dream to be back in the main draw, so I\u2019ll definitely give it my all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

COMING UP LATER TODAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australian Open women\u2019s qualifying \u2013 final round<\/i><\/p>\n

[WC] Storm Hunter (AUS)<\/strong> v [11] Taylor Townsend (USA) \u2013 Third match, Court 6<\/p>\n

Maddison Inglis (AUS)<\/strong>\u00a0v [14] Tamara Korpatsch (GER) \u2013 Third match, Court 7<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been a long road back to playing at Melbourne Park for Storm Hunter. Australian Open 2026 qualifying marks the first time since rupturing her Achilles in April 2024 that Hunter has competed at the venue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6359,"featured_media":21469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}