{"id":21470,"date":"2026-01-16T10:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=21470"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:14:19","slug":"full-main-draw-revealed-as-hunter-inglis-soar-in-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2026\/01\/16\/full-main-draw-revealed-as-hunter-inglis-soar-in-qualifiers","title":{"rendered":"Full Main Draw Revealed as Hunter & Inglis Soar in Qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Storm Hunter rocketed into the Australian Open main draw on Thursday, earning a spot in a Grand Slam singles main draw for the first time since returning from\u00a0serious injury\u00a0in early 2025.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 31-year-old defeated American Taylor Townsend 7-6(6) 6-2, before compatriot Maddison Inglis joined her in the main draw with a 6-4 6-4 triumph over Tamara\u00a0Korpatsch, sealed on her sixth match point.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given Jason Kubler and Dane Sweeny\u00a0also won their final-round matches on Thursday, it meant four Australians qualified for the AO main draw \u2013 the most since 1992.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI\u00a0just felt like I had\u00a0unfinished\u00a0business. I felt like I\u00a0haven’t\u00a0achieved what I feel I can in singles,\u201d Hunter, the former doubles world No.1, told reporters at Melbourne Park.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0is \u200awhat\u00a0I came back to tennis [for], to play these moments,\u201d she added, revealing she was unsure if\u00a0she\u2019d\u00a0ever make it back to her best level while recovering from a ruptured Achilles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way I was fighting with myself for a long time, feeling a little bit\u2026 hard done by, with my injury in the sense that I \u2026 got injured at career high ranking and felt like it\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0fair.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I\u00a0kind of turned\u00a0that mindset away from feeling sorry for myself and just was like, you know what?\u00a0It’s\u00a0a new challenge.\u00a0Let\u2019s\u00a0just give it a crack and see.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She gave it more than a crack, winning a tightly fought first set in a tiebreak before sweeping the second set in a\u00a0relatively straightforward\u00a0manner, finishing with an ace which\u00a0surprised even\u00a0her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u200a[I]\u00a0kind of rode\u00a0the momentum and then somehow finished with an ace, which never happens\u00a0for\u00a0me,\u201d she laughed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u00a0I was very happy after I hit that ace.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The West Australian made just 14 unforced errors to Townsend\u2019s\u00a036, and\u00a0won 40 per cent of her break points against the current world No.2 doubles star.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter recalled spending last Australian Open doing media commentary, unsure if she would qualify for singles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI\u00a0was up in the com boxes and struggling to get a court to practice my 45 minutes a day, not moving much and\u2026 dreamed of being back here,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But with three consecutive qualifying wins under her belt, Hunter was no longer thinking about her Achilles and felt she could \u201cgo out and play freely\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI\u00a0feel like I just\u00a0want to\u00a0keep going as long as I can. I absolutely\u2026 love playing tennis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aYou\u00a0don’t\u00a0know when you get older\u00a0what’s\u00a0going to\u00a0happen with your body\u2026 that keeps me motivated\u2026 \u200aI know\u00a0I’ve\u00a0got limited time and\u00a0that’s\u00a0okay.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Storm Hunter will now face Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (ESP) in round one of the main\u00a0draw.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Inglis qualifies for first AO main draw\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

After reaching the third round of AO qualifying the past two years and falling at the final hurdle in three sets on both occasions, Inglis\u2019 win on Thursday over\u00a0Korpatsch\u00a0was especially sweet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a massive few days and\u00a0I’m\u00a0pretty tired, to be honest. They were three\u00a0really tough\u00a0matches and\u00a0it’s\u00a0so tough to come through\u00a0quallies,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut\u00a0yeah,\u00a0I’m\u00a0so excited. I\u00a0can’t\u00a0believe\u00a0I’m\u00a0back in the main draw in Melbourne.\u00a0It’s\u00a0so exciting.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The last time she was in the main draw, as a wildcard in 2022, she went all the way through to the third round.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After securing that sixth match point against\u00a0Korpatsch, Inglis\u2019s emotions could be felt across the crowd as she collapsed on court. \u201cI’ve been hoping for that feeling for the last three years,\u201d she explained. \u201cSo, for it to\u00a0actually happen, I was overwhelmed with emotion.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt means the world to do it here in Melbourne, with my family here and Jason [Kubler] on the side, and Pratty [Nicole Pratt] was there, and Sam [Stosur] was there with me every single match. So,\u00a0yeah, to do it in front of that crowd also meant the world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the newly engaged Inglis, hearing the news that her fianc\u00e9 Kubler also progressed through to the AO main draw was\u00a0almost as\u00a0exciting as her own good news.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m\u00a0so happy for him. He deserves it,\u201d she said. \u201cHe’s had a tough few years with injuries and I’m sure it means a world to him too.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Inglis will now face fellow Aussie Kimberly Birrell, meaning at least one Australian will feature in the second round.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other West Aussies in main draw:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Talia Gibson<\/strong> meets world No.62 Anna\u00a0Blinkova\u00a0for the first time, while Taylah Preston<\/strong> seeks to avenge her Brisbane International qualifying loss from last week against world No.73 Shuai Zhang.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s main draw, Tristan Schoolkate<\/strong>, who starts the year inside the\u00a0top-100\u00a0for the first time after a breakout 2025, meets French 32nd-seed Corentin Moutet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All the action starts on Sunday.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Storm Hunter rocketed into the Australian Open main draw on Thursday, earning a spot in a Grand Slam singles main draw for the first time since returning from serious injury in early 2025. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6359,"featured_media":21471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21470","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\/21470","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=21470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}