Australia’s quartet of Hobart International qualifying wildcards have learnt their fate for the opening round of action following Friday afternoon’s draw.
Teenagers Emerson Jones (14), Lily Taylor (16) and 17-year-old pair Lily Fairclough and Zara Larke all represent the next generation of national talent and will fly the home town flag when matches kick off Saturday morning.
Emerson Jones, Australia’s second highest ranked ITF junior (35)
Gold Coaster Jones, the daughter of former Olympic triathlon silver medallist Loretta Jones (Harrop) and the world’s highest ranked 2008-born player, has drawn a tough task in her opening round assignment against Czech world No. 71 Tereza Martincova, the second qualifying seed who has a WTA finals appearance (Prague, 2021) to her name.
Lily Taylor, currently the junior ITF world No. 51 (third highest Australian).
Brisbane’s Taylor is pitted against Chinese 10th seed Xinyu Wang, Fairclough will face Hungarian Panna Udvardy and Larke will clash with Tamara Zidansek (Slovenia) in her WTA debut.
A J2 ITF runner up in Thailand and semi-finalist at the J2 Sydney event last year, Lily Fairclough is the fourth highest Aussie ITF junior (ranked 80)
Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure, who was entered into qualifying, has received a special exemption into the main draw after stunning Canadian world No. 40 Leylah Fernandez in Auckland to reach the ASB Classic semi-finals.
Qualifying action will commence from 11am and the order of play can be found here, along with the full draw.
This weekend is open to the general public for the Free Qualifying Weekend and gives the entire community a taste of what they can expect during the week. Kids go free for the entire week of the tournament with any paying adult.
While the tennis will light up the courts at Domain Tennis Centre, the event will also feature a range of activities, performances and initiatives. These include:
- Free Qualifying Weekend (unticketed event) – Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 January
- Opening Round – Monday 9 January
- A celebration of Women – Wednesday 11 January
- Inspired Women’s Event hosted at Government House featuring Daria Saville (Australian Tennis star) and Libby Minogue (Chief Marketing Officer, Virgin Australia Airlines)
- Women and Girls to the front, placing women and girls in key roles such as the Officials on court and Ballkids to name a few
- A celebration of First Nations – Thursday 12 January
- A celebration of Pride – Friday 13 January
- Hobart Out Tennis Tournament starts and runs through to Sunday 15 January
- Maddy Jane performances (local Tasmanian musician out of Bruny Island) – Friday 13 January and Saturday 14 January
- Maggie and Sophie Cunningham to present the Angie Cunningham Trophy to the winner in honour of their late mother – Saturday 14 January
Tickets for the Hobart International are on sale via Ticketmaster.
Prices start from $25 for adults and general admission is free* for children with a paying adult during the entire event, including finals.
Hobart International 2023 by the numbers
- Three former Hobart International singles champions: Alize Cornet (2016), Elise Mertens (2017, 2018), Sofia Kenin (2019)
- Seven current top-50 players: Marie Bouzkova (No. 24), Elise Mertens (No.29), Alize Cornet (No. 36), Sloane Stephens (No. 37), Bernarda Pera (No.43), Anhelina Kalinina (No. 47), Magda Linette (No. 48)
- Nine players who achieved career-high rankings in 2022: Marie Bouzkova, Bernarda Pera, Anhelina Kalinina, Mayar Sherif, Lucia Bronzetti, Claire Liu, Jasmine Paolini, Zhu Lin, Elisabetta Cocciaretto
- Six players who won WTA singles titles in 2022: Marie Bouzkova, Elise Mertens, Bernarda Pera, Mayar Sherif, Sloane Stephens, Tatjana Maria
- One player who made a Grand Slam semifinal in 2022: Tatjana Maria (Wimbledon)
- Three players who made Grand Slam singles quarterfinals in 2022: Alize Cornet (Australian Open), Marie Bouzkova (Wimbledon), Sloane Stephens (Roland Garros)
- Seven returning players from last event in 2020: Marie Bouzkova, Alize Cornet, Elise Mertens, Magda Linette, Alison Van Uytvanck, Zhu Lin, Madison Brengle
-ends-
The Hobart International 2023 will take place at the Domain Tennis Centre from 9-14 January 2023.
Hobart International is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania.