Top seeds Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith, No. 4 Ben Mitchell and defending champion Jordan Thompson have advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open wildcard playoff, with the coveted main draw entry to January's grand slam to be decided on Sunday.
Saville, the former world No. 1 junior, overcame an injury twinge and the loss of the first set to defeat Gavin van Peperzeel in four, and will next play Thompson, who eliminated 18-and-under nationals finalist Marc Polmans. Mitchell, the playoff winner from two years ago, beat sixth seed Dane Propoggia 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, while Smith progressed in straight sets past Blake Mott, and into the last four for the third successive year. "It's killing me mate, I always seem to lose on a Friday," Smith laughed about his semi-final record. "So hopefully things might change (this year), fingers crossed."
The women's quarter-finals will be played at Melbourne Park on Thursday, starting with top seed Olivia Rogowska against Alison Bai, followed by No. 3 Daria Gavrilova against Abby Myers.
Meanwhile, playoff absentee Thanasi Kokkinakis has finished a pre-season stint in Dubai that included practice sessions with 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer, the world No. 150 tweeting "It's been unreal training with the legend @rogerfederer the last couple weeks. Learnt a lot, he's a(n) unbelievable player and better bloke!"
And, having failed in his recent bid to entice Ivan Lendl into his coach's box, world No. 7 Tomas Berdych will join forces with Andy Murray's long-time hitting partner Dani Vallverdu, ending a six-year association with Tomas Krupa. Berdych announced on social media a new partnership with Vallverdu and Azuz Simcich.
