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Paul McNamara

Mike Chan

Coleman Wong Chak-lam has not given up on his hopes of entering the main draw at the Australian Open, despite being beaten by Elias Ymer in the final qualifying round on Thursday.
Hongkonger Wong lost to the experienced Swede 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes at Melbourne Park, failing to manage a third win in three days following straight-set victories over Ugo Blanchet and Pablo Llamas Ruiz in his opening qualifiers.
James Allemby, Wong’s coach, said the 21-year-old was downcast after narrowly missing a second grand slam main-draw appearance, following his run to last year’s US Open third round.
“He gave himself the best shot; he was a break up in the third and the moment was always going to be tough to manage for both players, but he had a great attitude and kept battling to the very end,” Allemby said.
Plans for Wong to compete in next week’s Soma Bay Challenger in Egypt have been abandoned.
“We’ll wait around [in Melbourne] in case we get a ‘lucky loser’ spot,” Allemby said.
“It would’ve been too quick a turnaround [to play in Egypt], and there are plenty of weeks to play throughout the year.”
Lucky loser berths are granted to players who fell at the final qualifying hurdle in the event of main-draw withdrawals.

Wong was beaten in the second qualifying round 12 months ago, going down to Brazilian Joao Fonseca, who was backed by a healthy contingent of his countrymen on a rowdy Court 17.
Accomplished victories over Blanchet and Llamas Ruiz, 142 and 212 in the world, respectively, took Wong one stage further this year.
“In those two matches he played at a phenomenal level, served magnificently and showed great maturity,” Allemby said. “He’s a different player from a year ago.”
Ymer saved two break points in his first service game on ANZ Arena, and another in his third. Critically, Wong lost four straight points from 2-2 in the tiebreak, and Ymer eventually capitalised on his third set point to take it 7-4.
Wong claimed the only break of the second set, at 3-3, and comfortably served it out to draw level, before asking for a medical timeout. “His forearm was feeling sore, but all is good with it now,” Allemby said.
Wong won the first game of the decider on Ymer’s racquet, but immediately dropped his own serve for the first time. Ymer, who will meet Alexander Shevchenko, the world No 104, in his first Australian Open main-draw match since 2021, won three straight points from 40-30 down to break Wong again in game eight.
Wong fended off three match points in the next game, only for the world No 175 to fire down an ace at deuce, then force a wayward shot on his opponent’s forehand and secure first-round progress on his fourth match point.
In the week before going to Australia, Wong reached the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open quarter-finals, climbing 18 places to world No 132.
“He’s disappointed, for sure, being close to another main-draw appearance in a slam, and having played as well as he has these past couple of weeks,” Allemby said.
“That’s all we can ask for. Then we’ll take the lessons to the practice court and improve for the next tournament.”
If Wong does not earn an Australian reprieve, he will next compete in the Bahrain Challenger from January 26, before returning home for Hong Kong’s Davis Cup World Group I play-off against Finland on February 7 and 8.


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Sport

Hong Kong

Tennis

Hongkonger loses in third qualifying round of year’s first grand slam but could still make the main draw should there be withdrawals


Hongkonger loses in third qualifying round of year’s first grand slam but could still make the main draw should there be withdrawals.


Coleman Wong Chak-lam

Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong holds out hope for Australian Open spot through ‘lucky loser’ card

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hongkonger loses in third qualifying round of year’s first grand slam but could still make the main draw should there be withdrawals

Hongkonger loses in third qualifying round of year’s first grand slam but could still make the main draw should there be withdrawals