British 20-year-old reaches main draw with rapid qualifying winShe now heads to Melbourne for 14 days of quarantineBritain’s Francesca Jones has qualified for the
Australian Open, defeating Lu Jia-Jing of
China 6-0, 6-1 in just 61 minutes to reach the main draw of a grand slam tournament for the first time.
Despite being one of the lowest ranked players in the field and only making the cut-off in December after some withdrawals, the 20-year-old marked her first appearance in an overseas grand slam qualifying draw by defeating three higher-ranked players and producing her best
Tennis under the notorious pressure of the final qualifying round. The victory has secured Jones at least A$100,000 (£56,556), by far the biggest earnings of her career. It also led to an emotional phone call with her parents, who she moved away from aged nine to join the Sánchez-Casal academy in
Barcelona.