tennis

Alex de Minaur gets Australian wild card for Roland Garros

Published May. 17, 2018 11:22 p.m. ET

SYDNEY (AP) Tennis Australia said Friday that Alex de Minaur has been given Australia's reciprocal wild card into the French Open starting on May 27.

De Minaur, 19, has improved his ATP ranking by almost half in 2018 to move to No. 106, nearly qualifying him for the main draw.

In January, he advanced to the semifinals of the Brisbane International and the Sydney International final before losing in the first round of the Australian Open to Tomas Berdych.

''Alex has put in some quality performances over the past six months and it's a great effort to be only a handful of places out of main draw ...'' Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt said.

De Minaur, a former Wimbledon junior runner-up, joins fellow Australians Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson in the French Open men's main draw. Thanasi Kokkinakis, injury permitting, and Bernard Tomic plan to play in the qualifying tournament.

Australia has four players currently in the women's main draw, headed by seeded players Ashleigh Barty and Daria Gavrilova, 2010 runner-up Samantha Stosur and Ajla Tomljanovic.

The Australian women's wild card will be determined in an eight-player qualifying playoff in Paris beginning Friday.

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