What a journey the past year has been for Tennys Sandgren. When the American departed Auckland in 2018, he held two tour-level match wins at 26 years old. This time around, not only does Sandgren have 21 match wins, but he leaves New Zealand with his first ATP Tour title.

Sandgren defeated Brit Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-2 in 79 minutes on Saturday to lift his maiden trophy, completing a tremendous week in which he did not lose a set in five matches.

“I’m a little bit at a loss for words, honestly. A lot of work, a lot of training and a lot of sacrifice goes into even making a final and to get a win, I’m kind of speechless,” Sandgren said on court. “Just grateful that I can be out here, play and compete. I’ve dealt with some injuries, so just to be healthy and playing well, it feels really good.”

Sandgren first burst onto the scene at last year’s Australian Open, where he earned his first two wins against Top 10 opponents and at World No. 97 became the lowest-ranked player to reach the Melbourne quarter-finals since World No. 105 Mikael Tillstrom in 1996. The former University of Tennessee student-athlete would reach his first ATP Tour final in Houston.

But the Auckland championship is Sandgren’s shining moment, as he broke his left-handed opponent’s serve four times and hit seven aces en route to the biggest triumph of his career. Perhaps it’s fitting that the victory came against Norrie, who was a first-time tour-level finalist.

“I think Cam’s beaten me like 18 times in a row,” Sandgren joked after his semi-final victory against German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber on Friday. In fact, Norrie defeated the American in three consecutive ATP Challenger Tour events in September and October of 2017.

But Sandgren would not be denied in Auckland. The American did a tremendous job of turning defence into offence throughout the match. And while Norrie saved eight of the 12 break points he faced, Sandgren was too strong. The 27-year-old adds 250 ATP Rankings points to his total, and earns $90,990 in prize money.

While Norrie will be disappointed to not lift his first ATP Tour trophy, he has plenty to be proud of. The Brit, who grew up in Auckland, dropped just one set en route to the championship match. And for his efforts, he claims 150 points and $49,205.

Did You Know?
Sandgren’s win in Auckland — and the 250 ATP Ranking points that come with it — is especially timely. The American will drop 360 points on the Monday after the Australian Open ends thanks to his quarter-final result last year. Sandgren starts his 2019 Australian Open against Yoshihito Nishioka

Thanasi Kokkinakis achieved a career first on Friday at the Australian Open: securing his place in a Grand Slam main draw as a qualifier. The 22-year-old Adelaide native defeated Canadian Peter Polansky 6-4, 6-4 to take his place in the 128-man field.

While this may be Kokkinakis’ first time qualifying for a major, it will be his 10th Grand Slam main draw appearance – and fourth at the Australian Open. He reached the second round in 2014-15 and bowed out in his opener last year (l. to Medvedev). He will play Japan’s Taro Daniel in the first round.

After fighting for his place in the main draw, American Mitchell Krueger earned a first-round clash with World No. 1 and six-time champion Novak Djokovic. The 24-year-old Krueger won all of his qualifying matches in three sets, including a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Marco Trungelliti in the final round.

Two other Americans, Christopher Eubanks and Bjorn Fratangelo, also qualified and will respectively play No. 18 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili and No. 29 seed Gilles Simon. Eubanks defeated Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-3, while Fratangelo rallied past Ze Zhang 6-7(4), 7-6(1), 6-1.

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A total of 10 qualifiers, including Krueger and Eubanks, will make their Australian Open main draw debuts: #NextGenATP stars Rudolf Molleker and Miomir Kecmanovic, South African Lloyd Harris, Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, Swiss Henri Laaksonen, Italian Stefano Travaglia, 29-year-old Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran and 30-year-old Gleb Sakharov of France.

Teens Molleker and Kecmanovic will both meet seeded players in their openers, with Molleker facing No. 18 Diego Schwartzman and Kecmanovic confronting No. 26 Fernando Verdasco. In other notable first-round matches, Harris will meet No. 15 seed Daniil Medvedev and Majchrzak will play eighth seed Kei Nishikori.

Tatsuma Ito, 30, prevailed against Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(6), 0-6, 7-6(10-3) and will face another qualifier, Daniel Evans, in the first round. The 28-year-old Evans, who defeated Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3, achieved his best Grand Slam results at the 2017 Australian Open, when he reached the fourth round (l. to Tsonga).

Serbian Viktor Troicki will make his 11th main draw appearance in Melbourne after defeating Darian King 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Italy’s Luca Vanni eased past Hiroki Moriya 6-2, 6-2 and will challenge 23rd-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in his opener.