Novak Powers Into Australian Open Main Draw

Ten remaining qualifying spots were up for grabs on Saturday at the Australian Open and Dennis Novak wasted no time securing his place in the main draw. The top-seeded Austrian battled past Japanese Hiroki Moriya 7-6(5), 6-2 for his second main draw appearance in Melbourne.

Mohamed Safwat became the first Egyptian player in 24 years to qualify for a Grand Slam by defeating sixth-seeded Russian Evgeny Donskoy 7-5, 6-4. Four players also enjoyed the milestone moment of reaching their first Grand Slam main draw: Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, Chilean Alejandro Tabilo and Spaniard Mario Vilella Martinez.

Three players received lucky loser spots into the main draw due to withdrawals: Slovakian Jozef Kovalik, Donskoy and Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran. Kovalik and Gunneswaran lost their final-round qualifying matches on Friday.

The 16 qualifiers and three lucky losers were all placed into the main draw on Saturday.

Qualifier & Lucky Loser Placements
(Q) Mario Vilella Martinez (ESP) v. (16) Karen Khachanov (RUS)
(Q) Ernests Gulbis (LAT) v. (20) Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
(Q) Tallon Griekspoor (NED) v. (29) Taylor Fritz (USA)
(Q) Christopher Eubanks (USA) v. (Q) Peter Gojowczyk (GER)
(Q) Alejandro Tabilo (CHI) v. (Q)Daniel Elahi Galan (COL)
(Q) Ilya Ivashka (BLR) v. Kevin Anderson (RSA)
(Q) Pedro Martinez (ESP) v. Dominik Koepfer (GER)
(Q) Elliot Benchetrit (FRA) v. Yuichi Sugita (JPN)
(Q) Marco Trungelliti (ARG) v. Tennys Sandgren (USA)
(Q) Mohamed Safwat (EGY) v. Gregoire Barrere (FRA)
(Q) Max Purcell (AUS) v. Jannik Sinner (ITA)
(Q) Dennis Novak (AUT) v. Hubert Hurkacz (POL)
(Q) Quentin Halys (FRA) v. Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
(Q) Norbert Gombos (SVK) v. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)
(LL) Jozef Kovalik (SVK) v. (27) Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)
(LL) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) v. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
(LL) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) v. Tatsuma Ito (JPN)