British players Harriet Dart and Billy Harris did not appear in the main draw of the Australian Open, losing in the last qualifying round.
Dart lost 6-4, 7-5 to Japan’s Nao Hibino, even though he served in the second set.
Meanwhile, Harris’ efforts to reach the main draw in Melbourne for the first time ever ended in a 7-5, 6-2 defeat to Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.
The fourth-ranked Briton made his Grand Slam main draw debut as a wild card at Wimbledon in 2024, where he lost in the first round to Spaniard Jaume Munar.
The defeats mean there will be seven British players in the singles main draw when the tournament starts on Sunday.
A rising star Jacob Fearnley will face Nick Kyrgios in the first round as the Australian returns to Grand Slam tennis.
British men’s number one Jack Draper will face Argentinian Mariano Navone, while Katie Boulter – the highest-ranked British women’s player – will face Canadian Rebecca Marino.
Elsewhere in qualifying, Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca reached the main draw of a major for the first time in history with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over 12th seed Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina.
Fonseca (18) has established himself as one of tennis’s rising stars, becoming: the second youngest winner of the Next Gen ATP Finals in December.
Hady Habib saved three match points to defeat France’s Clement Chidekh to become the first Lebanese player in the Open era to appear in the main draw of a Grand Slam men’s singles tournament.
The 26-year-old, who made his Olympic debut in Paris in 2024, became the first player from Lebanon to win the ATP Challenger title last year.
