Image Source : GETTY IMAGES File picture of Denis Kudla.
Two gamers have been withdrawn from Australian Open qualifying match in Doha, Qatar and put into resort quarantine after returning optimistic assessments for COVID-19.
American Denis Kudla, seeded No. 4 within the qualifying occasion which is being held exterior of Australia for the primary time, was withdrawn following a 6-4, 6-3 first-round win over Elliot Benchetrit of Morocco on Monday. Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-4 earlier than he was withdrawn.
Tennis Australia confirmed in a press release there’d been two optimistic assessments on the match and each males had been transferred to a government-run medi-hotel, the place strict quarantine procedures had been in place.
“Local well being authorities, the match doctor and medical group are monitoring every particular person. Contact tracing is at the moment underway to inform shut contacts,” the assertion stated.
The withdrawals imply Australian wildcard entry Dane Sweeny and Mario Vilella Martinez of Spain get walkovers into the third spherical of qualifying.
Australian media reported that match officers had been made conscious of Kudla’s optimistic take a look at whereas the American was main 5-3 within the second set, however deliberate to attend till the regulation change of ends following the next recreation to inform each gamers.
Kudla broke serve to win the match, that means each he and Benchetrit had been out of the match. If there hadn’t been a break of serve at the moment, the match would have been stopped after the ninth recreation of the second set and No. 221-ranked Benchetrit would have superior to the subsequent spherical.
Australian Open organizers stated all gamers who began within the qualifying match had returned at the least one damaging take a look at after arriving into Doha, the place they had been examined on arrival and remoted till they returned a damaging consequence.
The gamers and their groups are additionally being examined each 4 days in the course of the occasion and, if there is a optimistic case, Qatari well being authorities should inform the match in writing.
The Australian Open has already been delayed by three weeks and is now scheduled to begin Feb. 8 due to journey restrictions and quarantine preparations in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.
All gamers arriving in Australia will probably be examined on arrival and should isolate till they obtain a damaging take a look at consequence. Then they will be required to endure a compulsory 14-day resort quarantine which can contain day by day testing for the coronavirus.
The season-opening main is often held within the final two weeks of January to coincide with the top of the vacations within the southern summer time.
Players will begin arriving in Australia later this week. An exhibition occasion that includes Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will probably be performed as an once-off curtain raiser in Adelaide, South Australia state, on Jan. 29.
A 12-team ATP Cup is among the many two males’s tournaments and two girls’s tournaments that will probably be staged at Melbourne Park from Feb. 1-6 for gamers to arrange for the Australian Open.