South qualifies and reaches second round in Sydney
Having come through the qualifying event at the weekend, Mel South received a straight forward passage into the Medibank International second round on Monday.
Facing Marion Bartoli of France, South played just two games before the former Wimbledon runner-up was forced to retire with a calf injury, the score standing at 1-1 in the opening set.
To book her spot in the main draw, the British No.2 had impressively won three qualifying matches without dropping a set, beating Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4 6-2, Germany’s Kristina Barrois 7-5 6-0 and China’s Meng Yuan 6-2 6-3.
The 21 year-old will now face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the last 16 on Tuesday. The world No.12 has three titles to her name and reached the fourth round at both the Australian Open and US Open in 2008.
On Sunday, South gained direct acceptance into the Australian Open main draw after reigning champion Maria Sharapova withdrew through injury.
South joins Keothavong in Melbourne next week, the first time since 1993 that two British female players have earned direct entry into a Grand Slam main draw
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