Aussie qualifiers fall short

Australia has not had a single player make it through Australian Open qualifying, after last man standing Greg Jones fell at the final hurdle on Sunday.

The 21-year-old from New South Wales was the only Australian man or woman to make it through to the third round at Melbourne Park, after winning tough three-setters in each of the first two rounds.

But the qualifying event's top seed, Slovenian world No.100 Blaz Kavcic, ended Jones' run 6-4, 6-4 to book his own spot in the main draw.

It left Australia with only one man, Lleyton Hewitt, and three women, Samantha Stosur, Jarmila Groth and Anastasia Rodionova, to have made it into the main singles draws on merit.

Five other Australian men were handed wildcards - Peter Luczak, Bernard Tomic, Carsten Ball, Marinko Matosevic and Matthew Ebden - along with five women - Jelena Dokic, Alicia Molik, Sophie Ferguson, Olivia Rogowska and Sally Peers.

That gives the home nation a total of 14 singles entrants at Melbourne Park.