Storm Sanders has fallen agonisingly short of a place at the 2020 Australian Open after a tough loss in the Wildcard Play-off Final today.
Sanders went down to Arina Rodionova 6-4 7-5 in a high-quality final at Melbourne Park.
But Sanders could still be incredibly proud of her stunning week in just her fourth tournament since making a return to singles.
Rodionova was full of praise for her opponent in the aftermath.
“I think this was a really high-quality match,” Rodionova said. “I think we both deserve to play main draw Australian Open, but unfortunately there’s only one spot. But I’m sure Storm will make it, because she plays great tennis right now.
“I knew what to expect. She served really big and her first ball is really good as well. She was coming to the net, she was closing in.
“I just fought every point and that’s all you can do against big hitters like this. I was chasing the ball and got a little bit lucky here and there, and here we go.”
Not to be today, but was a really tough, high quality match and I loved being out there competing. Summer is coming 😎 #aoplayoff pic.twitter.com/VixuX8okIv
— Storm Sanders (@stormsanders94) December 15, 2019