Cressy, Mmoh and Osuigwe Qualify for 2021 Australian Open

As the conclusion of four days of Australian Open qualifying action in Doha and Dubai, three Americans earned their way into the first Grand Slam of 2021: Maxime Cressy, Michael Mmoh and Whitney Osuigwe.

The lone U.S. representative to make it through women's qualifying in Dubai, Osuigwe will play in her fourth career Grand Slam main draw and second in Australia. The 2017 French Open girls' champion beat two seeded players in her three qualifying victories, and pulled off an incredible comeback against former Top 20 player Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania to become the last woman through on Wednesday. 

Despite trailing 6-2, 5-2, Osuigwe never faced a match point and ultimately was victorious, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-2, in two hours and 16 minutes. 

"I really tried to make that my identity, never giving up. It shows in tennis it's never over until it's actually over, so I kept that in the back of [my] mind the entire time," Osuigwe told ausopen.com's Matt Trollope after the match.

"Last year was tough, and I think at a point in time, I started not enjoying tennis. So a big part of coming into this year was just finding my happiness with tennis again, just leaving 2020 behind me and starting fresh. During the preseason, I was on the track every single day, practicing twice a day, so I worked really hard to get to where I am right now."

Osuigwe, who beat No. 5 qualifying seed Katarzyna Kawa on Poland in the first round and Aussie teenager Olivia Gadecki in the second, last competed in the main draw in Melbourne in 2019, where she lost a competitive three-set match to future US Open winner Bianca Andreescu. 

Coming from a set down in each of his first two qualifying matches against Go Soeda of Japan and Yannick Maden of Germany, Cressy punched his ticket into his maiden Australian Open main draw with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over another German, former world No. 64 Dustin Brown. Having saved a pair of match points against China's Li Zhe on Tuesday, Mmoh earned a much-easier passage into the main draw thanks to a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over France's Arthur Rinderknech.

Mmoh will play in his fourth Australian Open main draw, and third consecutive, having reached the second round last year as a wild card. Cressy, a graduate of UCLA, will play in a Grand Slam main draw for the second time since turning professional in 2019. He reached the second round at the US Open last summer before falling to No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.