IRISH TENNIS HOPEFUL Conor Niland suffered a frustrating delay when his first-round qualifier at the Australian Open was postponed by rain this morning.
The Limerick man’s match against world number 218 Stephane Bohli of Switzerland was listed as the last of six qualifiers due to take place on court number three today.
But another day of swirling wind and rain in Melbourne threw the day’s schedule into chaos and forced tournament organisers to push back a number of matches by 24 hours, including Niland’s.
The match has been now refixed to start at 10am Thursday — 11pm Wednesday evening Irish time.
Niland, now ranked 286 in the world, made headlines last season when he became only the second Irish player in the Open Era to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon.
He followed up that success by qualifying for the US Open in August but had to withdraw midway through his first-round glamour tie against world number one Novak Djokovic due to food poisoning.
Niland needs three qualifying wins this week in order to bag one of the coveted spots in the Australian Open main draw, which will be announced on Friday.
