Georgia Drummy qualifies for Australian Open girls singles

Irish teenager Georgia Drummy is the second lowest ranked junior player at 223 in the world to have come through the qualifying stages of the Australian Open girls singles in Melbourne.

Only Sara Tomic, the 17-year-old Australian, with an ITF ranking of 460, is lower. Tomic is the younger sister of professional tennis player Bernard, who is ranked at 17 in the world.

Drummy, a Mount Aniville School student is competing in her first ever junior Grand Slam event and is the youngest Irish player ever to do so at 15-years-old. She will be 16 in April.

While she is not the youngest player in the draw - that goes to 14-year-old Russian, Anastasia Potapova, who has a junior ranking of 23 in the world - Drummy’s inclusion in the last 64 of a junior Grand Slam is an encouraging indicator of her early progress in a game notorious for spitting out young talent.

The first round of the junior main draw has not yet been made but the Irish left hander, daughter of the former Munster interprovincial player Victor, is one of the youngest competing and, the Russian player apart, is one of just four 15-year-old players included in the event for 18-year-olds and under.

To seal qualification Drummy defeated American Helen Abigail Altick, who has an ITF junior ranking of 105, dominating the match from the start and taking the first set 6-2.

Her speedy start slowed somewhat in the second set as both players exchanged service breaks. But Drummy broke her opponent’s serve again at 5-5 before handing it back to tie the set at 6-6.

Drummy, however, controlled the tie-break from the start and closed out the set 7-2, sealing the match and qualification in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(2).