James McGee misses out on Australian Open

James McGee missed the cut at the Australian Open in Melbourne overnight.

The Irish number one, who need to win his third round match for qualification into the main singles draw lost in two sets 7-6 6-4.

McGee narrowly lost the first set in a tiebreak 7-6(1) before falling again in the second 6-4 to the 151 world ranked German Daniel Brands, who was once ranked considerably higher than the Irishman at 51 in the world.

Brands’ first serve worked well for him in the tight match. Standing at 6’5’’ he won 78 per cent of his first serves and earned four break points against the 199 ranked McGee, converting two of those.