Heather Watson out of Australian Open qualifying, Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper win warm-ups

Heather Watson will miss out on the main draw of the Australian Open for the second year running after losing in the first round of qualifying – but fellow British players Harriet Dart, Fran Jones and Oliver Crawford are all through.

British No. 1 Cameron Norrie advanced at the Auckland Open, while at the Adelaide International Jack Draper spent valuable time on court, but perhaps more than he was hoping for, in his three-set win over Miomir Kecmanovic – a match which lasted close to four hours including the warm-up.

At the Kooyong Classic exhibition event, where Emma Raducanu has pulled out of a planned match on Thursday, Andy Murray suffered another defeat, losing in straight sets to fellow veteran Marin Cilic.

Watson, who was seeded 27th in qualifying, was beaten 6-4 6-3 by Switzerland’s Lulu Sun. The 31-year-old failed to gain direct entry to the main draw with her world ranking currently down at 142nd.

It was a bitter disappointment for Watson, who also lost in the first round of qualifying in 2023, though she will hope her strong doubles record in grand slams will offer a silver lining.

Dart enjoyed a better start, beating Italy’s Nuria Brancaccio 6-2 7-6, as she attempts to make the first round for the fifth time in her career, while Jones had a relatively straight forward 6-2 6-4 victory over Margoux Rouvroy of France.

American born Oliver Crawford, who recently switched allegiance to play for Great Britain at the age of 24, beat Ilya Ivashka in three sets, but Jan Choinski lost.

While the preliminary action is underway at Melbourne Park, some of the more high profile British men are turning up for the first grand slam of the season.

Hoping to go one better at the Auckland Open after his defeat in last year’s final, Norrie reached the last eight with a three-set win over talented French teenager Luca van Assche.

In Adelaide, Draper continued his winning start to the season, but had to tough it out in his last-16 match with Miomir Kecmanovic, which lasted 3 hours and 39 minutes.

The 22-year-old showed all of his fight by coming from a set down to beat the Serbian in two tight tie-breaks. The win again showed there is not to separate the players, as Draper’s win earned a touch of revenge for Draper, who narrowly lost to him while playing in the Davis Cup for Great Britain in November.

Andy Murray is yet to get off the mark this season after losing his opening match at the Kooyong Classic exhibition. The former world No. 1 lost 6-3 7-5 to 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic, who is making his comeback after an injury-hit 2023. He will face Dominic Thiem on Thursday in his final match before the Australian Open.

Raducanu, who was due to play at the event, has pulled out of a planned match tomorrow.