Great Britain's Jan Choinski missed out on a main-draw appearance at the Italian Open as he fell to a two-set qualifying defeat to Thanasi Kokkinakis on Tuesday.
Choinski had pulled off a stellar fightback to defeat Austria's Jurij Rodionov in his opening qualifying contest, but with a place in the first round on the line, Kokkinakis strolled to a 6-2 6-2 success in one hour and 26 minutes.
As expected, Kokkinakis dominated proceedings from the off with a break to 15 in the first game of the match, and Choinski could not capitalise on a few unforced errors from the Australian.
Not to be for Jan Choinski in the final round of qualifying for the Italian Open as Thanasi Kokkinakis takes their match 6-2, 6-2
— LTA (@the_LTA) May 9, 2023
But Good to see Jan reach the final round in Rome #BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/6OUwsE9kOR
Kokkinakis broke Choinski again in the seventh game, but the Briton brought up his first two break points of the match in the next game as Kokkinakis was serving for the set.
However, Choinski could not take either of them, and the second set started in an almost identical manner, with Kokkinakis breaking to love in the opening game.
A couple of mistakes flew off the racquet of Choinski in the fifth game as Kokkinakis earned the double break, and the Brit was forced to save a match point in game seven to delay the inevitable.
On his first match point, Kokkinakis posted his eighth ace of the day to advance to the main draw, where Andy Murray is due to compete for GB against Italy's Fabio Fognini tomorrow.
Ben Knapton
