Francesca Jones reaches Australian Open main draw after comprehensive victory over Lu Jia-jing
It will be the 20-year-old’s first Grand Slam appearance
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Your support makes all the difference.Great Britain's Francesca Jones secured a place in the main draw of the Australian Open in her first ever Grand Slam after soundly beating Lu Jia-jing in the final round of qualifying.
The 20-year-old from Leeds picked up her first Grand Slam qualifying match on Monday, but has now advanced to the main draw in Melbourne after an impressive 6-0 6-1 victory.
Jones broke with her first opportunity of the match, and continued in the same fashion before taking the first set without dropping a game.
It was on her serve that Jones found dominance, winning 90 percent of points when she landed her first serve, and Lu was unable to fight back.
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Jones went into the game ranked 241 in the women's singles and having never featured in a Grand Slam, with Lu ranked 40 places ahead of her and with significantly more experience.
The British number five's progress is especially impressive because she was born with a congenital condition that means she only has three fingers and a thumb on each hand, three toes on one foot and four toes on the other.
The youngster was the only one of Britain's five entrants to make it past the opening round of the qualifying events, which are being played in Dubai and Doha to limit the number of players travelling to Australia.
PA contributed to this report
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