Andrew Whittington’s incredible run at the 2017 Australian Open has fallen one step short of a final appearance.
The tournament will be remembered as the one Whittington raised the bar in terms of what he can strive for at grand slams going forward in both the singles and the doubles.
The 23-year-old from Williamstown put his name on the map in his own right with a breakthrough win in the men’s singles over top 100 Czech opponent Adam Pavlasek.
A loss top 20 Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the second round should prove a great learning curve for the Liston Tennis Club product.
Prior to this tournament, it was in the doubles that Whittington made his name at his home grand slam.
Whittington and former teammate Alex Bolt reached the third round of the men’s doubles in 2015 and went as far as the quarter final stage in 2014.
But Whittington and Bolt went their separate ways this year, with Whittington teaming up with compatriot Marc Polmans and Bolt joining with Bradley Mousley.
The Bolt-Mousley pairing survived until the quarter finals before they were eliminated in three sets by Pable Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Whittington-Polmans made it through to a semi final, where they were outset by Finland’s Henri Kontinen and Australia’s John Peers in straight sets 6-4 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena.
While the final eluded Whittington-Polmans, it proved to be a partnership that is worth persisting with going forward.
They had four big wins en route to the penultimate stage of the tournament – all in a very different fashion.
They got the ball rolling with a comfortable first round 6-3 6-2 win over Yen-Hsun Lu and Jiri Vesely.
In the second round, Whittington-Polmans had to come back from the dead after losing the first set to love, beating Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 0-6 6-3 6-4.
Whittington-Polmans enjoyed a tough straight sets 7-6 7-6 win over Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the third round, before downing Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6 2-6 6-4 in a back and forth tussle.
After his success at the Open, Whittington – ranked 194 in the singles and 311 in the doubles before the Open – is going to be a player to keep an eye on in 2017.
