James McGee wins Australian Open qualifier first round

James McGee the Irish number one will face 10th seed Radu Albot in the second round of the Australian Open qualifying event in Melbourne.

McGee came through his first round match on Wednesday with a two set win over Calvin Hemery of France. The Castleknock right-hander, who didn't face one break point on his serve in the 40+ degrees heat, beat Hemery 6-3, 7-6 (2) to secure his second round tie.

The 28-year-old needs to win three matches in order to qualify for the main draw of the first Grand Slam of the year and follow in the steps of Louk Sorensen, who made it into the second round of the Australian event in 2010.

McGee is currently ranked at 199 in the world and qualified for his only Grand Slam tournament in 2014 at the US Open, where he went out after the first round.

His Moldovan opponent in round two is currently ranked at 120 in the world and once had a ranking of 85 compared to McGee’s highest mark of 146. Albot also qualified for the US Open last year and in 2015.