Casey Dellacqua has lived up to her top seeding to qualify for next month’s Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
The Australian No.2 behind Samantha Stosur, Dellacqua recovered from a shaky start to power past third seed Arina Rodionova 5-7 6-1 6-0 on the final of the women’s wildcard playoff on Sunday.
The 28-year-old will be making her 11th Australian Open appearance, with her best showing coming in 2008 when she reached the last 16 of the season-opening grand slam event.
The men’s wildcard playoff final between Jordan Thompson and former Wimbledon junior runner-up Ben Mitchell will also take place at Melbourne Park on Sunday.