MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Former top 10 player Alicia Molik will likely have to rely on the good graces of Tennis Australia if she is to compete in January’s Australian Open after losing a wild-card playoff match Friday.
The 28-year-old Molik, continuing her comeback after a year in retirement, was beaten 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 by Jessica Moore in the quarterfinals of a tournament for Australian players which decides wild-card berths for the season’s opening grand slam event.
Molik, who retired in September 2008 after being plagued with an inner ear condition—vestibular neuronitis—since late 2005, returned to the sport this year. Her highest singles ranking was No. 8 in February 2005.
She will now have to rely on a discretionary wild card from Tennis Australia to get into the main draw of the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 18. Her current ranking of 197 would likely not get her into the qualifying tournament.
“She was just too good in the end and jump-started me,” Molik said. “I’ve been playing great but you just can’t play great everyday.”
Molik won the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens in singles, beating then world No. 3 Anastasia Myskina of Russia. She has five career WTA singles titles and seven in doubles, including the 2005 Australian Open (with Svetlana Kuznetsova) and 2007 French Open (with Mara Santangelo).