James McGee narrowly missed out on a spot in the Australian Open main draw, losing in three sets to Blake Mott in the final round of qualifying on Saturday morning.

McGee was unlucky to lost the first set in a close tie-break (7-5) but his ability to raise his game was evident again today as he overcame the disappointment of dropping the first set to get the early break at 2-1 in the second which he went on to win 6-3.

However it wasn’t to be the Castleknock man’s day and the young Australian was the one to get the early break in the deciding set. There were typical signs of McGee’s fighting attitude at 5-1 down to claw back to 5-3 as he gave it everything but Mott eventually held out to go through to his first Australian Open main draw 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3.

Irish hopes now focus on Mullingar teenager Simon Carr who will commence his main draw match in the junior event when it starts on January 21st.