Wimbledon’s Ross Hutchins got his Olympic bid off to a good start by reaching the third round of the Australian Open men’s doubles for the first time last week.
The 26-year-old – and British partner Colin Fleming – crashed 6-4 0-6 6-2 to world No 1 pair Bob and Mike Bryan, having beaten Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Poland’s Lukasz Kubot, and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in the opening two rounds.
Hutchins and Fleming reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open last year and need a flying start to 2012 to make sure they are picked for Team GB for the London Games.
The result has lifted the former KCS Wimbledon student to 40 in the world rankings, while Fleming is 30 as the pair set their sights on a place in the World Tour Finals at London’s O2 Arena at the end of the season.
“The tennis we played in the second set against the Bryan brothers is the sort of level we need to keep up for longer periods,” said Hutchins.
“The top teams regularly beat the teams they are expected to and we need to find that same level of consistency.”
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