BALLARAT Open top seed Daniel Byrnes remains hopeful he can play on, despite seeking hospital treatment for kidney stones Sunday evening.
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Byrnes battled through his opening men's tennis singles match in the Ballarat Open Gold AMT earlier in the afternoon but his pain worsened post match.
As the number one seed, Byrnes was fortunate to have a bye in the opening round at the Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre.
He then fought hard to overcome qualifier Matthew Leffler in straight sets, 6-2 6-4.
Speaking to The Courier immediately after his match, Byrnes said he was determined to better his runner-up placing of last summer to take the title by Tuesday.
By last night, tournament officials were saying Byrnes was in doubt to continue but the situation would be monitored and could turn around before his quarter-final.
Byrnes had said Ballarat was very important to helping set up a peak time in Australian tennis.
He is preparing for the Asia Pacific Tennis League national finals, held simultaneous with the Australian Open, after his men's team Kooyong Classics won the south-east conference final last week.
The short-format competition attracts big names like Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Luke Saville and Sam Groth.
Byrnes' team features New Zealand Davis Cup player Rubin Statham.
He enjoyed the vibe about playing in Ballarat to get that all started.
"I enjoy being back in Ballarat. I like the facilities and seeing so many friendly faces around," Byrnes said.
"There are a lot of good players in the main draw.
"Around this time of year, everyone's practising for the (Australian) Open....there's a lot of important tournaments and a lot of players coming into Melbourne."
Women's number one seed Viktorija Rajicic comfortably progressed to the quarter-finals in her match with Jessica Brzozowska, 6-3 6-3.
Ballarat's leading contender Zoe Hives, seeded fourth, is also through to the quarters after defeating South Australian Megan Kauffman, 6-3 6-1.
Hometown young gun Emily Tinker created a stir with an upset win to push into the second round of women's singles qualifiers for the Open on Saturday.
The 13-year-old's opening match was a big win for the Ballarat junior, coming back to win in three sets after losing the first to fellow Victorian Maddison Brackenreg, 4-6 6-4 6-3.
Brackenreg was the number 12 seed in the qualifying draw.
Tinker then lost in straight sets to Victorian Elly Harnett, 6-2 6-1.
The youngster entered the open-age tournament for experience against quality rivals.
Earlier, Ballarat juniors Ryan Bolton and Nick Powell were bundled out in the first qualifying round of the men's singles.
Bolton, aged 16, lost to Long Nguyen 6-1 6-2 while Powell, aged 18, lost to Samir Ali 6-3 6-3.