Australian Open 2026: British top seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool suffer second-round defeats
British top seeds Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool were defeated by Australian wild card players James McCabe/Li Tu in the second round of the Australian Open.
Wimbledon champions Cash and Glasspool became the first All-British pair to win the year-end men’s doubles world No. 1 ranking last season, but they lost 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
That leaves fellow Briton Henry Patten and Finnish partner defending champion Hari Hliovara as the highest seeds remaining in the men’s doubles draw, with five of the top 10 pairings already eliminated.
German fifth seeds Kevin Kravitz and Tim Poots, who reached the semifinals last year, also withdrew on Friday.
They join Italian seventh seeds and 2025 runners-up Andrea Vavassori and Simone Borelli, eighth seeds Edouard Roger Vasserin and Hugo Nice, and ninth seeds Francesco Cabral and Lucas Midler in ending their bids early.
But sixth-seeded British player Neil Skupsky and American Christian Harrison defeated Spanish players Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar 6-3 6-2 to safely advance to the third round.
Britain’s Marcus Willis is paired with Switzerland’s Jakub Paul and Luke Johnson is paired with Poland’s Jan Zielinski, both of whom will be looking to advance later on Friday.
