Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat became on Saturday the first Egyptian player in 24 years to qualify for a Grand Slam.
The 172nd seed defeated Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy 7-5, 6-4 to also become the first Egyptian in 42 years to play at the Australian Open, which kicks off on Monday.
Safwat, 29, will face 84th seed Grégoire Barrère from France in his first round match on Monday.
The last Egyptian to qualify for the Australian Open was Ismail El Shafei in 1978.
In another achievement for Egypt, Safwat had also previously qualified for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo.
