Sorry if this has been Covered elsewhere, but was Jay Clarke anywhere near to being in AO Qualies?
Yes. He would have made it in to qualies if he had traveled. There has been some debate here over whether his decision has tactical or whether there is an injury in there somewhere. We haven't successfully answered that question.
Jay withdrew on 4th January, about the stage he was officially into qualifying or at least pretty certain to be. Seems he's down to start his season with European Challengers later this month.
Setkic who came through qualies to get to the second round of Doha last week, and we know what JP Smith can do.
Ivashka a good seed to have in your section though.
Liam let's not look past the first round - Berrettini did really well in Doha too, think he made QF?
After beating Liam 6-4 7-5 in Doha, Berrettini went on to qualify, then beat Victor Troicki WR 54 in three sets in the MD L32 before losing to Peter Gojowczyk WR 65 in straight sets in the L16.
I have to confess that my first thought on seeing the title of this thread ("Australian Open Qualifying (Hard)") was "it is supposed to be hard, it is a grand slam". Luckily I caught myself before I posted the thought.