Radu Albot was knocked out of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year – Australian Open. On January 13, the Moldovan tennis player lost to Kazakhstan’s Andrei Golubev 4-6, 4-6 in the second qualifying round. In autumn 2010, Golubev was the 33rd in the world rankings, Info-Prim Neo reports. Radu Albot is the first Moldovan player who scored a victory in a Grand Slam tournament. In the first round, he beat Russia’s Denis Matsukevici 6-0, 6-2. Roman Borvanov, Moldova’s second representative at the Australian Open 2012, was eliminated after the first preliminary match against Russia’s Igor Andreev. Denis Molchanov, who several years ago renounced the Moldovan nationality and took the Ukrainian nationality, is close to qualifying for the major competition in Australia. He managed to defeat the main favorite in the qualifying rounds, Japan’s Go Soeda.