The taste of WTA life was brief for Australia’s quartet of Hobart International qualifying wildcards but the four will leave their first tournament experience with an understanding of what it takes to reach the next level. Seventeen-year-old pair Lily Fairclough and Zara Larke, Emerson Jones (14), and Lily Taylor (16) are the future of the sport in the country and were given the opportunity to test themselves against hardened WTA players on Saturday. All featured on centre court at the Domain Tennis Centre but were unable to cause the boilovers the local fans were craving as action returned for the first time since 2020. Larke was the first to step out against ninth seed Tamara Zidansek, lasting an hour before she went down 6-0 6-1 to the world No. 85 who boasts one WTA title to her name from Lausanne in 2021. Taylor followed in her clash with 10th seed Xinyu Wang, matching her Chinese opponent early as the pair were locked at 2-2 apiece in the first set. However when Taylor was b...