Three Australian males and one female are through to the final round of qualifying at the Bank of England Tennis centre in Roehampton.
Andrew Harris, Jason Kubler and Alexei Popyrin are in the mens’ third round and Arina Rodionova is in the women’s third round.
All of the qualifying results are listed below. The survivors are bolded.
World no. 220 Andrew Harris defeated Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to setup a showdown with France’s world no. 85 and the top seed in qualifying Corentin Moutet.
“He’s a pretty big name to be playing in qualifying. I knew Stakhovsky was going to be a really tough opponent; he’s proven that on grass over the years in his career,” said Harris of a player who became famous by dethroning Roger Federer on Centre Court in the second round of Wimbledon in 2013.
“I was a little nervous at the start of the first set but then once I relaxed and settled into the match I thought I played really well … I was surprised how comfortable I felt out there.”
Moutet was ranked at no. 110 when entries closed in early June but has since reached the third round at Roland Garros to earn 90 ranking points and on 16 June he won the ATP Challenger Tour title in Lyon to earn 100 points. That pushed him inside the top-100, but came too late for automatic entry for Wimbledon.
Andrew Harris was the world no. 6 junior player and won the 2012 Roland Garros and Wimbledon junior boys’ double titles with Nick Kyrgios. Instead of heading out onto the tour he elected to enter the US college system playing under John Roddick at the University of Oklahoma.
Harris is yet to play at tour level match, it will be a big achievement if he is to reach the Wimbledon main draw.
Jason Kubler pulled off a big escape in his round one match after facing match points against Switzerland’s no. 2 seed Henri Laaksonen. In round two he defeated Slovakia’s Norbert Gombos SVK 7-6(5), 7-6(1).
World no. 189 Kubler who reached the Wimbledon main draw in 2018 through qualifying will face Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama the world no. 182.
Alexei Popyrin is in a similar situation to Moutet, he is now ranked high enough to receive direct entry into a Grand Slam, but at the time of entries closing he was ranked at no. 109, but is currently at no. 99.
Popyrin had a comfortable 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Germany’s Mats Moraing to setup a round three showdown with USA’s Bjorn Fratangelo the 27th seed and world no. 135. Popyrin is aiming to reach the Wimbledon main draw for the fist time, it would also be his third straight Grand Slam tournament after reaching the third round at the Australian Open and the second round at Roland Garros.
Arina Rodionova is the lone Australian female to reach the third round. The former world no. 116 has drifted out to no. 212 in the rankings.
Rodionova is looking to reach the Wimbledon main draw for the second time after defeating Japan’s Misaki Doi (4) 6-4, 6-2. In round three she takes on world no. 168 Danielle Lao from the USA. Lao is looking to make her Wimbledon main draw debut.
“I actually think it helps that I played such a long match yesterday. I knew I probably don’t have enough energy to make another three-hour (match) … so I was really focused. And I was pretty relaxed,” Rodionova said after the match.
“I was really happy with my win yesterday so today I was like, let’s see how it goes and I’m gonna actually enjoy the moment, because I had no expectations really today.
“I was better than I thought I’d be (physically today). I woke up, had a few tight spots, but I saw physio before the match and I knew I’m gonna be fine to play.
“I probably wouldn’t be able to last a three-hour match maybe (laughter) … so I tried to keep all my points very short and sharp and I was going for my returns, I was going for my shots.
“I wasn’t planning to do much running today (laughter).”
Of the players to lose in round two, Alex Bolt, James Duckworth and Akira Santillan all had tough three-set losses. Santillan failing to convert two match points.
Wimbledon Qualifying
Men’s
James Duckworth d Jan Choinski GBR 6-1, 7-5. R2 lost to Viktor Galovic CRO 3-6, 6-3, 11-9.
Marc Polmans d Mohamed Safwat EGY 6-1, 6-3. R2 lost to Soonwoo Kwon (24) KOR 6-2, 6-2.
Andrew Harris d Enrique Lopez Perez ESP 6-2, 7-5. R2 d SergiyStakhovsky (17) UKR 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Rd3 vs Corentin Moutet (1) FRA.
Jason Kubler d Henri Laaksonen (2) SUI 6-2,5-7, 7-5. R2 d Norbert Gombos SVK 7-6(5), 7-6(1). Rd3 vs Yasutaka Uchiyama JPN.
Alexei Popyrin (4) d Federico Coria ARG 6-2, 7-5. R2 d Mats Moraing GER 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Rd3 vs Bjorn Fratangelo (27) USA.
John-Patrick Smith d Nicolas Mahut FRA 6-3, 6-4. R2 lost to Salvatore Caruso (18) ITA 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Alex Bolt d Jannik Sinner ITA 2-6, 7-5, 12-10. R2 lost to Dennis Novak (14) AUT 6-4, 6-2.
Akira Santillan d Jurij Rodionov 6-3, 6-1. R2 lost to Ruben Bemelmans BEL 6-7(5), 6-3, 12-10.
Women’s
Zoe Hives lost to Anna Blinkova (2) RUS 6-1,7-5
Destanee Aiava lost to Martina Di Giuseppe ITA 7-6(3), 6-4
Kimberly Birrell lost to Misaki Doi (4) JPN 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
Arina Rodionova d Asia Muhammad USA 7-6(6), 6(2)-7, 8-6. R2 d Misaki Doi (4) JPN 6-4, 6-2. Rd3 vs Danielle Lao USA
Priscilla Hon (23) d Katarina Zavatska UKR 7-5, 6-3. R2 lost to Catherine McNally USA 6-4, 6-4.
Ellen Perez lost to Elena Rybakina (8) KAZ 6-1, 6-4
Kaylah Mcphee d Maia Lumsden GBR 6-4, 6-4. R2 lost to Liudmila Samsonova (31) RUS 6-2, 7-6(5)
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