Lightning Bolt strikes again at Wimbledon Qualifying

Perhaps not in such dramatic circumstances, but Australia’s Alex Bolt has again navigated his way through Wimbledon qualifying to earn his spot in the main draw.

Last year Bolt was given very short notice before taking his spot in qualifying as an alternate, going all the way to the main draw. Bolt needed a five set match in 2024 to advance after being two sets to nil.

The Australian would then face no. 8 seed Casper Ruud in the main draw. A straight sets loss sent him home.

This time around it was more straight forward for the 32-year-old from Murray Bridge in South Australia. Bolt who grew up on grass courts won match one and three in straight sets and dropped a set in round 2 of qualifying.

The Australian was up against Spain’s Martin Landaluce in the final round. Bolt marched his way into the main draw with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

James McCabe will make his Wimbledon debut after a four set win over Chilean Tomas Barrios Vera.

“Before these last two weeks, I think I’d lost 11 tiebreaks in a row – so now it’s going the right direction and I’m just glad it’s coming together now,” McCabe said. “It was just an absolute unreal experience.”

McCabe took the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 7-6(7).

Hon finally makes it

It was seventh time lucky for Priscilla Hon. The Brisbane native finally reaching the main draw. Hon first took part in qualifying back in 2018, going out in round two. She had only once before made it to Q3, back in 2021.

In the deciding match it took Hon saving five match points before the Australian finally claimed victory over Canada’s Victoria Mboko.

“Honestly, right now I’m pretty lost for words, especially when I didn’t think I was going to win the match,” Hon explained.

“I definitely feel like I’ve gotten better in these situations and obviously played quite a few now and I’ve got the experience.”

“Apparently, I was down five match points, but I only remember three of them. I was just trying to think point-by-point and somehow, I got the win,” she said. “ I served really well in that game (at 6-5) to come back, and that’s what got me through.”

Talia Gibson also had to see off a match point on the way to to 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win. The world no. 129 was done match point at 3-5 before saving that and winning four straight games against Solana Sierra of Argentina.

“I’m still a little bit in shock but just incredibly, incredibly happy with my performance today and just to get through qualifying for the first time in a Slam is a good feeling,” she said. “I was really trying to visualise and put myself in the position to feel like this is something I could do this year. I’m lost for words and just incredibly happy that I could actually do it.”

Australia’s top junior, Emerson Jones was able to advance, she lost 6-2, 6-2 to France’s Diane Parry.

Li Tu also went down, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to experienced Frenchman, Adrian Marrarino.