Six of the remaining seeds needed to leave the tournament after all the final round matches had been set at Wimbledon Championships, on the second day of the Ladies’ singles qualifying competition.
The major upset of the day saw second seed Viktoria Golubic falling in straight sets to compatriot Amra Sadikovic; sixth seed Lauren Davis also suffered an early defeat. Teenager wild card Harriet Dart is the only British that made it into the final round.
Top seeds struggle in the second round
Of the remaining top-ten seeds, four of them needed to leave the competition before the final round.
First seed Tatjana Maria hadn’t been among them, as she continued her run with a fast 6-3, 6-3 victory over An-Sophie Mestach. The German saved seven set points to never give up her serve, and never lost the lead of the match. The Belgian lost her serve one more time while serving to remain in the match, letting Maria sign her victory on her first match point.
Third seed Zhang Kai-Lin needed to rally from a set back to eventually defeat Tereza Smitkova. The Chinese won back a break in the first set, but then lost it 7-4 in the tie-break. She found more consistency on serve in the second set, as she held all her service games and broke her opponent twice, to book the set 6-1. She faced little more trouble in the third, as she needed to save four break points and failed to convert four match points, before finally holding in the final game to close the set with a 6-2 scoreline. Zhang is among the players who will battle for a debut in a major main draw.
Aleksandra Krunic, the fourth seed in the tournament, also needed to battle back to end Elise Mertens’s grass court run, which included victories over Eugenie Bouchard and Francesca Schiavone. Both players faced multiple breaks of serve, but in the end, it had been the more experienced Serbian who closed out the match, with a final 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 scoreline. Krunic needs to reach the main draw to be able to defend the third round points collected last year.
Maria Sakkari continued her debut run on grass with a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over Jovana Jaksic, and seventh seed Tamira Paszek confirmed her good form on grass with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over wild card Lisa Whybourn.
The other top-ten seeds needed to deal with early losses.
Second seed Victorija Golubic gave up with a double 6-4 to fellow Swiss Amra Sadikovic. Golubic lost her serve once per set, but she failed to convert her chances to break back. Both of the players had yet to make a Wimbledon main draw’s appearance, and Sadikovic is looking for her debut in a major.
Other players looking for their debut are Barbara Haas, who defeated sixth seed Lauren Davis with a double 6-3, despite a battled second set, and Barbora Stefkova, who got rid of seventh seed Kristina Kucova 7-5, 6-3.
Tenth seed Risa Ozaki resumed her suspended match from yesterday with a battled win against wild card Freya Christie. After having lost the first set tie-break 9-7, the Japanese closed out the second one, with 7 points to 4. She found herself in trouble in an also battled third set, saving one match point while serving to stay in the set, and two more as Christie was serving for the match. Ozaki eventually broke the British's serve twice to claim the third set with a 7-5 score and win the match. If her young age had betrayed Christie on the crucial points, the almost four hours that the match lasted could’ve affected Ozaki as well; forced to play another match two hours later, the Japanese lost 6-4, 6-3 to another British teen wild card, Harriet Dart.
Few surprises in the other match results
All the remaining seeded players managed to advance to the final round.
Rebecca Peterson and Irina Khromaceva were among the players who were looking for a major debut, and they kept her hopes alive; the first with a comeback victory against wild card Katie Butler, closed with a final 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 scoreline, and the second with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Andreea Mitu. Jana Cepelova advanced after giving a double 6-4 to Scherazad Reix, and Duan Yingying will try to reach the second Wimbledon main draw in a row after a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over USA’s Taylor Townsend, who had played her first and last match in Wimbledon’s main draw in 2014.
Mandy Minella won a comeback match against Misa Eguchi to reach the final round. After winning the first set 6-2, Minella lost the second one 7-0 in the tie-break, and quickly fell 1-5 down in the third; from then on, however, she won the next six games to close the set and the match out without giving a single chance to her opponent, who paid for her inconsistency on the most crucial moments.
The last seeded players who advanced to the final round had been Marina Erakovic, who already reached the third round in Wimbledon twice in career, and Maryna Zanevska; Erakovic needed two sets to defeat Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-2, while Zanevska rallied from a set back to put an end to Michelle Larcher de Brito’s run on grass, with a final 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
Among the other matches, two more players will seek their debut match in a major. Ekaterina Alexandrova entertained the crowd with one of the most battled matches of the day, against Stephanie Vogt. After losing the first set 6-4, Alexandrova rallied back from 2-0 in the second to win it 6-4 and force a decider. In the third set, however, none of the players managed to take a lead for 25 games, always holding with quick service games. Eventually, the Russian saved a match point while down 11-12, and broke her opponent’s serve to love right away, consolidating him with a final hold who ended the set with a 14-12 scoreline. USA’s Julia Boserup, on her first run at Wimbledon, won an all-American match against Jessica Pegula, with a far quicker 6-2, 6-1 scoreline.
Fellow American Vania King battled from a set behind to defeat wild card Gabriella Taylor 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Another American, Robin Anderson, fell in three sets against Zhu Lin, with a final 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 scoreline.
Among the remaining matches, wild card Ashleigh Barty lost the chance to enter the first major event since her comeback losing to Luksika Kumkhum 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, without being able to keep her one-set lead. Veteran Virginie Razzano lost with a double 6-4 to Paula Kania, while Andrea Hlavackova defeated Wang Yafan 7-5, 6-1. Chang Kai-chen needed a double 6-4 to successfully get rid of Alexandra Panova.
Tomorrow’s schedule
The final day of the qualifying play will show the names of the 12 players who will gain access to the main draw. Top-seed Tatiana Maria is among the favourites, and she will need to battle against Rebecca Peterson. Among the other seeds, Zhang Kai-Lin will face Jana Cepelova while Aleksandra Krunic and Duan Yingying will battle each other to be able to defend their main draw points from last year. Maria Sakkari will face Maryna Zanevska. The winners between Barbara Haas and Julia Boserup, and Harriet Dart and Ekaterina Alexandrova, will gain the chance to play in a major main draw for the first time.