British world No 719 Oliver Tarvet sealed his spot in the Wimbledon main draw after coming through qualifying but will not be able to claim the majority of his prize money for reaching the first round.
Tarvet is currently studying at the University of San Diego in the United States, where he has achieved impressive results on the college tennis circuit. He became the first male British qualifier for Wimbledon since Alexander Ward in 2017.
He followed up his victory over 14th seed Terence Atmane in round one with a 6-3 6-2 win against Canada’s Alexis Galarneau before defeating 29th seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-1 to progress to the main draw.
However, due to most college sports in America having amateur status, Tarvet will not be able to take home the majority of the £66,000 he has earned by reaching Wimbledon’s first round.
The 21-year-old from St Albans said in his post-match interview: “There’s a lot of emotions but the main one is just happiness.
“There’s a lot of work gone into getting where I am today. A lot of people have worked really hard to help me, not only to get through this qualification but the last two years.
“A lot of emotions but I’m just really enjoying the moment. It’s a dream come true and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
British interest at Eastbourne comes to end
Dan Evans and Billy Harris were knocked out of the Eastbourne Open as British interest came to an end.
Evans, who registered a standout second-round win over world No 13 Tommy Paul on Wednesday, went down 6-2 6-3 to American lucky loser Jenson Brooksby.
Harris, ranked 142 in the world, was beaten 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 by French world No 20 Ugo Humbert.
“It was really difficult conditions. Jenson played a good match, he was probably better than me today,” said Evans, who arrived at Devonshire Park having last week celebrated the best grass-court win of his career with victory over Frances Tiafoe in the first round at Queen’s Club.
“It was a very quick turnaround. It was not easy but that’s tennis, you have to recover and get back out there.
“I’m not sure what time he finished yesterday but I think it was a lot earlier than me, and it just felt all very quick today.”
Stewart and Appleton knocked out of Wimbledon
Hamish Stewart’s bid to join Tarvet in the singles draw at Wimbledon ended in a 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4 defeat to Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi.
World No 550 Stewart, from Strathblane, had won four matches having come through the wild card qualifying play-off for lower-ranked British players to earn a spot at Roehampton.
Emily Appleton lost in the final round of qualifying as Slovakian world No 171 Veronika Erjavec sealed a 6-2 2-6 6-0 win.
Karen Cross (2001), Katie Swan (2021) and Sonay Kartal (2024) are the only Brits to have progressed through qualifying to reach the Wimbledon women’s singles draw since 1999.
Krejcikova’s injury scare ahead of title defence
Barbora Krejcikova is a doubt ahead of her Wimbledon title defence
Barbora Krejcikova is an injury doubt ahead of her Wimbledon title defence after withdrawing from the Eastbourne Open due to a thigh problem.
The world No 17, who defeated Jasmine Paolini in the women’s singles final at the All England Club last year, was due to face France’s Varvara Gracheva in the quarter-finals.
Czech player Krejcikova initially felt the issue on Wednesday during her second-round victory over Britain’s Jodie Burrage.
The injury worsened overnight and, with her opening match at Wimbledon scheduled for Tuesday, the 29-year-old is awaiting the outcome of a scan.
“I’m very sorry to have to withdraw from my quarter-final today in Eastbourne as I’m having some soreness in my right thigh,” said Krejcikova.
“Overnight it just didn’t get any better; it actually got worse. I think it’s better with Wimbledon in the next couple of days just to rest it, see what’s going on and to resolve that.”
Krejcikova played two gruelling three-set singles matches on the south coast.
Having saved two match points en route to defeating British No 4 Harriet Dart in two hours and 40 minutes in round one, the second seed saved three more in her tie-break triumph over Burrage, which lasted two hours and 24 minutes.
Australian 19-year-old Maya Joint backed up her second-round victory over British No 1 Emma Raducanu by reaching the semi-finals with a 6-4 7-5 success over Russia’s Anna Blinkova.
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