Wimbledon 2021: Britain's Katie Swan qualifies for SW19 main draw
Britain’s Katie Swan puts an injury-hit year behind her to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw.
Britain’s Katie Swan puts an injury-hit year behind her to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw.
Eight-time champion Roger Federer has been placed in the bottom half of The Championships draw, but will have to potentially overcome Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev if he wishes to reach a 13th Wimbledon final.
The Swiss superstar, who compiled a 101-13 match record at the All England Club since his debut in 1999, will challenge France’s Adrian Mannarino in the first round. Federer, who has beaten Mannarino six times overall — and twice on grass at Wimbledon — could face cinch Championships runner-up Cameron Norrie in the third round.
Federer will be hoping to bounce back from a second-round exit at the NOVENTI OPEN (l. to Auger-Aliassime) as he seeks a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam championship.
View Singles Draw
Popcorn First-Round Matches At A Glance
Medvedev v Struff
Tsitsipas v Tiafoe
Murray v Basilashvili
Kyrgios v Humbert
Korda v De Minaur
Sinner v Fucsovics
Musetti v Hurkacz
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) in a memorable 2019 Wimbledon final, is targetting a third straight crown — and sixth overall — in south-west London. He may need to overcome Stefanos Tsitsipas, the player he beat in the Roland Garros final two weeks ago, or two-time former champion Andy Murray, in the semi-finals.
The 34-year-old Serbian comes into the grass-court major on the back of capturing his ninth Australian Open trophy (d. Medvedev) and his second in Paris. In winning the Melbourne-Paris title double, he matched his 2016 achievement and was the first player to do so since Jim Courier in 1992. Five years ago, Djokovic fell to Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon third round.
Djokovic will first prepare to challenge British wild card Jack Draper, a recent quarter-finalist at The Queen’s Club, and may then need to beat 2018 finalist Kevin Anderson in the second round at SW19. Russia’s Andrey Rublev could be a quarter-final opponent.
#NextGenATP stars Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti and Sebastian Korda will all be making their main draw debuts at The Championships next week.
Sinner, the 19th seed from Italy, who is in Djokovic’s quarter of the draw, will face Marton Fucsovics in the first round, with ninth-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman a potential third-round opponent. Musetti, who impressed with his fourth-round run at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic), is set to meet Polish 14th seed Hubert Hurkacz, the Miami Open presented by Itau titlist in April.
Korda faces no easy task against Australia’s Alex de Minaur, the cinch Championships and Viking International Eastbourne semi-finalist. Elsewhere, Canadian 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who advanced to the Wimbledon third round on his debut two years ago, plays Thiago Monteiro of Brazil.
More to follow…
Defending women’s champion Simona Halep pulls out of Wimbledon because of a calf injury.
Two-time champion Andy Murray makes a welcome comeback in the Wimbledon singles when one of the sporting highlights of the British summer returns.
Zhang Zhizhen made history on Thursday at Wimbledon.
The 24-year-old beat Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to reach his first major main draw and become the first Chinese man to make the main draw at The Championships in the Open Era.
This was the World No. 178’s fourth attempt to qualify for a Grand Slam. In his first three attempts, he did not advance past the second round of qualifying.
Zhang will be the fourth Chinese man to compete in a major singles main draw in the Open Era according to Wimbledon.com. Wu Di did it three times at the Australian Open (2013, 2014 and 2016), Zhang Ze played in Melbourne twice (2014 and 2015) and Li Zhe competed in the 2019 Australian Open.
Zhang did not lose a set in his first two qualifying matches, and he got off to a quick start against Cerundolo, losing just three games in the first two sets. The two-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist had to dig deep in the fourth-set tie-break to triumph after two hours and 20 minutes.
Did You Know?
The 24-year-old is the No. 1 Chinese player in the FedEx ATP Rankings at World No. 178. Last year, Zhang reached a career-high World No. 136.
Novak Djokovic’s grass-court preparations are cut short after an injury to his partner forces them to withdraw from the Mallorca doubles final.
Mackenzie McDonald made the fourth round on his Wimbledon debut in 2018. Now, the American will get another main draw crack at SW19.
The second seed in qualifying rallied from two sets down on Thursday to beat another former UCLA Bruin, Maxime Cressy, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The 26-year-old struck 54 winners to just 18 unforced errors to advance after three hours and 12 minutes.
McDonald had to go through qualifying, but he has been a force on the ATP Tour this season. McDonald is second among Americans in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin, only trailing Sebastian Korda.
Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor also came from two sets down to claw past Briton Arthur Fery 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-2. This will be Griekspoor’s second Grand Slam main draw and his debut at Wimbledon.
#NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima will also make his maiden main draw appearance at SW19 after ousting former World No. 10 Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. The 19-year-old is the youngest player to come through qualifying.
Nakashima’s countryman, Denis Kudla, ousted Italian Federico Gaio 6-2, 7-5, 6-4. This will be the American’s seventh Wimbledon main draw. In 2015, he advanced to the fourth round.
China’s Zhang Zhizhen took out Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to reach his first major main draw, and Australian Marc Polmans battled past 2018 Newport finalist Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 11-9.
Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who has earned wins this season against Jannik Sinner and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, moved past Serbian Nikola Milojevic 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. His countrymen, Gregoire Barrere, Benjamin Bonzi and Antoine Hoang, also earned their spots in the field of 128.
The first five-setter on this year’s grass ?
And what a way to seal a #Wimbledon main draw spot by Bernabe Zapata Miralles ? pic.twitter.com/aUBGiBGNYT
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 24, 2021
The other players who qualified on Thursday were Chilean Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera, German Daniel Masur, Australian Christopher O’Connell, German Oscar Otte, Argentine Marco Trungelliti and Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi knocks out top seed Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semi-finals of the Eastbourne International.
Watch the best shots as Britain’s Anton Matusevich loses 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 to Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in a thrilling Wimbledon qualifier.
Dominic Thiem on Thursday announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury he suffered during his match Tuesday at the Mallorca Championships.
“I’m going to do everything the doctors say in order to recover as quickly as possible,” Thiem said. “They’ve informed me that I might be out for several weeks, but I will do my best to be back on court soon.”
Tests in Barcelona found that the Austrian star has a “detachment of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side of the right wrist”. He will wear a splint for five weeks, and Dr. Angel Ruiz Cotorro and his team will monitor Thiem’s progress.
The 27-year-old is 9-9 on the season and the No. 5 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings.