McDonald Rallies From Two Sets Down To Qualify For Wimbledon
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.