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stateofsport211 · 5 months ago

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Wimbledon MS Q3: Meet Your Qualifiers (1/2)

Wimbledon qualifying rounds, illustration (📸 CNN)

The condensed version in a Twitter thread can be found here.

After a grueling competition spanning 2 rounds, the Wimbledon Championships' qualifying rounds in Roehampton wrapped up with 16 best-of-five matches playing simultaneously. These qualifiers might be dangerous, but before the draw is made, it is not proper if the qualifiers are yet to be met. Therefore, before freaking out "Who are they and what are they doing to the favorites" yet again, here are some summaries from the last qualification round.

They are written in the order they advance. Beware, this is probably another long read.

Section 3: Zizou Bergs [3] def. Denis Yevseyev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

Zizou Bergs' point to 5-1* 15-30, 1st set (left) and to break for the match at 6-2 in the 3rd set (right) (📸 Wimbledon qualifications feed)

One of the most in-form seeds, third seed Zizou Bergs, advanced to the third qualifying round after defeating Omar Jasika and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the latter in the most scenic route possible (6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4). He faced Denis Yevseyev, who stunned 28th seed Titouan Droguet 6-4, 7-6(3) in the second qualifying round, as well as defeating Matteo Martineau in three tight sets. This match turned out to be a masterclass from Z. Bergs, where he scored an almost flawless performance throughout the match.

The third seed began this match with an early break, followed by a running forehand to generate his one-point lead before serving the first-set breadstick (6-1). His dominance continued through the second set as he took it 6-2, and somehow found his way breaking for the match thanks to his forehand winner as D. Yevseyev's balance went completely off, also taking the third set 6-2 to confirm his spot in the main draw.

Section 4: Mark Lajal def. James Duckworth [4] 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Mark Lajal's point to *3-3 40-40 (1st deuce), 1st set (📸 Wimbledon qualifications feed)

One of the notable fast-court/indoor goats, Mark Lajal, despite having a questionable hard-court form back in the first portion of the Asian Challenger swing earlier this year, the Estonian had a decent grass-court season as he made it through the second qualifying rounds of the Surbiton and Nottingham Challengers, but he could not make it to the main draw, somehow finding himself defeating Francesco Passaro and Henrique Rocha in the two qualifying rounds. In contrast, fourth seed James Duckworth had more experience as he qualified for Halle (500) despite the loss to Hubert Hurkacz in the second round.

While this match was expected to be a tough, possible servefest at best, it turned out to come down to several crucial rallies. For instance, after a preceding unforced error, M. Lajal's forehand down-the-line error secured an important deuce before the Estonian broke to 4-3, followed by a consolidation to 5-3. While M. Lajal took the first set 6-4, J. Duckworth took a medical timeout midway, but despite his best efforts to stay competitive, he fell short in the exemplified said moments. As a result, M. Lajal became the first Estonian to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw since Jurgen Zopp became the lucky loser in the Roland Garros 2018, where he was eliminated in the third round against Maximilian Marterer.

Section 7: Quentin Halys def. Beibit Zhukayev 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Quentin Halys' point to 3-3* 30-40, 2nd set (📸 Wimbledon qualifications feed)

Quentin Halys might have had a questionable form within the past year, but he tried to salvage it in the Wimbledon qualifying rounds a year after taking a set off Jannik Sinner (in the third round) as he defeated seventh seed Gregoire Barrere 6-3, 6-4 and survived a three-setter against wild card Jay Clarke 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and faced a decent test in Beibit Zhukayev, who stunned Jurij Rodionov 7-6(5), 7-6(7) and 17th seed Hamad Medjedovic 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4 in the second qualifying round. Staying aggressive on return while maintaining service game consistency became important in this match, and it proved itself as the match progressed.

After taking the first set 6-3, the Frenchman tried to stay consistent as he was spotted finishing his shots down the line: a forehand one that got B. Zhukayev ran over from his forehand side to minimize the gap, followed by a timely backhand down-the-line winner before he broke due to another unforced error from the unseeded Kazakh. By then, Q. Halys broke to 4-3 and strengthened his position with a service game hold straight away, where he successfully took the second set 6-4 right after, with a similar process from his groundstrokes neutralized B. Zhukayev's usually effective first serve to take the third set 6-4, securing his spot once again in the main draw as a result.

Section 14: Elias Ymer def. Sho Shimabukuro 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-1

Elias Ymer's point to force another deuce at *0-0, 2nd set (left) and to set up his set point to 5-3* 15-40, also in the 2nd set (right) (📸 Wimbledon qualification feed)

Despite struggling to find his form back, Elias Ymer started to rebuild his form by reaching the Oeiras 4 Challenger final back on clay (l. Jaime Faria) and has tried to maintain his form since. He defeated Lukas Neumayer in straight sets in the first two qualifying rounds before fighting thick and thin to defeat Marco Trungelliti 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in an entertaining encounter. E. Ymer then faced Sho Shimabukuro, who also made the cut last year and notably made it to the second round of the Surbiton Challenger (l. Leandro Riedi), as well as having a competitive first-round exit against Cameron Norrie in the Nottingham (grass) Challenger as a qualifier before stunning 14th seed Jozef Kovalik and recent Sassuolo Challenger champion Jesper de Jong in both qualifying rounds.

E. Ymer initially had a neat start to the match as he brought S. Shimabukuro to the tie-breaker, ultimately taking the first set 7-6(4) despite starting the tie-breaker in an unideal manner (with a double fault), recovering the mini-break deficit through his groundstrokes (mostly through his forehand side) before setting up the mini-break through S. Shimabukuro's forehand mishit. The Swede had not looked back since, taking the first set 7-6(5) before scoring a backhand down-the-line winner to force another deuce before breaking early to 1-0 to start the second set. Eventually, E. Ymer outhit S. Shimabukuro through his occasional slices in between his forehands, breaking for the second set 6-3 before dominating the third set that ended with a breadstick (6-1) to secure his third Wimbledon main draw qualification after 2015 & 2022.

Section 10: Alejandro Moro Canas def. Damir Dzumhur 7-6(6), 6-4, 0-1 ret.

Alejandro Moro Canas' point to create his break points in the first game of the second set, with the earlier (left) and the later (right) attempts (📸 Wimbledon qualification feed)

Alejandro Moro Canas started to prove himself to be an all-around player (outside of his usual clay and occasionally hard-court prowess), continuing his form after winning the Rome (Italy) Challenger during the clay season, followed by qualifying for the main draw of Roland Garros (d. Mattia Bellucci). For the Challenger-level grass season, he made it as far as the second qualifying round of the Ilkley Challenger (l. M. Tomas Barrios Vera) before stunning Joao Fonseca 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10) in a topsy-turvy match, followed by 29th Matteo Gigante 7-5, 6-2 in the first two qualifying rounds. On the other hand, 10th seed Damir Dzumhur defeated Tristan Schoolkate and Nick Hardt to make it to the third qualifying round despite his first-round loss to Joris de Loore back in Ilkley.

However, the likely physical first two sets already took a toll on the 10th seed throughout the match. A. Moro Canas then successfully took the first set 7-6(5) despite being comebacked when he should have served for the first set at 5-3, ultimately mini-breaking for the set thanks to his timely forehand winner. A working volley to Dzumhur's drop shot also secured A. Moro Canas' earlier break point to start the second set, but even though it was foiled, the Spaniard created another one through a forehand winner, which was successfully converted, and he had not looked back since. There was several close-call-related chaos midway, but the physicality of this game prompted Dzumhur to retire despite holding the first game to start the third set (1-0), sending A. Moro Canas to another Grand Slam main draw appearance.

Section 6: Lucas Pouille def. Luca van Assche [6] 7-6(4), 7-5, 6-2

Lucas Pouille's point to *5-2 40-40 (break point save) in the third set as he served for the match (📸 Wimbledon qualifications feed)

Despite some questions surrounding his comeback and inability to catch a break, Lucas Pouille got himself together in this year's Wimbledon qualification rounds and convincingly defeated British sensation Jack Pinnington Jones 6-0, 6-3 in the first qualifying rounds before stunning Jiri Vesely 7-6(6), 6-2 in a classic encounter. The third qualifying round became an all-French generational battle as he faced sixth seed Luca van Assche, who defeated both Jules Marie and Li Tu in three sets, with the third set being brought into a (match) tie-breaker.

This match turned out to test their range consistency, which became evident toward the end of the match.

Section 12: Cristian Garin [12] def. Timofey Skatov 6-2, 7-5, 6-3

Cristian Garin's point to break 4-2 in the 1st set (📸 Wimbledon qualifications feed)

Having to miss last year's Wimbledon due to his injuries, 12th seed and 2022 quarterfinalist Cristian Garin was determined to be back on track despite his questionable form throughout the past few years. Here, he defeated Enzo Couacaud 7-6(5), 7-5 in the first qualifying round before defeating M. Tomas Barrios Vera 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in an all-Chilean battle, facing Timofey Skatov in the final qualifying round as the latter defeated Andrea Pellegrino 6-3, 6-3 and stunned 26th seed Lukas Klein 7-6(6), 7-6(5) in the first two qualifying rounds.

Somehow, although this match was thought to be slightly more competitive, C. Garin turned out to dominate from his forehand side as he capitalized on T. Skatov's previous second-serve errors, utilizing his cross-court forehand to break 4-2 before he held his serves to 5-2. The Chilean ultimately broke for the first set 6-2, and even though T. Skatov tried to raise his level in the second set, C. Garin cleaned up his act to finally take the second set 7-5 and continued his form as he took the third set 6-3 to secure his main draw qualification round for another occasion.

Section 1: Maxime Janvier def. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard [1] 6-7(10), 7-5, 7-6(4), 7-6(5)

Maxime Janvier's points to 6-6(6-4, first set point save) in the first set and to *4-2 40-ad to create a break point in the second set (📸 Wimbledon qualification feed)

After his Stuttgart (250) and Queen's Club (500) breakthrough, both eliminated in the first and second round as a qualifier, respectively, first seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard carried on his breakthrough season with straight-set victories over Ugo Blanchet and Antoine Escoffier. Somehow, he found himself facing another, more experienced Frenchman in Maxime Janvier, who defeated Yu-Hsiou Hsu 7-5, 6-3 and knocked out 30th seed Emilio Nava 7-6(1), 6-3 to secure the third qualifying round appearance.

Interestingly, this match became another rollercoaster coming down to Gio's second serves and some follow-up returns. M. Janvier tried to exert more pressure through his passes to prolong the first set even if the first seed took it 7-6(10), but the former managed to come back from 1-4 down in the second set as he brought Gio off-balance thanks to his slightly deep returns, passing the latter through his forehand (and a forehand return ace beforehand) before breaking back to 4-3 several games later. Ultimately, frequent double faults and a forehand error resulted in M. Janvier taking the second set 7-5, and he started nailing these moments for the next two sets, nailing the thinnest margins as he took the third set 7-6(4) due to Gio's failed drop shot, and generating his match point through the first seed's +1 backhand error before finally taking the whole match, securing his maiden Grand Slam-level qualification for the main draw after receiving a wild card to compete in Roland Garros' first rounds between 2018-2020.

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