By IANS,
London : A Brit made it to the main draw after getting a wildcard to play in the qualifiers, a Belgian had to come through the qualifiers to play in his eighth Wimbledon and a former women’s quarter-finalist had to qualify for the event.
Chris Eaton will give the home fans something to cheer about by advancing to the main event after being given a wild card into the qualifiers.
Ranked 659 in the world, the Brit battled through every round before beating Olivier Patience of France, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (3) in his final match.
Belgium’s Christophe Rochus will be making his eighth appearance at Wimbledon after a successful qualifying campaign.
Rochus, 29, did not drop a set throughout his three matches. “When I came here I was injured, I didn’t know if I would be able to play and now I have qualified. I beat some good guys and not losing a set so I guess I’m good this year on grass,” he said.
Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky, who dashed the hopes of India’s Prakash Amritraj, also qualified for the event.
Severine Bremond, who reached the quarter-finals in 2006, played outstanding tennis over the course of the week. She rattled through her final match 6-0, 6-4. “I think I played very good. It was a good win on grass,” she said after her match.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Stefano Gallani and Poland’s Dawid Olejniczak will no doubt need long rest after both endured marathon five-set matches to qualify.
Gallani emerged the victor in a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 tussle with Serb Ilia Bozoljac, while Olejniczak defeated South Africa’s Rik de Voest 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 2-6, 8-6.
There were girlish giggles of delight as Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Pennetta secured their expected 7-6(4), 6-2 victory to clinch a place in the ladies’ doubles draw.
The list of qualifiers:
Men’s Singles:
1. Christophe Rochus (BEL)
2. Andreas Beck (GER)
3. Stefano Galvani (ITA)
4. Chris Eaton (GBR)
5. Alexander Peya (AUT)
6. Simon Stadler (GER)
7. Dawid Olejniczak (POL)
8. Kevin Kim (USA)
9. Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)
10. Frederico Gil (POR)
11. Jesse Levine (USA)
12. Pavel Snobel (CZE)
13. Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
14. Izak van der Merwe (RSA)
15. Philipp Petzschner (GER)
16. Jan Hernych (CZE)
Women’s Singles
1. Rikia Fujiwara (JPN)
2. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE)
3. Severine Bremond (FRA)
4. Mathilde Johansson (FRA)
5. Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE)
6. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
7. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)
8. Stephanie Foretz (FRA)
9. Maria Elena Camerin (ITA)
10. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)
11. Eva Hrdinova (CZE)
12. Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR)
Men’s Doubles
1. Amer Delic (USA) and Brendan Evans (USA)
2. Frederico Gil (POR) and Dick Norman (BEL)
3. KJ Hippensteel (USA) and Tripp Phillips (USA)
4. Peter Pala (CZE) and Igor Zelenay (SVK)
LL – Michail Elgin (RUS) and Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)
Women’s Doubles
1. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/Olga Savchuk (UKR)
2. Maria Kirilenko (RUS)/Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
3. Jorgelina Cravero (ARG)/Betina Jozami (ARG)
4. Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)/Abigail Spears (USA)
LL – denotes ‘Lucky Loser’.
Lucky losers are losers from the final round of qualifying competitions – chosen at random – to fill any vacancy which occurs in the draw before the first round has been completed.