Wimbledon 2023: Naiktha Bains, Lily Miyazaki And Anna Brogan Secure Victory In Opening Qualifying Round
- Naiktha Bains, Lily Miyazaki and Anna Brogan secure win in opening qualifying round – women’s Wimbledon.
Britain’s Lily Miyazaki, Naiktha Bains and Anna Brogan secured victories in the opening round of women’s Wimbledon qualifying on Tuesday in Roehampton.
Miyazaki, 27, a semi-finalist at the Surbiton Trophy earlier this month, beat South Korea’s Han Na-lae 6-2 6-4.
Bains, 25, fought back from a set down to overcome Katarina Zavatska of Ukraine 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Brogan, 25, was the third Briton through, defeating Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra 4-6 7-5 6-3.
The second qualifying round is on Wednesday, with the final round on Thursday deciding who goes into next week’s main Wimbledon draw.
However, five British players were eliminated from qualifying.
Emily Appleton won the opening set but lost 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 against Canada’s Carol Zhao, while Eden Silva was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Argentina’s Julia Riera and Isabelle Lacy went down 7-5 6-2 to Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania.
Fourteen-year-old Hannah Klugman lost 6-1 7-6 (8-6) to Reka Luca Jani of Hungary and Mingge Xu, 15, fell to a 7-5 6-4 loss against Australian Storm Hunter.
Miyazaki aims to use Australian Open ‘heartbreak’ as motivation
Miyazaki, 27, was given a wildcard to play at Wimbledon last year and in the opening round won the first set against current world number five Caroline Garcia before losing in three sets.
She is aiming to qualify by right for a Grand Slam for the first time and hoping a near miss at the Australian Open in January, when she lost in a final set tie-break in the last qualifying round, can inspire her.
“It was heart-breaking losing 7-6 in the third, but I’ve been working hard since then and that made me hungry to get better,” said the world number 242.
“I feel my game is going in the right direction and hopefully I can keep it going.”
Wimbledon finalist Bouchard out in first qualifying round
Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who lost to Petra Kvitova in the 2014 Wimbledon singles final, failed to get past the first qualifying round in 2023, losing 6-4 7-5 to Greet Minnen of Belgium.
Bouchard has dropped to 218 in the world rankings and has not gone beyond the quarter-finals of any tournament since March 2021.
There was a better result for another Wimbledon finalist as 38-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva, the 2010 runner-up, had to fight hard and come from a set down before sealing a 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 triumph over Brazil’s Laura Pigossi.
Hsieh Su-wei, 37, only returned to action in April after she missed 18 months because of injury. She moved through to the second round of qualifying with a 6-1 6-4 win over American Sachia Vickery.
Three-time women’s doubles champion Hsieh reached the fourth round of the women’s singles at Wimbledon in 2018, beating top seed Simona Halep in the third round.
Sofia Kenin has been as high as fourth in the world rankings and is a Grand Slam champion, having won the Australian Open in 2020.
She advanced through the first qualifying round with a routine 6-3 6-2 victory over fellow American Irina Falconi Hartman.
Russian sisters Mirra and Erika Andreeva both moved into the second round. Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva beat Spain’s Rosa Vicens Mas 6-3 6-1 before Erika Andreeva, 19, defeated Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Busy day for Britons on Wednesday
British quartet Johannus Monday, Toby Samuel, Charles Broom and Billy Harris are also all in action in the second qualifying round on Wednesday, with the final qualifying round on Thursday.
Britain’s Dan Evans, Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie qualified automatically for the main draw, while Liam Broady, Jan Choinski, Arthur Fery, George Loffhagen and Ryan Peniston have been given wildcards.
No British women were ranked in the top 100 at the cut-off date for Wimbledon to qualify automatically, although Katie Boulter, Jodie Burrage, Harriet Dart, Sonay Kartal, Katie Swan and Heather Watson were handed wildcards.
