Wimbledon qualifiers see teenage kicks for trio of Brits as Felix Gill, Arthur Fery and Jack Pinnington-Jones all secure victories at Roehampton
- Three British teenagers secured eye-catching wins in Wimbledon qualifying
- Felix Gill beat Danilo Petrovic while Jack Pinnington-Jones beat Joao Menezes
- In addition, Arthur Fery managed to beat world No 148 Prajnesh Gunneswaran
The first balls hit in anger for two years at Wimbledon saw three eye-catching wins for British teenagers as the qualifying event began at Roehampton.
The little-known trio of Felix Gill, Arthur Fery and Jack Pinnington-Jones all beat opposition ranked many hundreds of places higher. They were joined in the second round of the preliminary event by fellow Brit Anton Matusevich, 20, who overcame national junior champion William Jansen.
The tournament has not seen play since July 14 2019, the famous day of sport which coincided with England’s World Cup cricket win over New Zealand.
Felix Gill overcame Danilo Petrovic 7-5, 7-6 as the Wimbledon qualifying event got underway
It was further delayed by Monday’s downpours but the men’s event finally got underway on Tuesday at the Bank of England sports ground, which this year has been closed off to the public.
The young teenage wildcards were quick to seize their opportunity. Gill, the 19-year-old world No 987 from Worcestershire, overcame Serbia’s Danilo Petrovic 7-5, 7-6. Wimbledon’s Fery, 18, whose mother once played at Roland Garros, overcame India’s world No 148 Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-1, 7-6.
Dorset’s Jack Pinnington-Jones, 18, defeated Brazilian Joao Menezes, ranked nearly 1,000 places above him, 6-4, 6-3. All of them need two more wins to make Monday’s main draw.
At Eastbourne’s Viking International, Heather Watson missed out on a rare top-10 victory when she failed to close out the 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek.
Arthur Fery also secured victory as he overcame world No 148 Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-1, 7-6
Jack Pinnington-Jones, meanwhile, managed to defeat Joao Menezes of Brazil 6-4, 6-3
Watson had the world No 9 in trouble at 4-1 and 40-15 up in the deciding set, serving with such efficiency that she was landing in nine of her first deliveries out of 10. Then a combination of the 20- year-old Pole lifting her game and Watson tightening up saw Swiatek come back to win 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 in two hours and 42 minutes.
It was a difficult day for the home players at an unseasonably cold Devonshire Park as they tackled higher-ranked opposition.
Harriet Dart was another near-miss, going down 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to Elena Rybakina, the world No 21 from Kazakhstan.
Novak Djokovic, choosing to play doubles this week at the Mallorca Open as his sole Wimbledon warm-up, partnered Spain’s Carlos Gomez-Herrera to a 5-7, 6-4, 13-11 win over Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic.