Ash Barty will have to again live up to being the number one in the women’s draw at Wimbledon after the world’s leading player was confirmed as the top seed for the championships just as she was when the event was last held two years ago.
Key points:
- Ash Barty is the number one seed at Wimbledon this year, ahead of Simona Halep and Aryna Sabalenka
- Alex de Minaur is Australia’s best-placed man having earned the 16th seed
- Bernard Tomic failed in his attempt to qualify, and lost the second set against Bernabe Zapata Miralles in 18 minutes
Barty, who is seeking a powerful return after injury forced her to withdraw during her second round match at the French Open, will be hoping to improve on her career-best fourth-round effort at Wimbledon in 2019 when she lost to American Alison Riske.
Novak Djokovic, reigning men’s singles champ after his epic win over Roger Federer in the 2019 tournament, will also start as top seed as he aims for his sixth triumph at the All England Club, which would tie him with Federer and the absent Rafael Nadal on 20 grand slams.
Alex de Minaur, Australia’s number one men’s player, will be boosted by the news that he has been seeded 16th, with players in the top-16 among the 32 seeds offered — theoretically, at least — an extra degree of protection earlier in the draw.
Federer, the eight-time champion, will be the seventh seed, with the possibility that he could end up meeting Djokovic at the quarter-final stage.
Australia’s Bernard Tomic’s hopes of making another run through Wimbledon qualifiers and deep into the main draw of the tournament have been dashed after a tame, expletive-free exit.
AP: Tim Ireland
)Tomic made a few headlines when he followed his opening round victory over Blaz Kavcic by joking how he’d “kind of s**t” himself” near the end of the match, which prompted the TV interviewer to have to apologise for the player’s language.
Not much was heard of Tomic after his second round trouncing by Spain’s up-and-comer Bernabe Zapata Miralles, the 10th qualifying seed, who hammered him 6-4, 6-1.
The second set lasted a mere 18 minutes.
It had been a decade since Tomic, then aged 18, had barnstormed through qualifying and become the youngest quarter-finalist in the tournament proper since Boris Becker.
Yet there’s plenty of Australian interest left in the qualifiers, with four players set to shoot for a place in the main draw and Storm Sanders ready to fight another day after a winning comeback from match point down against Sara Errani.
Loading
Sanders enhanced her reputation by producing her best tennis of her first round contest when match point down against former French Open finalist Errani, winning a brilliant 21-stroke rally to stay alive, then powering through a tiebreak and overwhelming the Italian in the third.
The Rockhampton leftie, from the same central Queensland town as the great Rod Laver, is one of five Australian women still left in the qualifiers alongside Priscilla Hon, Astra Sharma, Ellen Perez and Arina Rodionova.
AAP
