The qualifying rounds of Wimbledon 2021 were completed on Friday, with No.1 seed Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and No.23 seed Ana Konjuh among those sealing spots in the main draw.
Osorio Serrano has been one of the most impressive performers at Roehampton, less for her ability to dominate on grass as for how quickly she is learning the nuances of the surface. The Colombian cracked the Top 100 in May off the back of a stellar clay surge, but only played her first professional grass match in Nottingham three weeks ago.
This week, Osorio Serrano has won three consecutive three-setters, culminating in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Nuria Parrizas Diaz. In each match, she has looked more comfortable adapting her game and her movement to grass. Against the 29-year-old Spaniard, Osorio Serrano took a set to get to grips with her opponent's flat strokes, but by the deciding set was at ease outmanoeuvring Parrizas Diaz with dropshots and fine net play.
Konjuh was a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 victor over No.8 seed Tsvetana Pironkova in the day's most anticipated clash between former Top 50 players on the comeback trail. The Croat struck 29 winners, including nine aces, to overpower Pironkova and return to the Wimbledon main draw for the first time since 2018.
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Former Wimbledon semifinalist Pironkova, playing the 10th event of her return from maternity leave, had won both of her previous matches this week in under an hour. But the Bulgarian was uncharacteristically generous with her mistakes, committing 33 unforced errors in total.
Another mother, No.24 seed Olga Govortsova, was more successful. The Belarusian former World No.35 needed only 67 minutes to deny Cristina Bucsa a Grand Slam main draw debut 6-3, 6-2. Govortsova, who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2015 for a career-best major performance, returns to SW19 for the first time since 2016.
Two Tour stalwarts whose contrasting idiosyncratic games have garnered them previous success on grass also made it through. Former World No.28 Monica Niculescu came out on top of a compelling battle of slices over No.11 seed Kristie Ahn 7-5, 6-1. The Romanian's grass-court exploits previously peaked in 2015, when she was runner-up in Nottingham to Konjuh and reached the last 16 of Wimbledon.
There was nonetheless some good news for Ahn, who made the main draw as a lucky loser following the withdrawal of defending champion Simona Halep.
Vitalia Diatchenko, whose game is based around flat, double-handed power off both wings, has also scored notable wins on grass. The Russian defeated Naomi Osaka to win the Surbiton ITF W50 event in 2015 - a 17-year-old Osaka's debut on the surface - as well as ousting Maria Sharapova en route to the third round of Wimbledon 2018.
The 30-year-old former World No.71 has not dropped a set all week. She struck 27 winners en route to a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of No.14 seed Anhelina Kalinina to make the main draw.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Wang Xinyu and Clara Burel struck blows for the youth to make their Wimbledon main draw debuts. No.30 seed Wang was the 2018 Wimbledon girls' doubles champion alongside Wang Xiyu, but had never played a professional match on grass until this year.
Like Osorio Serrano, her learning curve has been steep. The Chinese 19-year-old was undone in the first round of Nottingham three weeks ago by Arina Rodionova's experience, but reached the quarterfinals of the ITF W100 event at the same venue the following week. She has not dropped a set in Roehampton, capping her qualifying run 6-4, 6-3 over Tereza Smitkova.
Burel has even less grass-court history to draw on: the 20-year-old Frenchwoman was playing her first professional tournament on it this week. That didn't prevent her holding her nerve to edge Storm Sanders 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 52 minutes.
The cohort of 2001-born qualifiers thus numbers four, with Wang and Burel joining Osorio Serrano and Katie Volynets.
Elsewhere, there was joy for World No.238 Danielle Lao after her 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Urszula Radwanska. The American had come into Wimbledon qualifying on a six-match losing streak dating back to March, but has finished the week by reaching her third Grand Slam main draw, and first since the 2018 US Open.
Wimbledon 2021 qualifiers and their main draw placement
[Q] Olga Govortsova (BLR) vs. CoCo Vandeweghe (USA)
[Q] Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) vs. [WC] Emma Raducanu (GBR)
[Q] Greet Minnen (BEL) vs. Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS)
[Q] Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) vs. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ)
[Q] Ellen Perez (AUS) vs. [Q] Clara Burel (FRA)
[Q] Ana Konjuh (CRO) vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP)
[LL] Kristie Ahn (USA) vs. Heather Watson (GBR)
[Q] Katie Swan (GBR) vs. [23] Madison Keys (USA)
[Q] Wang Xinyu (CHN) vs. [4] Sofia Kenin (USA)
[Q] Katie Volynets (USA) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU)
[Q] Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (NED) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
[Q] Claire Liu (USA) vs. Misaki Doi (JPN)
[Q] Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL) vs. [Q] Anna Kalinskaya (RUS)
[Q] Danielle Lao (USA) vs. [WC] Katie Boulter (GBR)
[Q] Monica Niculescu (ROU) vs. [2] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)
