Sebov, the last Wimbledon qualifying entrant, one win from main draw

LONDON -- Katherine Sebov might be the least likely player still standing in the final round of Wimbledon qualifying this year.

Until 10 minutes before play began on Tuesday, the Canadian wasn't even in the draw. Sebov was the first alternate, but the withdrawal she needed -- from Spain's Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales -- didn't come until the last possible moment.

The call arrived while she was warming up. Though she hadn't expected to play, her mother and coach, Oksana Petrovska, had advised her to prepare exactly as if it were a match day.

She made the most of her opportunity, defeating Bogota semifinalist Jazmin Ortenzi 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

"She obviously prepared for the girl that pulled out, a Spanish girl -- I'm assuming a clay player," Sebov said. "So she got the complete opposite."

Sebov, whose favorite surface is grass, capitalized on the unexpected matchup.

But Sebov's run was far from over. In the second round, she trailed 2023 Hamburg finalist Noma Noha Akugue 5-2 in the third set before rallying to a 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory in 2 hours and 51 minutes.

Sebov, 27, saved a match point while Noha Akugue served at 5-4 in the deciding set on what became the hottest June day on record in the United Kingdom. Temperatures reached 35°C, and even Roehampton's electronic line-calling system succumbed to the heat, forcing a one-hour stoppage in play.

"I thought I was going home," Sebov said afterward. "To be honest, I kind of accepted the fact that I'd lost at 5-2. I didn't even know I was match point down. But I was just trying to make it very difficult. Like, if she had to win it, then she had to win it. I wasn't going to give it away. I just had to raise my level and try to take the ball earlier, take time away and maybe try to make her stress. Apparently it worked."

Despite struggling with the heat herself -- Sebov's recent schedule had featured mostly indoor events and milder spring conditions -- the World No. 245 sensed that if she could extend the match, the conditions might begin to work in her favor.

"5-5, it's like a new match," she said. "Once you put that pressure on after the player's felt 'Oh, I've had this match and then lost it,' they have to start over. It's a very difficult mental setup, especially in the heat."

Pressure is something Sebov has been trying to leave behind. In 2023, she qualified for the Australian Open and reached a career-high No. 136. But a wrist injury in 2024 stalled her progress, and she slipped out of Grand Slam qualifying range before working her way back this season.

Before leaving for her current European swing, Petrovska offered a simple message: "This trip is all about just going with the flow and having faith."

Results were never the focus. And before arriving at Wimbledon, there had been little reason to expect a breakthrough. In her previous tournament, the WTA 125 in Figueira da Foz, Portugal, Sebov fell in the first round of qualifying to No. 1,041-ranked Allura Zamarripa.

"I have this mindset of just going to trust whatever's in store for me," Sebov said. "I'm not going to force things. I'm not going to pretend like I know everything. I'm not going to try to plan. I'm just going to try to trust myself when I play and allow the best possible state in which I can perform. 

"I'm just going to let myself do it, because I'm very talented. A lot of the times I got in my own way, and I just decided this week I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to let myself see what do I have -- like, just let it come out."

That was also Sebov's mindset when she booked her flight from Portugal to London last week, when she was still the 13th alternate to qualifying. It was a financial outlay with no guarantee of prize money to balance the books, but Sebov thought of it as an investment, rather than a potentially wasted journey.

"I was like, with the wild cards and some withdrawals, I'm hoping I get in," she said. "I came here a week early. I was here very early, practicing quite a bit on the grass, really trying to prepare the best that I can. And if I didn't get in, I didn't get in. At least I got experience with the top players in the world, just training and trying to improve. I was just really process-orientated this week."

The approach has paid off. On Thursday, Sebov will face Iryna Shymanovich for a place in her second Grand Slam main draw and her first at Wimbledon.

Other notable qualifying results

• Harmony Tan, the last player to defeat Serena Williams at Wimbledon, is one match away from joining the 23-time major champion in the 2026 main draw. The Frenchwoman defeated British wild card Esther Adeshina 6-2, 6-2.
• Two years after winning the Wimbledon girls' doubles title alongside Iva Jovic, Tyra Caterina Grant has picked up where she left off in her first professional grass-court event. The 18-year-old Italian, who is making her Grand Slam qualifying debut, notched a 6-4, 6-4 win over Joanna Garland, and wil face Tan for a place in the main draw.
• Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu held off former No. 21 Jil Teichmann 6-7(1), 6-1, 6-4 in 2 hours and 33 minutes, having led 5-1 in the third set. The Canadian will face another former Top 30 player in the final round -- Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who overcame Storm Hunter 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.
• No. 3 seed Alina Korneeva, who broke into the Top 100 two weeks ago after qualifying and reaching the second round at Roland Garros, is continuing to thrive in Grand Slams. The 19-year-old World No. 94 edged Andrea Lazaro Garcia 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5, rebounding after coming two points from victory in the second set.
• Korneeva will next face University of North Carolina alumna Fiona Crawley. The 24-year-old American claimed her second straight win in a deciding match tiebreak, edging Julia Riera 6-2, 3-6, 7-6[1] -- mirroring her qualifying run at the 2023 US Open, when she also won her first two matches in third-set tiebreaks.
• Recent grass-court titlists Robin Montgomery and Ashlyn Krueger both extended their winning streaks. 's-Hertogenbosch champion Montgomery needed just 68 minutes to see off No. 31 seed Elvina Kalieva, but Ilkley WTA 125 champion Krueger -- the No. 2 seed -- took the scenic route to get past Mai Hontama 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
• Reigning US Open junior champion Jeline Vandromme reached the final round of a Grand Slam qualifying event for the first time after coming from a set down to defeat Maria Lourdes Carle 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-3.
• Lina Gjorcheska is one match from becoming the first North Macedonian player to reach a Grand Slam main draw. The 31-year-old defeated Portugal's Francisca Jorge 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, and is already the first player from her country to reach the final qualifying round at Wimbledon.

More to come...