Erakovic battles way into main draw

MARINA Erakovic will face American Irina Falconi in the first round at Wimbledon after the Kiwi women’s No 1 won through in qualifying yesterday.

Erakovic, seeded 19th in qualifying and 149th in the world, defeated 21-year-old Russian Irina Khromacheva 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the third round of qualifying at the National Tennis Centre in London to earn her way as one of eight qualifiers into the women’s singles main draw of 128 players.

While world No 72 Falconi is ranked higher than Erakovic, the Auckland player did prevail in three sets in their only meeting at Quebec City in 2011.

The winner will play either former world No 1 Jelena Jankovic or Swiss player Stefanie Voegele in the second round.

Khromacheva was seeded 11th in qualifying and has a ranking 26 places higher than Erakovic.

The 28-year-old Kiwi claimed the first set in a tie-breaker in 57 minutes, finally securing the advantage on her third set point. She then took just 38 more minutes to break Khromacheva twice and seal the match in 1hr 35min.

Erakovic was ‘‘very happy’’ after a difficult five days.

‘‘Tough matches, rain delays and dealing with slippery courts made it a big challenge to compete this week,’’ she said. ‘‘Today’s match in particular required a lot of patience and focus, as it was very windy and we had to wait two days to play. Overall I am happy with how I amplaying on the grass and I feel I am improving every day. I look forward to heading over to Wimbledon tomorrow, I really love the place and have so many great memories from the grounds.’’

Erakovic, who has a 6-6 record in six appearances in the singles main draw at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, reached the third round at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2013, and the second round in 2011 and 2012. She has been bundled out in her first match the past two years.

Three Kiwis will be involved in the men’s doubles, with Michael Venus and partner, Croatian Mate Pavic, seeded 16th, while Marcus Daniell has teamed up with American Brian Baker and Artem Sitak paired with Austrian Julian Knowle.

Venus and Pavic take on Australian Chris Guccione and Brazil’s Andre Sa in the first round. Daniell and Baker face the 13th seeds, Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, while Sitak and former US Open winner Knowle have a tough task against Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Pakistan’s Aisam Qureshi.