Lucky loser Pattinama-Kerkhove wins and faces unerring Swiatek at Wimbledon | NOW

Lesley Pattinama-Kerkhove reached the second round of Wimbledon on Tuesday for the second time in her career. The Dutch lucky loser dealt with the British Sonay Kartal: 6-4, 3-6 and 6-1. Arantxa Rus was surprised by the American qualifier Catherine Harrison.

Pattinama-Kerkhove would not actually participate in Wimbledon. The thirty-year-old South Holland stranded in the third and final round of the qualifying tournament, but due to a cancellation from the Montenegrin Danka Kovinic, she was allowed to make her appearance as a lucky loser on Tuesday.

After a somewhat awkward start against the British Kartal, who was allowed to participate with a wild card in London, Pattinama-Kerkhove made the difference in the first set with a break at 4-4. Kartal dragged out a third set, but she only managed to conquer nine points and didn’t stand a chance.

It is only the fourth time that Pattinama-Kerkhove has entered the main schedule of a Grand Slam tournament. Last year she also reached the second round of Wimbledon in London as a qualifier. She then had to recognize her superior in the Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza.

This time Pattinama-Kerkhove awaits a duel with Iga Swiatek, the number one in the world, in the second round. The unapproachable Polish settled in two sets with the Croatian Jana Fett (6-0 and 6-3) and is now 36 games in a row without defeat, the biggest winning streak this century.

Wimbledon is the Grand Slam tournament that suits Pattinama-Kerkhove best. She has never made it to the main schedule of the Australian Open and Roland Garros and only entered the US Open once; in 2017 she was eliminated in the first round.

Rus is surprised by qualifier

In the match before Pattinama-Kerkhove on lane 16, the 31-year-old Russian went down against Harrison: 6-1 and 6-4. The South Holland player, who only played two official games on grass in the preparation, took one game in the first set with difficulty and lost the first three games in the second company.

She never got over that delay. Rus made fewer unnecessary mistakes in the second set than Harrison, but the storage innings of the gravel specialist were too erratic to beat the American surprise.

It is the fourth time in a row that Rus has been eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon. Only in 2012 did she win her first match in London and even reached the third round. Rapid eliminations followed in 2013, 2018 and 2021.

At Grand Slam tournaments, the Russians have not been going well lately. It is the ninth time in a row that the current number 86 in the world loses in the first round at one of the four major tournaments. That negative streak started at Roland Garros in 2020, just months after she made it to the second round at the Australian Open.

Arantxa Rus has again failed to reach the second round of a Grand Slam tournament.