A wildcard into Wimbledon can be a glorious thing, something to which the 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic and Elina Svitolina, a semi-finalist here this year, would attest. The British pairing of Naiktha Bains and Maia Lumsden earned their women’s doubles wildcard thanks to their rise up the rankings in the past couple of years. On Wednesday their unlikely run through the draw ended in the quarter-finals but their performances over the past week will have given them the belief and confidence they need to build careers at the top level.
Bains and Lumsden were defeated 6-2, 6-1 by the No 3 seeds, Elise Mertens of Belgium and the Australian Storm Sanders. It was not quite as one-sided as the scoreline suggests but the pair were nevertheless outplayed on the day. “They’re not the No 3 seeds for nothing,” Bains said. “I think we’re more disappointed about the way we played out there. We just wanted to put on a better show. We didn’t get the best start but they ran away with it really. Credit to them, tough team and they played well.”
The first British pairing to reach the women’s quarter-finals here since 1983, Bains and Lumsden will receive between them for their troubles £75,000, useful money that will help them to plan their tournament schedule in the coming months. More importantly, they should be hugely boosted by a run that means they will both be ranked inside the world’s top 100 for the first time when the rankings are updated on Monday.
“We got into our first WTA [tournament] as a team in Warsaw, in Poland [the week after next],” Bains, 25, said. “Then we’re entering in Prague the week after. We’re going to try and use this now that our rankings are higher and play WTAs as much as we can, as many as we can. We’ll see where it takes us. But hopefully we can start playing the bigger events so we can get back into a slam off our own ranking soon.”
Three good wins had taken them into the last eight, with both Bains and Lumsden showing their level is good enough to compete at the top level. With three ITF titles together this year, they have gelled nicely. Playing against opponents such as Mertens, who has won three grand slam women’s doubles titles, and Sanders, who picked up the mixed doubles title at the US Open last year, was an eye opener, but this is an event on which they can build.
Mika Stojsavljevic is among a trio of British juniors to make it through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The 14-year-old, who is making her Wimbledon debut, beat the Australian 13th seed Emerson Jones 6-1, 7-5 and will face Slovakia's Renata Jamrichova in the last eight
Also into the last eight is 18-year-old Ranah Stoiber, who is in her final year of juniors. Stoiber (pictured) is bidding to reach her first grand slam final having lost in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to breakout star Mirra Andreeva. Stoiber defeated Italian Francesca Pace 6-3 6-4 and will next face Czech Nikola Bartunkova.
Fourteen-year-old Hannah Klugman, who is widely considered the most exciting young British talent, lost 6-4 6-4 to Japan's Sayaka Ishii. In the boys' singles, Henry Searle beat France's Arthur Gea 6-4 6-2 to match his run to the French Open quarter-finals.
The 17-year-old from Wolverhampton, took out the top seed, Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, in the first round and will now face eighth seed João Fonseca for a place in the last four.
“I think obviously it gives us a lot of confidence that we’re winning matches at this level and going forward that’s going to be huge for us,” Lumsden,25, said. “Disappointed a bit today but they’re one of the top doubles teams in the world and they play together regularly, so it’s good to see where we’re at compared to that and where we can improve. Overall, obviously an amazing week for us to get to the quarters.”
Hewett and Reid earn opening wins
Alfie Hewett got his Wimbledon campaign up and running, beating Belgium’s Joachim Gerard 6-3, 6-4 in their wheelchair singles quarter-final. The second seed is looking for the SW19 title to complete a career grand slam, and will play Spain’s Martin De La Puente in the last four.
Hewett’s doubles partner, Gordon Reid, earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over Gustavo Fernández but will have to defeat the top seed, Tokito Oda, to reach the final. In the women’s wheelchair singles,Lucy Shuker was beaten 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 by Aniek van Koot. PA Media
