Three Britons reach Wimbledon through qualifyingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ollie Tarvet did not drop a set in Wimbledon qualifyingPublished28 minutes agoOllie Tarvet, Billy Harris and Max Basing have reached the Wimbledon main draw, marking the first time since 1999 that three British players have progressed from qualifying.Tarvet, 22, defeated Greece’s Stefanos Sakellaridis 6-4 6-2 7-5 for his required third victory of the week in Roehampton and becomes only the third British player to qualify in back-to-back years.Last year, he came through qualifying to reach the second round at the All England Club, where he was beaten by defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
At the time, he was studying in the United States and American college rules meant he could not claim his full prize money of £99,000.
But after graduating from the University of San Diego this year, he has turned professional and will take home a minimum of the £80,000 first-round prize money.
“I’m definitely very overwhelmed right now, but the main emotion for me is happiness,” he told BBC Sport.
“I think I have come a long way from where I qualified last year. I think I had some challenges as well, which makes these victories sweeter.
“I think it was the added pressure that I put on myself. Feeling like I had to replicate the levels and results that I had at Wimbledon. I feel like those expectations didn’t help me.”
Harris, 31, overcame a poor start to beat China’s Yi Zhou 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-3, while wildcard Basing joined his compatriots in the main draw for the first time with a thrilling five-set victory over Switzerland’s Remy Bertola.
But former British number one Heather Watson could not progress in the women’s draw, falling to a 3-6 6-2 6-1 defeat by top seed Maria Timofeeva of Uzbekistan.
In total, there will be 21 British players in the singles draws at Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.
Two of them – Cameron Norrie (26th) and Emma Raducanu (30th) – are seeded, and all players will learn of their first-round opponents when the draw is made on Friday.
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, also qualified for the main draw with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.
It is the first time Andreescu, 26, will play in a Grand Slam main draw since the 2024 US Open.
