Bouchard ‘proud’ to come through Wimbledon qualifying

Former finalist Genie Bouchard said she was “proud” of her efforts as she came through qualifying to earn a place in the main draw at Wimbledon.

The 24-year-old Canadian beat No.2 seed Mariana Duque-Mariño of Colombia 6-3 6-2 to claim one of the 16 places up for grabs in the main draw, which gets under way on Monday.

Bouchard reached the final in 2014, losing to Petra Kvitova, but has since fallen from a high of No.5 down to No.191 in the rankings.

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“I was really solid. I was a little nervous before, so I’m proud at the way I performed out there,” said Bouchard, who was beaten in the first round of French Open qualifying last month.

“It’s interesting. I feel like I have earned it more rather than just being in via my ranking.

“I’m proud of it and I got a lot of matches this week which I wanted. It was one of my goals to play matches.

The main draw awaits…

2014 #Wimbledon runner-up @geniebouchard progresses with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Mariana Duque-Marino in Qualifying. pic.twitter.com/dfXFsI4otU

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2018

“I feel like I have been improving recently. I don’t want to compare myself to the past or to others – just trying to do the best I can out there.”

Russia’s Vera Zvonareva was another former runner-up to secure a return to the main draw, four years after her last appearance and eight years since she was beaten by Serena Williams in the final.

“I have had some great results in the past here and I love the tournament a lot,” said the 33-year-old.

“It was my first ever Grand Slam final, when I played here eight years ago. I’m really happy that I came back this year and had to go through the qualifying and I made it to the main draw, so it’s great.”

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk missed out on her 16th birthday with a 7-5 7-6(5) defeat by Spanish No.3 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Kotsyuk had become the youngest player since 1997 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open.

On the men’s side, former world No.10 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia repeated his qualifying success at Roland Garros by defeating Italian 12th seed Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Gulbis beat Juan Martin del Potro in last year’s second round at the All England Club before losing to Novak Djokovic.

Former quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic and Australian compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis were among the more high-profile names to miss out in the final round of qualifying.

Tomic, who reached the last eight as a teenager in 2011, went down 6-3 6-1 6-2 to Belgian Ruben Bemelmans, while Kokkinakis, who beat Roger Federer in Miami earlier this year, lost 7-6(8) 7-6(7) 4-6 7-5 to fellow South Australian Alex Bolt.