Stefan Kozlov came within a win of his Wimbledon debut with a second-round qualifying victory on Wednesday at Roehampton. The American, who reached the second round of the Australian Open on his Grand Slam debut earlier this season, beat Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 to set up a meeting Thursday with the 23rd seeded Dennis Novak of Austria.
View Wednesday Qualifying Results
Kozlov, 24, seeded third in the qualifying draw, beat Frenchman Evan Furness 7-5, 6-3 on Monday. He currently sits at a career-high No. 107 in the Pepperstone ATP rankings, with his best results of the 2022 season including a quarter-final in Delray Beach and a second round in Acapulco after qualifying for both. events.
Kozlov was one of four American men to qualify on Wednesday, including 14th seed Jack Sock, Christian Harrison and Nicolas Moreno De Alboran. Sock, a 6-3, 7-5 winner against Frenchman Constant Lestienne, is looking to return to the Wimbledon main draw for the first time since 2018.
Elias Ymer, who lost to Borna Coric in the final of the Montechiarugolo-Parma ATP Challenger Tour event last week, continued his smooth progress in qualifying with a 6-3, 6-4 result against Italian Riccardo Bonadio. The 26-year-old made his main draw debut at all four Grand Slams in 2015 but hasn’t featured in the main draw at Wimbledon since. He reached the Pune semi-finals as a qualifier in February.
German Philipp Kohlschreiber announced on Monday after his qualifying victory that Wimbledon would be his last tournament as a professional. He started strong against 32nd seed Mikhail Kukushkin in his bid to extend his stay but fell short in a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 decision. The 38-year-old reached a career-high No. 16 in the Pepperstone ATP rankings in 2012 and finished his career with eight TSWT titles.
