PARIS, May 29, 2021 (by Alessandro Boroch)
The qualifying for the 2021 Roland Garros tournament concluded on Friday. The upcoming main draw will take place from Sunday 30 May to 13 June 2021 held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France.
Dominant Campaigns
Despite arriving in Paris with stomach issues, 23-year-old Carlos Taberner from Spain has displayed a narrowly flawless qualifying campaign, losing just six games in his three matches over Martin Klizan, Thomas Fabbiano and Joao Menezes, to eventually qualify for the main draw in Paris for the second time in his career after 2018, when he lost to current World No. 5 five Stefanos Tsitsipas.
After initial difficulties in the first qualifying round, former World No. 45 Maximilian Marterer from Germany has also qualified for the main draw in a dominant manner. During his last two qualifying rounds, Marterer earned wins over No. 25 seed Nikola Milojevic and Felipe Meligeni Alves respectively with the results 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-1. The 25-year-old German, also known as “Maxi” Marterer, has great memories from the French Open, having reached the second week in 2018, only losing to the eventual champion and “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal.
Comebackers
In the men’s draw, No. 2 seed Daniel Elahi Galan was just one game away from potentially being downed at 5-7, 3-5 against World No. 174 Kimmer Coppejans from Belgium but avoided the loss by firing some forehands and benefiting from a missed overhead from his opponent. Galan completed his comeback by prevailing 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4 in three hours and secured back-to-back main draw appearances in Paris to maintain the chance of defending last year’s third-round points.
Twenty-year-old US-American Jenson Brooksby, who has already collected three Challenger trophies this year, had to accomplish half a miracle to qualify for the main draw at his maiden participation at Roland Garros. Already down 6-7, 1-4 to Evan Furness, Brooksby managed to regain one of two break deficits but ultimately faced three match points from 0-40 down on return at 4-5. Go and lose was never an option, so Brooksby went for all-or-nothing tennis, with fascinating relentless aggression, which eventually got him back on track. After three hours and 22 minutes, Brooksby came out victorious, winning 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 6-4.
In the women’s field, 26-year-old Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova has achieved the comeback of the tournament so far by overcoming a 2-6, 1-5 deficit to finally score a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 triumph after more than two and a half hours over Russian veteran and former World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva. Last year, Schmiedlova caused a little sensation in Paris when she defeated Venus Williams and notably in-form Victoria Azarenka in straight sets before falling to the later semi-finalist Nadia Podoroska in the third round.
Shining Stars
The men’s qualifying draw was led by one person in particular – the 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who has gained tons of fans in the last months due to his remarkable early achievements on tour. After being unable to qualify for the main draw last year, the Spanish prospect – coached by former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero – raced through the qualifying draw this time, not losing a single set against his opponents Lukas Lacko (World No. 212), Andrea Pellegrino (World No. 234) and Alejandro Tabilo (World No. 166).
On the women’s side, most eyes were on No. 11 seed Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, who entered the qualifying draw with a maiden WTa 250 home title on clay in her luggage. Less surprisingly, the 19-year-old Colombian, who also made it into the Top 100 due to her recent successes, has managed to secure her maiden spot in the main draw at Roland Garros after three straight-set victories.
There was also good news for 23-year-old Ana Konjuh, who, after overcoming five surgeries, qualified for a main draw at a major for the first time in almost three years since competing at Wimbledon 2018. The former World No. 20 from Croatia had to retire in the final of the WTA 250 event in Belgrade last week but recovered just in time, ending up not dropping a single set in her qualifying campaign. Konjuh reached the second round in Paris in 2015 as well as in 2017.
Men’s qualifiers:
Botic van de Zandschulp (NED)
Daniel Elahi Galan (COL)
Mario Viella Martinez (ESP)
Maximilian Marterer (GER)
Taro Daniel (JAP)
Carlos Taberner (ESP)
Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)
Alessandro Giannessi (ITA)
Mackenzie McDonald (USA)
Jenson Brooksby (USA)
Denis Istomin (UZB)
Oscar Otte (GER)
Bjoern Fratangelo (USA)
Bernabe Zapata Miralles (ESP)
Roman Safiullin (RUS)
Henri Laaksonen (SUI)
Claiming the final spots in the men’s main draw 👇
🇪🇸 Alcaraz
🇺🇸 Brooksby
🇨🇴 Galan
🇮🇹 Giannessi
🇺🇿 Istomin
🇨🇭 Laaksonen
🇪🇸 Martinez
🇺🇸 McDonald#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/vjAjCJsWtN— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2021
Women’s qualifiers:
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK)
Hailey Baptiste (USA)
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB)
Ana Konjuh (CRO)
Ekaterine Gorgodze (GEO)
En Shuo Liang (TPE)
Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (ESP)
Xiyu Wang (CHN)
Storm Sanders (AUS)
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL)
Greetje Minnen (BEL)
Anhelina Kalinina (UKR)
Irina Maria Bara (ROU)
Katarina Zavatska (UKR)
Stefanie Voegele (SUI)
Claiming the final spots in the women’s main draw 👇
🇪🇸 Arruabarrena
🇺🇸 Baptiste
🇷🇴 Bara
🇭🇷 Konjuh
🇦🇺 Sanders
🇨🇭 Vogele
🇨🇳 Wang
🇺🇦 Zavatska#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/N17nIBBlmt— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2021
