Tennis: Erakovic one step closer to Wimbledon

Marina Erakovic. Photo / Steven McNicholl

New Zealand number one Marina Erakovic is set to meet Australian Sophie Ferguson in the second qualifying round for Wimbledon after thrashing world number 90 Yung-Jan Chan 6-2, 6-1.

Erakovic, the world number 151, beat her Taiwanese rival in the championship qualifying tournament first round at Roehampton in London without any dramas to move towards making only her second appearance in the Wimbledon tournament proper.

Chan reached the last 32 in Paris last month and was the second seed in the qualifying tournament, but after a weary start, Erakovic, 23, cruised to victory in 90 minutes.

She broke serve twice in the first set in 25 degree temperatures in London, before dominating the second set against her error-ridden opponent.

She is set to meet world number 172 Ferguson on Wednesday.

Ferguson reached the second qualifying round of three by beating Masa Zec-Peskiric of Slovakia 6-3, 7-6.

Erakovic, who reached the last eight in Birmingham last week before losing to world number 20 Shuai Peng, has shown good early season form winning three Challenger tournaments in March and April before going out in the first round of the French Open.

She now has a 3-2 tournament record against Chan going back to 2005.

Erakovic said she was "surprised" with how well the match went as her previous meetings with Chan had all been very close.

"She's a good player and a tough competitor. I was very happy with everything today and very happy it went so smoothly," she said.

"Maybe I got in a few more matches on grass and had a little better feeling for the surface than she did. I played solid - nothing special, but I'm so happy."

Erakovic said she was pain-free after two injury-hit years, adding: "I'm feeling good about everything. I'm just trying to stay injury-free and play the best I can do without thinking about my next match."

"I've just got to keep my focus on these matches because the points are so short."

Coach Chris Zahalka said he was happy with the way Erakovic played - particularly on the forehand in the second set.

"Both players were very nervous to start. They've known each other since they were juniors and Marina only won 6-4 in the third when they played earlier this year at Jackson, Mississippi.

"The main thing for her is to stay healthy after her history of having two years injured-that's a long time out.

"But we're only taking one game at a time. It's not results-orientated at the moment."

The only other New Zealander in qualifying, Sacha Jones, went out in the first qualifying round to Ukrainian world number 145 Olga Savchuk, 7-6 (10-8), 6-2. Jones fought back from 5-1 down in the first set to reach a tiebreak, where she squandered four set points.

In the second set, world number 210 Jones clawed it back to 2-2 after an early service break, but fell away to lose the last four games in quick time.

Jones, 21, from Auckland said she'd had a lot of injuries and it took her "a long time to get into the match".

"I've not played many games though it was encouraging and I felt I was unlucky not to win the first set in the tiebreak," she said.

Her lack of matches really showed later in the second set and there were "mistakes I definitely shouldn't have made and maybe wouldn't have if I'd played more," Jones said.

She said Savchuk was solid and did not give away any free points.

Her first time on grass "was an interesting experience" and she was looking forward to her next tournament in Spain.

- NZPA