12 hours ago
World 550 Stewart one win away from Wimbledon
Scotland's Hamish Stewart is one match away from a place in the Wimbledon men's singles after coming through a nail-biting deciding tiebreak at Roehampton.
The 25-year-old from Strathblane, ranked 550 in the world, defeated Frenchman Luca Van Assche 7-6 4-6 7-6 to reach the last 32 at the qualifying event.
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He meets Leandro Riedi of Switzerland next, with the top 16 progressing to the main draw at SW19.
Stewart, who played Junior Wimbledon in his teens, could not serve out for the match at 5-4 up in the third set and had to dig deep to come from behind in the tiebreak.
Van Assche, who has a career high rank of 63 but is currently 186, led 8-4, but Stewart fought his way back to prevail 11-9 with his opponent serving a double-fault on match point.
"It was a bit of a blur," he told BBC Sport.
"I threw in a dodgy service game at 5-4 and I felt like I was there in the tiebreak but I was 8-4 down.
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"He threw in a double (fault) at 8-4, and I was like 'okay, he's feeling it', so I continued to gets balls in court and to be aggressive and somehow won."
One of four British players granted wild cards into Wimbledon pre-qualifying, Stewart has now won four matches at Roehampton.
"It's been a rollercoaster," he added. "I've had a bit of luck but I feel I was due a bit of luck and I'm loving the experience."
Riedi, 23, reached the last 32 by upsetting Argentine 24th seed Federico Agustin Gomez, again in a deciding tiebreak.
Wimbledon begins on 30 June, with Scotland's Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie already in the main draw.
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