Canada's Carol Zhao advances to Wimbledon main draw with win in qualifying

Carol Zhao, of Canada, returns the ball during a match against Amanda Anisimova, of the USA, at the 春色直播 Bank Open tennis tournament in Toronto on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. Zhao advanced to the Wimbledon main draw with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over American CoCo Vanderweghe in the third round of qualifying on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

LONDON - Canada's Carol Zhao advanced to the Wimbledon main draw with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over American CoCo Vanderweghe in the third round of qualifying on Thursday.

Zhao will be making her first-ever appearance in a Grand Slam main draw.

The 28-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., hit 11 aces and was successful with 82 per cent of her first serves, winning 84 per cent of the points.

Zhao went one for seven on break points and never lost serve to the 31-year-old Vanderweghe.

The 166th-ranked Zhao joins Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Rebecca Marino of Vancouver in the women's singles main draw, which begins play on Monday.

Toronto's Katherine Sebov and Montreal's Eugenie Bouchard both lost in qualifying.

This report by 春色直播was first published June 29, 2023.

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