Erakovic to play American In Wimbledon main draw

Marina Erakovic will face American Irina Falconi in the first round of Wimbledon after the New Zealand No1 won her third qualifying match to gain a place at the main draw of the grass court Grand Slam event in London.

Falconi has a current ranking of 72 while Erakovic is 149 in the world. They have clashed once previously with the Kiwi winning in three sets in 2011 in Quebec City.

If Erakovic wins her first round she would play either former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic or Swiss player Stefanie Voegele.

Erakovic made the main draw after winning her held-over final qualifying match with a victory over Russian 11th seed Irina Khromacheva 7-6(5) 6-3 in one hour 35 minutes.

"I am very happy to get through this week. It was a difficult five days, tough matches, rain delays and dealing with slippery courts made it a big challenge to compete this week," said Erakovic "Todays match in particular required a lot of patience and focus, as it was very windy and we had to wait two days to play. Overall I am happy with how I am playing on the grass and I feel I am improving every day. I look forward to heading over to Wimbledon tomorrow, I really love the place and have so many great memories from the grounds."

Erakovic has played in the Wimbledon main draw on seven occasions previously and reached the third round of singles twice, 2008 and 2013.

The three Kiwi mens doubles players have all had their draws confirmed. Sixteenth seeds Michael Venus and Croatian partner Mate Pavic take on the tall combination of Australia Chris Guccione and Brazils Andre Sa in the first round.

Marcus Daniell and American Bran Baker face the 13th seeds, Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah while Artem Sitak and former US Open winner Julian Knowle from Austria have a tough task against Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Pakistans Aisam Qureshi.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from New Zealand Tennis