Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska has scored her biggest win in two years to shock top seed Kurumi Nara in the first round of qualifying.
In the final match of the day on Centre Court, Rogowska recorded a 4-6 7-5 6-4 in a two-hour battle.
“I’m really pleased. I had a really good off-season and I knew I was hitting the ball well, so my goal today was to just keep calm, to believe in all my shots and everything I’ve been working on,” said Rogowska, who served seven aces in the win.
“First set wasn’t my best, but I got myself into the match and I’m pleased I could close it out.”
The 25-year-old admitted she was initially disappointment when she saw her tough draw against the world No.76.
“I thought ‘there could be easier draws’ but I knew had nothing to lose and it was a great test for hopefully next week’s (Australian Open) qualies. I just knew I had to battle, she’s a very tough player,” she said.
It is Rogowska’s first WTA-level victory in two years and her highest-ranked scalp since defeating then-world No.59 Romanian Alexandra Cadantu in the first round of the Hobart International in 2014. Her record against top 100-ranked opponents since that match was 2-13 coming into today’s match.
After a testing two-year period, the No.273-ranked Rogowska was beaming after today’s victory.
“(It means) a lot. You want to be at this level as much as possible and every single match is a great experience,” she said. “Now I have another match tomorrow, so I’m really looking forward to it and keeping it going.”
Her next opponent is American Sachia Vickery, who scored a dominant 6-1 6-0 win over Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich today.