You’re never going to have a host of compatriots to ask for grass-court advice when you’re a player from little Luxembourg.
For Mandy Minella, there is only one other travelling the circuit - and it’s a good thing he is quite handy with the green turf under foot.
Through to the final round of qualifying after stunning top seed Lourdes Dominguez Lino on Wednesday, the world No.205 admitted she had picked countryman Gilles Muller’s mind following his resurgence in the past 12 months.
This time last year, Muller himself was weaving his way through qualifying on the lawns of Roehampton.
Only last week, he dethroned defending Queen’s Club champion Grigor Dimitrov and went close to beating eventual champion Andy Murray in the quarter-finals to find himself back on the cusp of the top 40.
I haven’t had many grass wins in my life so this is a big win
“Yeah I’ve asked him many tips, you know,” she laughed. “All the time, saying ‘hey guy, how do you play that well on grass?’
“Yeah he’s trying to help me a lot and I’m happy that I’ve already got my first win (before today). I guess that gave me a bit of confidence, so I hope I can finish it now.”
Minella, who rose as high as world No.66 nearly two and a half years ago, hopes her momentum in the qualifying draw may also be a sign of things to come in her year ahead.
“I would like to. I think I can still do it,” the 29-year-old said. “That’s why I still play because I’m not the youngest anymore so I want to give myself this chance to go back and see how far I can go.”
The Luxembourger had only lost to the Spanish world No.90 as recently as April at an ITF event in Colombia and was all too aware of her poor record against the 5ft4in baseliner, whose heavily top-spun shots off the ground are better suited to the higher-bouncing red clay.
She brought up match point after a lengthy exchange when the top seed netted a forehand and took it with an angled backhand drop-shot winner and a scream of “c’mon”.
“Yeah for sure it’s a tough win because I’ve played her many times and I’ve always struggled,” Minella said. “I think five times I’ve managed to win only once. She’s first seed here and I haven’t had many grass wins in my life so this is a big win.”
Soon after, No.2 seed An-Sophie Mestach followed the top seed’s demise, crumbling against China’s Shuai Zhang 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. The Belgian looked to have taken control of the match having recovered from a break down in the first set and showing her all-court aggression in an impressive 7-1 opening-set tiebreak triumph before the wheels fell off.
Zhang was one of five Chinese women to reach the final round of qualifying with Yi-Fan Xu, Zhaoxuan Yang, Fangzhou Liu and No.8 seed Ying-Ying Duan all matching her efforts.
American seeds Louisa Chirico (No.3) and Sashica Vickery (No.4) progressed; Chirico downing Russian Ekaterina Bychkova in straight sets, while Vickery ended Romanian former world No.21 Sorana Cirstea’s comeback in three.
Former world No.11 Shahar Peer dominated a foot-faulting Romana Oprandi 6-4, 6-0, Austrian former world No.26 Tamira Paszek ended British wildcard Katie Swan’s run 6-3, 6-3.
It was a bad day for Swan’s countrywomen with all Brits now eliminated from Ladies’ Singles Qualifying. Tara Moore could not build on a one-set lead against Belarusian No.22 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Katy Dunne went out to Dutch No.13 seed Richel Hogenkamp 6-2, 7-5.
