The Gentlemen’s Singles Qualifying draw is without three of its top four seeds as well as a former top-10 player before the final round.
No.2 seed Andrey Kuznetsov lost to German journeyman Andreas Beck at Roehampton on Wednesday while No.4 seed Tatsuma Ito crumbled against countryman Hiroki Maoriya 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, although they both lasted one round longer than top seed Kimmer Coppejans, who fell on Monday.
Former world No.8 Jurgen Melzer failed to capitalise on a 6-1 first-set advantage, eventually humbled by Dutchman Igor Sijsling 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Kuznetsov, the 2009 Junior Wimbledon Champion, started the stronger in his match with 29-year-old Beck, jumping to a 4-2 break in the opening set but could not cement the advantage going on to lose it in a tie-break.
At The Championships last year, the 24-year-old Russian had scored his first top-10 victory, downing No.7 seed David Ferrer in five sets.
He went on to beat Ferrer’s countryman Fernando Verdasco at the US Open, but there were few signs of that form on the grass courts at the Bank of England Sports Grounds on Wednesday.
That's the result I want to see. So happy with my performance today @Wimbledon #qualies #grandslam pic.twitter.com/Ut1AumSOiG
— Andreas Beck (@andi_beck) June 24, 2015To Beck’s credit, he used his swinging lefty serve and 6ft 2in frame to full advantage, keeping the world No.98 scrambling for the corners.
“Definitely one of the best grass-court matches I’ve ever played in my career and of course I’m very very satisfied with the way I played today, with the score and with the win,” Beck said.
Languishing at No.185 in the world having climbed as high as No.33 in 2009, Beck is on a slow journey back after back surgery kept him sidelined for the entire 2012 season.
"I had a back operation on the disc and I was out for almost for 11 months and it took a while to get in shape again and to get healthy with the body, of course," Beck said.
Delighted with his straight-sets dismissal of the Russian No.2 seed, Beck walked to the scoreboard and took a photo with his mobile phone at the completion of the match.
"That was for my social network - Twitter, Facebook - my friends, they follow me everywhere I’ve been," he said. “It's nice for them to see this score.”
Moments later on Court 13, rising Swedish teenager Elias Ymer eeked out a 7-6, 7-5 ledger against Boy Westerhof, fist-pumping the air after breaking the Dutchman to win the tussle, as a handful of his Scandinavian countrymen and women in their Sverige bucket hats cheered him on.
The No.25 seed had saved a set point in the first-set tiebreak, eventually gaining the early advantage after taking it 10-8.
Argentinian No.3 seed Guido Pella is the highest-ranked player remaining in the draw after his narrow 7-6, 7-6 win over China’s Ze Zhang on Court 10.
Brit Dan Evans kept the home hopes alive in front of a packed Court 14 crowd, rebounding from a disastrous second-set bagel and saving a match point before serving out a 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 victory over Germany’s No.8 seed Mattias Bachinger.
The only other remaining Brit, Josh Milton, could not find a way past lefty Michael Berrer; the German victorious 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
Australians Luke Saville, the 2011 Junior Wimbledon Champion, and No.15 seed John Millman moved through, beating Dutch No.20 seed Thiemo de Bakker 6-4, 6-4, and Frenchman Tristan Lamasine 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, respectively.
Another Frenchman, Vincent Millot, followed up his upset of top seed Kimmer Coppejans from Day 1 with a 4-6, 6-2, 9-7 result over Romanian Marius Copil.
Former world No.12 Paul-Henri Mathieu joined his countryman in the third round with a 6-1, 7-6 win over German Julian Reister.
They were two of four Frenchmen to advance, with Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert also through.
