THIS year’s Mildura International tennis winner Alex Bolt has broken through to qualify for the Wimbledon men’s singles draw, starting on Monday.
A last-minute stand-in for the British major tournament, the 31-year-old from Murray Bridge stormed into the main draw, sealed by a comeback from match point down in his final round.
Bolt only sat on the alternatives list ahead of qualifying last Monday but was called up with 10 minutes to spare before his first match to replace Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot.
The left-hander went on to defeat Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker 6-1, 6-4 and German Rudolf Molleker by the same scoreline, however found himself down two sets and 6-5 in the third set tie-break against Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi.
He made the remarkable comeback to win 6-7, 2-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 to make it into his third Wimbledon main draw.
Bolt was a dominant champion in the return of the Mildura International in April following a three-year hiatus, not dropping a set across the week to win as the number one seed.
The Davis Cup team member defeated his old mate and 2015 Mildura champion Luke Saville in the final, thumping eight aces on the way to a 6-2, 6-2 win.
