Frenchmen Mpetshi Perricard, Van Assche reach Wimbledon qualifying final round

It was an all-French affair at Wimbledon qualifying Wednesday when 20-year-olds Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Luca Van Assche moved one step closer to the main draw.

Mpetshi Perricard downed countryman Antoine Escoffier 7-6(5), 6-2 after hammering 20 aces in the second round of qualifying while Van Assche survived a three-setter, overcoming Australian Li Tu 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(10-7) to advance.

The top seed Mpetshi Perricard is at a career-high No. 59 in this week’s PIF ATP Rankings, but on the May 20th Wimbledon main draw cutoff, the 6’8″ player was World No. 117. That week, Mpetshi Perricard went on a dream run, triumphing at his home tournament in Lyon to capture his maiden ATP Tour title.

Mpetshi Perricard next aims for his main draw debut at the grass-court major when he faces countryman Maxime Janvier in the third round. Van Assche meets former World No. 10 and fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

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Another pair of former Top 10 players, Richard Gasquet and David Goffin, advanced Wednesday. Gasquet raced past Alexis Galarneau 6-1, 6-0 in just 49 minutes while the Belgian Goffin beat Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-6(4), 6-4. 

American Maxime Cressy dropped just five points behind his first serve to oust Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante 7-6(9), 6-3 and 2022 quarter-finalist Cristian Garin defeated Tomas Barrios Vera 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Kazakh Beibit Zhukayev ousted last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hamad Medjedovic 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4.

Second seed Hugo Grenier was a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 winner against Croatian Dino Prizmic, who took a set off Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open as a qualifer. Third seed Zizou Bergs, fourth seed James Duckworth and fifth seed Lloyd Harris also reached the qualifying third round.

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