Australian qualifier Andrew Whittington has vowed to build on a memorable two weeks after crashing out of the first round at Wimbledon.
Whittington, who battled through three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw at the All England Club for the first time, went down 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) to 100th-ranked Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
The world No.210 from Melbourne showed great character just to get to the first round, coming from behind in all three of his qualifying matches and bank a cheque of almost $60,000 for his troubles.
Whttington had looked on course to emulate his Australian Open first-round success earlier this year when he won a tight first set on Court 16.
However, Monteiro, also on his first appearance in SW19, fought back to take the next two sets and then grabbed the fourth after Whittington surrendered a 4-2 advantage.
"I am shattered to lose that. I really wanted to keep the dream alive and feel like I missed a great chance," Whittington told AAP.
"I guess my run had to come to an end today. I got out of trouble three times in qualies, and tried my best again but it wasn't meant to be."
Despite the loss, Whittington said he'd received a massive confidence boost and is determined to play in his third grand slam this year by qualifying for the US Open in August.
"It's been something that I needed, keeping the confidence up and hopefully I can keep winning and get back here again next year," he said.
"I'll play in the doubles here, then head over to the States to play a grass comp at Newport and then try and qualify again for the US Open."
Share
