Solana Sierra Advances to the Second Round in Just Two Hours | The Player from Mar del Plata Achieves a Remarkable Victory in Her Wimbledon Debut

Solana Sierra indulged in a great moment in her budding career: just minutes after learning that she entered the main draw of Wimbledon as a lucky loser, the player from Mar del Plata achieved her first victory at the British Open by defeating Australian Olivia Gadecki in two sets. Now she awaits the winner of the match between Spanish player Paula Badosa and local Katie Boulter in the next round.

In just over two hours, Sierra went from being eliminated in the third round of qualifying to being qualified for the second round of the main draw at Wimbledon. The last-minute withdrawal of Belgian Greet Minnen opened up a chance for the Argentine, who barely had time to process the news before she had to head to the court to face Gadecki. In one hour and 38 minutes of play, Sierra secured her spot with a victory of 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) over the Australian, propelling her into the next round and into the top 100 for the first time in her career, as she is expected to be around the 85th position due to this win.

Despite preparing for the match in a rush, Argentina’s highest-ranked player came out to impose her game and took the first set with authority, winning 6-2. In the second set, she served with a lead of 5-4 and enjoyed four match points, but could not close it out. Two games later, it was Gadecki who had five set points to win the set, but the Argentine saved them to force a tie break. In the tiebreak, the Australian took a 6-3 lead and had three consecutive set points, which Sierra managed to fend off once again. Gadecki had another chance at 7-6, the ninth of the set, which she could not convert. Then, the Argentine took the lead for the first time in the tie break and closed out the match on her sixth match point, securing an unforgettable victory.

Sierra is the only Argentine in the women’s draw, after coming very close to qualifying against Australian Talia Gibson, where she was once at 5-3 and served at 5-4 before losing 7-5 in the decisive set. However, the tournament gave her another chance, and the player from Mar del Plata did not squander it.