In the final qualifying round, Vilius Gaubas lost to the Briton Harry Wendelken (ATP-196) after a marathon lasting 3 hours and 43 minutes with the result 7:6(3), 6:7(5), 6:7(5).
Read more Why was a 17th-century Polish woman buried with a lock on her toe and an iron sickle above her neck?
In the clash that started on Thursday, the 21-year-old from Šiauliai looked like the more solid tennis player on the court, and in the first set, dominated by serves, he proved his advantage in the tiebreak.
The Lithuanian tennis team representative was close to victory in the second set when he broke his opponent’s serve for the first time and took a 3:1 lead, but the Brit quickly restored the balance.
Finally, with Vilius trailing 4:5 in the second set, the match was postponed to Friday due to rain and lightning, but the return to the court was not as smooth for our compatriot.
The representative of Great Britain started playing very solidly from the baseline, while the Lithuanian, as if hitting a wall, made more and more unforced errors.
Vilius lost the tiebreak and from the very beginning of the third set had to chase his opponent, as he immediately lost his serve.
The Lithuanian tennis talent managed to come back even after a terribly played 11th game, in which he lost his serve while leading 40:0 and completely destroyed his racket.
However, in the third tiebreak, V. Gaubas ran out of strength – he was still leading 4:3 but then lost six points in a row and ultimately suffered a painful defeat.
In the “US Open” qualifying final, the Lithuanian played for the second time in his career – in 2024 he was stopped by the famous Argentine Diego Schwartzman. Last season, Vilius lost in the first round.
We remind that in the first round of the “US Open” qualifiers he defeated the Swiss representative Kilian Feldbausch (ATP-231) 6:3, 7:6(1), and in the second round he beat the experienced Italian tennis player Marco Cecchinato (ATP-166) 6:4, 6:3.
Having won two matches in the qualifiers, V. Gaubas earned 16 ATP ranking points and a prize of 66 thousand US dollars.
However, there are still theoretical hopes to enter the “US Open” – the Lithuanian will compete for the lucky loser status, which is given by lottery to one of the players who lost in the qualifying final if a player withdraws from the main tournament before the first round.
Vilius has played twice in the main “Grand Slam” tournament – at this year’s “Roland Garros” and Wimbledon.
For 24-year-old H. Wendelken, this will be the second career “Grand Slam” main event – the tennis player’s debut took place at this year’s Wimbledon, but then he received a wildcard.
