Danilovic earns Wimbledon main draw spot after W100 Madrid triumph
Olga Danilovic picked an opportune moment to win her first title in almost four years.
The 22-year-old Serb overcame Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 6-3 in the ITF World Tennis Tour final at W100 Madrid on Sunday and promptly rocketed up the rankings just in time to secure her place in the Wimbledon main draw for the first time.
With the ranking cut off date for the prestigious grass court Grand Slam taking place on 22 May, Danilovic climbed 34 places to No. 104 in the world on Monday, guaranteeing her place at the 2023 Championships at the All England Club as a direct entrant.
Danilovic - the daughter of former Serbian basketball player Predrag Danilovic (who is considered one of the best European shooting guards in the 1990s) - has reached the second round at three of the four Grand Slams, but fell in qualifying in both of her two previous attempts to qualify for Wimbledon in 2019 and 2021.
She might well have been expecting another trip to Roehampton for the qualifying event this June after a mixed start to the season in which she won just eight matches across her first nine events of the year.
But Danilovic found form at the perfect time in Madrid - winning all five matches in straight sets and notching up three bagel sets in the process to set up an exciting summer grass season.
The top 104 women (and men) are guaranteed a spot in the Wimbledon main draw, though some lower-ranked players could yet assume a spot pending any withdrawals of those higher-ranked.
Taylor Townsend put herself in contention for a Wimbledon main draw alternate spot over the weekend after rocketing 60 spots in the rankings courtesy of a run to the final at the WTA $125k event in Florence. Townsend has found fine form since returning to the Tour from maternity leave in April 2022, and was the only player to win titles at both ITF W100 and W80 level last season following wins at W100 Charleston and W80 Tyler.
Elsewhere on the ITF World Tennis Tour this weekend, Maria Carle matched the biggest title win of her career with a 6-4 6-4 triumph over Irina Maria Bara on Turkish clay at W60 Bodrum.
There were also wins for Americans Emina Bektas and Robin Montgomery, who collected their second career W60 titles at W60 Kurume and W60 Saint-Gaudens, respectively, while 25-year-old Veronika Miroshnichenko won the biggest title of her career at W60 Pelham.
Click here for all the weekend's ITF World Tennis Tour results