Scottish tennis ace ranked 550th in world one win away from Wimbledon after dramatic qualifier

A Scottish tennis player ranked 550th in the world is just win away from making his Wimbledon debut after reaching the final round of qualifying.

Hamish Stewart, 25, has already won four matches having come through the wild card qualifying play-off for lower-ranked British players to earn a spot at Roehampton.

He beat Liam Broady there and then profited from a slip that forced Valentin Vacherot to pull out when one game away from victory in their first-round qualifying match.

Stewart’s adventurous route continued on Wednesday when he saved two match points before beating France’s Luca van Assche 7-6 (3) 4-6 7-6 (11/9) to make it through to round three.

The man from Strathblane served for the match at 5-4 up in the final set but was broken. He then saved two match points in the deciding tie break, coming back from 4-8 and 7-9 down, before clinching the win of his career on a double-fault.

Hamish Stewart is one win away from competing at Wimbledon. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group) | SNS Group

"It was a bit of a blur," Stewart told BBC Sport. "I threw in a dodgy service game at 5-4 and I felt like I was there in the tiebreak but I was 8-4 down.

"He threw in a double [fault] at 8-4, and I was like 'okay, he's feeling it', so I continued to gets balls in court and to be aggressive and somehow won."

Stewart will next face Leandro Riedi of Switzerland on Thursday, with the winner progressing to the main draw at SW19. Riedi, 23, reached the final round of qualifying by upsetting Argentine 24th seed Federico Agustin Gomez, again in a deciding tiebreak.

"It's been a rollercoaster," added Stewart. "I've had a bit of luck but I feel I was due a bit of luck and I'm loving the experience."

Joining Stewart n the final round of qualifying is 21-year-old fellow Brit Oliver Tarvet.

Tarvet is ranked even lower at 719 but is currently studying at the University of San Diego in the United States, where he has achieved impressive results on the college tennis circuit.

And he is yet to drop a set, following up his victory over 14th seed Terence Atmane in round one with a 6-3 6-2 win against Canadian Alexis Galarneau. He will need to defeat 29th seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium if he is to progress to the main draw.

There was defeat, though, for Ryan Peniston, who lost out 3-6 6-4 6-4 to talented young Spaniard Martin Landaluce.

Emily Appleton enjoyed one of the best wins of her career to move on step away from a first Wimbledon outing. The 25-year-old, ranked 403 in the world, beat Barbora Palicova in a marathon match that last just under three hours. She came out on top 6-2 6-7 (6) 7-6 (10/7), with Veronika Erjavec standing between her and a spot at SW19 in the final round.

Elsewhere, there were defeats for Paul Jubb and Oliver Bonding while Amarni Banks also tasted defeat in the women’s draw.

Wimbledon begins on Monday, with Scots duo Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie already in the main draw.