Luckiest loser of all-time?

[helterskelter]

Some lucky losers have won titles. So the bar is high. Still, we might have a contender in Eastbourne this week, where, incidentally, there are two lucky losers in the semi-finals. One of them is the doubles specialist Max Purcell, about whom I have not much in particular to note.

The other is Soonwoo Kwon, whose luck has been pretty huge:

1) He lost in the opening round of qualifying, not the final round of qualifying.
2) He was, however, the top seed in qualifying.
3) This meant that he was fifth in line for entry into the main draw as a lucky loser. (The first four slots going to the losers in the final round of qualifying, and him taking the fifth slot as the highest-ranked loser in the first round of qualifying).
4) Four players withdrew from the first round draw, and so all of the losers in the final round of qualifying took a slot in the first round.
5) As a result of the withdrawal of the #4 seed (Nikoloz Basilashvili), the #5 seed (Reilly Opelka) moved into his slot, and got a bye through the first round.
6) Opelka then withdrew from the tournament.
7) As four lucky losers had already entered in round 1, the fifth lucky loser in line, Soonwoo Kwon, took the spot that had first been Basilashvili's and then became Opelka's. That meant that he got a bye in round 1 and started in round 2.
8) So, from losing in round 1 of qualifying, he moved directly to round 2 of the main draw, bypassing both the final round of qualifying and the first round of the main draw.
9) Moreover, as he was in the slot assigned to the #4 seed, he played a non-seed in round 2 (Martons Fucsovics) and beat him.
10) Today, in the quarter-finals, he played a successful qualifier, Ilya Ivashka, and beat him, too.
11) So, Kwon lost in round 1 of qualifying, nonetheless got a lucky loser slot, got one into round 2 of the main draw, and beat a non-seed and a qualifier to make the semis.

That is a pretty fortuitous sequence of events. It will probably come to an end tomorrow against Alex de Minaur, but if Kwon were to win that match, he might get even luckier by playing a fellow lucky loser in the final: the aforementioned Purcell.

Any other such stories? I can't remember a previous lucky loser who lost in round 1 of qualifying, but perhaps it has happened.

 

[FlamingCheeto]

Mahut has become the GOAT after being the ultimate LOSER. Good on ya Nicolas!

 

[Hamnavoe]

In 2018 Peter Polansky got into the main draw of each of the four majors as a lucky loser.

 

[helterskelter]

In 2018 Peter Polansky got into the main draw of each of the four majors as a lucky loser.

That is a very lucky sequence, but each discrete event is not as lucky as Kwon. Of course, slams matter more than Eastbourne. But there are also plenty of opportunities for lucky losers to enter slams, and Polansky at least made it to the final round of qualifying each time.

If a loser from the second round of qualifying made the main draw of a slam, that would really be something.

 

[Purestriker]

Mahut has become the GOAT after being the ultimate LOSER. Good on ya Nicolas!

The anniversary of the most brutal match ever.

 

[jm1980]

In 2018 Peter Polansky got into the main draw of each of the four majors as a lucky loser.

Then he tweeted this:

 

[Tennisfan339]

This is interesting. Thanks for the headsup. I agree, very lucky chain of events.

Another funny anecdote I have about Lucky losers:
Rotterdam 2017. Final round of qualifying. Bedene beats Istomin 7-6 6-3. Bedene gets to the main draw but his opponent in the 1st tound withdraws. Istomin is Lucky loser and faces Bedene again the very next day after his loss (February 11 and 12). Istomin wins the match 6-3 7-6.

 

[Gizo]

In 2018 Peter Polansky got into the main draw of each of the four majors as a lucky loser.

That was brilliant, as was Polansky's reaction to it. The LL grand slam was some achievement !

Now I don't think this is in the same league as the scenarios with Kwon or Polanksy, but earlier this year Misaki Doi got into 3 successive WTA main draws held in 3 successive weeks as a lucky loser, in Adelaide, Doha and Dubai. And she won her 1st round match each time before coming up against Bencic, Svitolina and and Swiatek in the next round respectively.

 

[merwy]

Luckiest? He was lucky to qualify after losing in the first round of qualies but his luck ends there. He won all of his other matches on his own merit. Besides, he was a hair away from entering directly anyway, which means he wouldn’t even be in the qualifying tournament in the first place.

 

[Purestriker]

Then he tweeted this:

LL Calendar slam. That is funny.

 

[jm1980]

Luckiest? He was lucky to qualify after losing in the first round of qualies but his luck ends there. He won all of his other matches on his own merit. Besides, he was a hair away from entering directly anyway, which means he wouldn’t even be in the qualifying tournament in the first place.

He also got the privileges of a seeded player (a bye and a lower ranked opponent) as a result