Erlich: “I can win doubles tournament at Wimbledon”

Yoni Erlich booked his place into the second round of the men’s doubles competition on Monday afternoon and then declared he can go on and win the tournament.

The only remaining Isareli at this year’s Championships following Dudi Sela’s defeat earlier in the day, Erlich, teaming up with German Philipp Petzschner, beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Confident the pair, who were playing together for just the third time – on the back of two qualifiers to reach the main round of the draw – can now go and even win the tournament, Erlich told jewishnews.co.uk: “I think we can go all the way. He’s a former champion here and comes in with a lot of experience, I have a lot of experience, have had a lot of good experience on grass and in Grand Slams, so if we keep going strong, I don’t see why we can’t go on and win it.”

Happy to be in the draw for the next round, though knowing there’s room for improvement, he said: “It wasn’t our best match – we played better in the qualifiers, but you know how it is, first round of a Grand Slam, you’re going to be nervous but we went through and a win is a win. There are a few things to improve on, especially on the side of the intensity of a match. I thought the first two sets we were pretty solid, we let them come back in the third set. I thought it we would do it in straight sets – which would have been better for us – but we came out with a good chance in the fourth and won it.”

They next face either Philippines’ Treat Huey and American Jewish player Scott Lipsky, or the 12th seeds, Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas and Spaniard David Marrero.