Bay Area's Novikov wins in Wimbledon qualifying

Dennis Novikov awaits a serve in the first round of doubles in last
year's U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 28 seed Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area defeated British wild card Lloyd Glasspool 6-2, 7-5 on Monday in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying.
   Glasspool won the 2015 NCAA doubles title as a Texas senior with Soren Hess-Olesen.
   Novikov, a 22-year-old former UCLA star, is scheduled to face Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus for the first time on Wednesday. Ignatik, 25, beat Renzo Olivo of Argentina 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
   The winner of the match between Novikov, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters) and 200 pounds (91 kilograms), and Ignatik likely will face No. 14 seed Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., in the final round of qualifying.
   Smyczek, only 5-foot-9 (1.75 meters) and 160 pounds (72 kilograms), won the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger in the Bay Area last October.
   Novikov, ranked No. 146 to Ignatik's No. 288, seeks his first main-draw berth at Wimbledon. In Novikov's only previous appearance, he lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the first round of qualifying last year.