Wimbledon: Jodie Burrage and Liam Broady get British interest off and running at All England Club
Jodie Burrage, Liam Broady and Jan Choinski got the British charge off to the perfect start at Wimbledon although Harriet Dart was the first home player to be knocked out earlier on opening Monday
Tuesday 4 July 2023 07:03, UK
Jodie Burrage made it third time lucky as she registered her first Wimbledon win by beating American Caty McNally, while Liam Broady and Jan Choinski also made it through to the second round on Monday.
British wild card Burrage had suffered first-round exits in the previous two years at the Grand Slam.
But the 24-year-old, who reached the final of the Nottingham Open last month, swept aside world No 67 McNally 6-1 6-3 to march into the second round.
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Broady made French magician Constant Lestienne disappear to reach round two at Wimbledon.
Lestienne is a part-time conjurer who performs at weddings and parties, but was unable to pull a rabbit out of the hat against British wild card Broady.
The 29-year-old from Stockport produced a spellbinding display to win 6-1 6-3 7-5.
Broady broke the world No 74 twice, either side of a brief rain delay, to race away with the first set in 27 minutes.
A pair of winners gave Broady another break and the advantage in the second.
Lestienne's hopes vanished when Broady edged a nip-and-tuck third set to book his place in the second round in just over two hours.
Choinski kept the winning habit going for British players on the first day of Wimbledon with a fine victory over Serbia's Dusan Lajovic to mark his main draw debut at the All England Club.
German-born Choinski, who is the son of a British ballet dancer, changed allegiances in 2019 and received a wild card into round one for the first time this year.
Choinski rewarded the faith placed in him with an impressive 5-7 7-6 (4) 6-2 6-2 win against the world No 56.
The Serbian was able to break world No 164 Choinski immediately, only to see the Briton answer him in just the same fashion right away.
Lajovic still edged Choinski out of the first set. But the Briton was undeterred, even as the second set went to a tie-breaker. Choinski held his nerve to win it.
That must have boosted his confidence. Cheered on by the crowd, he moved two sets up when he claimed the third.
Taking the match away, Choinski broke Lajovic twice more in the fourth set to secure a spot in round two after two hours and 35 minutes.
Harriet Dart was the first home player to be knocked out as she lost in three sets to 20-year-old Frenchwoman Diane Parry.
The British No 4 had an impressive build-up to her home Grand Slam, reaching the quarter-finals in Nottingham and Birmingham, but fell 6-7 (4-7) 6-0 6-4 to Parry.
"I felt pretty poor out there," Dart admitted. "What's amazing was I had a chance to win playing not great tennis.
"I still feel like I have so much to improve on. I've had a really good grass-court season. It's just disappointing that my worst match of the grass-court season came here.
"Naturally being British, you want to play well here. I just didn't really get going. She also made it tricky for me. Credit to her, she played better tennis than me today."
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Dart played the match with strapping on her shoulder, though that played no part in her defeat.
She added: "We've just been managing it. It's not been a serious problem. But, yeah, since Birmingham I've had some issues with it. I've been fine to play on it."
British No 6 Katie Swan exited Wimbledon after a 7-5 6-2 defeat to 14th seed Belinda Bencic.
Swan sent down 11 aces in an impressive serving display but was unable to get the better of the Olympic gold medallist.
