Liam Broady reaches Wimbledon second round with stunning comeback victory
Tuesday 30 June 2015 15:29, UK
Britain's Liam Broady produced an incredible fightback on day one at Wimbledon to win a thrilling five-set match against Australia's Marinko Matosevic.
The Stockport player, ranked 181st in the world, was the first Brit to take to the court at this year's Championships and proceeded to steal the show in the men's singles.
In front of the home fans the 21-year-old, granted a wild card for this year's event, came back from a two-set deficit to win for the first time at Wimbledon 5-7 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-3.
Broady will play Belgium's David Goffin, seeded 16, in the second round of the tournament after turning round a poor start against 'Mad Dog' Matosevic, who is ranked 44 places higher than him.
There were three other Brits in action on day one at Wimbledon, all in the ladies draw.
British No 2 Johanna Konta put up a fight against fourth seed Maria Sharapova but the 2014 champion had far too much style and power.
Konta, who switched allegiance from Australia three years ago, came into the match on a high after taking a couple of seeded scalps in Eastbourne last week but never looked close to derailing Sharapova, who won 6-2 6-2.
Heather Watson fought back from a set down to level her first round match with Caroline Garcia before the contest was suspended for the day due to bad light.
The British No 1 made a very poor start and looked like she could be heading for a quick exit when she won just one game in the first set, but she recovered to square matters at 1-6 6-3.
Despite having the momentum in the match, she appeared unwilling to play on without Hawk-Eye, which could not be used in the gloomy conditions, and so the match was halted shortly after 9pm.
Meanwhile, Liam Broady’s sister Naomi was unable to emulate her brother, she was downed 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 by Colombia’s Mariana Duque-Marino.
