Lily Miyazaki revels in biggest win of her career at Wimbledon

By James Reid at Wimbledon

Lily Miyazaki hailed one of her finest days on a tennis court as she earned her first win at Wimbledon.

Miyazaki cruised past Tamara Korpatsch 6-2 6-1 despite the German sitting 75 places above her in the rankings, with the 28-year-old Brit losing just seven points on her own serve en route to wrapping up victory in under an hour.

It is just Miyazaki’s second win in the main draw of a Grand Slam following a first round victory at last year’s US Open and the Londoner reflected on a satisfying performance in SW19.

“I am really pleased with my performance,” she said. “It was nice to get my first main draw win at Wimbledon.

“It is definitely one of the higher ones [in her career]. I haven’t played at main draw Grand Slams that often, this is only my third time. It is one of my better wins of my career, she is a top 100 player, so I am pleased with it.

“I really played my game pretty well. I like to play quite an aggressive game, not that I have a massive serve, but I like to take the ball early and put pressure on my opponents.

“I was able to do that, I just really concentrated on myself and I think that was what helped me.”

Miyazaki reached the Wimbledon main draw once before in 2022, where she lost in three sets to France’s Caroline Garcia.

The 28-year-old needed a wildcard to reach the same stage in 2024 owing to her world ranking of 148.

First round victory means Miyazaki has at least doubled her earnings for the year – she will leave the All England Club with a guaranteed £93,000.

And she is hopeful that the win can give her both the confidence and the resources to move higher up the rankings.

“It is huge,” she added. “It helps with the travel and my training but to be honest I wasn’t really thinking about that when I was playing.

“I just really wanted to go out there and put in a good performance and keep improving my level.

“The financial side is massive for me and hopefully I can use that to keep building my ranking.”

Miyazaki will now face 14th seed Daria Kasatkina in the next round, with the Russian coming into the contest fresh from victory at the LTA’s Rothesay International Eastbourne.

But the Brit is relishing the opportunity to go up against one of the world’s top-ranked players with the home crowd behind her.

“I really enjoy playing in these conditions, with the crowds it really gets me going,” she added.

“Here especially at Wimbledon the courts are absolutely amazing and I think it really suits my game.

“I have never played her [Kasatkina] before but I have definitely watched her play in the past.

“She won Eastbourne last week so she is on good form and it will be really good to see where my game is at.

“If the opportunity is there to play on a big court, it would be amazing but any court here is so special.”

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