Wawrinka sweeps aside Wimbledon debutant Broom as Watson falls short

It was a difficult opening day for British players on the outside courts here on Monday, with Charles Broom, Heather Watson and Liam Broady among those who slipped to defeat, but the gloom finally lifted late in the afternoon as Lily Miyazaki reached the second round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Tamara Korpatsch.

Miyazaki dropped just seven points on serve in the match and wrapped up her first Wimbledon victory against the world No 73 in less than an hour, setting up a meeting with Daria Kasatkina, the No 14 seed, on Wednesday.

Her win was much needed for the home team after a series of disappointments, including  Broom’s 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 reverse against Stan Wawrinka, the former world No 3. Broom had secured a wild card with a fine run of form on the Challenger circuit and started the match as only a marginal underdog with the bookmakers, despite the 153-run gap in the ratings ladder to his Swiss opponent.

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There had to be a possibility, after all, that the 13-year age gap between Broom and his Swiss opponent would prove more significant, and for the opening games at least the Wimbledon debutant held his own against Wawrinka, who was making his 18th attempt to win the only grand slam title missing from his career CV.

Wawrinka has also been no stranger to early exits here in the past. The first of his seven first-round defeats came as long ago as 2005, when his opponent on Monday had just celebrated his seventh birthday, and he has departed at the second hurdle four times.

But Broom’s solid start went to waste in the sixth game, when he lost his serve to love, and the first set followed three games later.

Then, having reeled off the first three games in the next, he missed a chance to go a double-break in front in the fourth and later failed to serve out the set at 5-3.

In a nervy opening to the game he slipped to 0-30, and while he fought back to deuce, an attempted drop volley found the net to give Wawrinka a break-back point and he powered a cross-court winner to regain the initiative.

“I could feel the momentum starting to shift in the game at 5-3, and I knew that was an important one,” Broom said. “I played some good points, just didn’t quite execute. To a certain extent, that’s probably my level, and just exposing myself to those important moments on a bigger stage, I think it’s something I’m going to have to get used to.”

Watson, meanwhile, will hope to spend considerably more time on court with Greet Minnen in the women’s doubles than she managed in the singles, having earlier become the first British player to be knocked at the championships this year as she lost 7-5, 6-4 on court 18.

The 26-year-old made the worst possible start to what turned out to be an error-strewn first set, as she lost the first eight points to slip to 0-2 with barely five minutes on the clock. She staged a spirited rally to level at 4-4 and was gifted a chance to serve for the set when Minnen double-faulted on break point, only for Watson to lose her own serve to love a couple of minutes later.

Minnen reeled off the next two games as well to close out the set, and while there were occasional flashes of inspiration from her doubles partner on the other side of the net, the former British No 1 eventually wilted under the strength of Minnen’s forehand in particular.

“Every one”, Watson screamed in frustration as another backhand drifted wide to leave her serving to stay in the match in the second, and the fact that her penultimate point of the match was a double fault summed up her day.

“It’s just such tiny margins and fine details that can make a big difference,” Watson said. “I just wasn’t able to find the court. Greet is a really good friend of mine on tour, we get on very well. I can’t wait to be on the same side of the court with her.”

In a five-set epic on court 16, Britain’s Arthur Fery lost against Germany’s world No 80 Daniel Altmaier. Fery, the world No 247, won the first and third sets but started to struggle physically and took a medical timeout in the fourth set. Altmaier took control in the fourth before securing victory – 4-6, 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 – in the three-hour, 43-minute match.