Tennis

Day Three: A decent day for the Brits, with Evans, Norrie and Raducanu all through at Wimbledon

It was a day of pride – and much success – for Britons in SW19 as Dan Evans, Cameron Norrie and Emma Raducanu all made it through to the next round at Wimbledon .

British number one Evans beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, while Norrie saw off France’s Lucas Pouile 6-7, 7-5, 6-2, 7-5.

And teenager Raducanu also made it through, beating Vitalia Diatchenko 7-6, 6-0 in what was her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam.

However Katie Boulter is out – despite a mammoth effort against second seed Ayna Sabalenca on Centre Court.

Speaking after his second round victory on Court No.1, Evans said: “I’m happy to be through to the third round. It was a tough match. It was good to get it done in three straights.

“It could have turned out a little difficult in the end but it was good to come through. Again, in straights is an extra bonus. I can take a day off tomorrow and get ready for Friday.

“I don’t think I played particularly amazing tennis today, but I got through the match with decent concentration. I found my tennis when I needed to the longer the match went on.

“I knew what I had to do today, and that was get myself through the match, however I played, gave myself another good chance in the third round.

“It’s not all about playing perfect tennis all the time. I didn’t serve the game out great at 5-2, but I bounced back at 5-4 after having match points in the game before that. So I was happy with that part today. That gives you confidence.”

Centre Court at Wimbledon

Katie Boulter produced one of the performances of her life on Centre Court – ensuring Andy Murray faced another late night on the world’s biggest stage.

But she eventually fell to second seed Sabalenca. Afterwards she said: “I think my first and only takeaway is that it’s definitely the best court in the world.

“I’ve not had a chance to play on it yet, that’s my first time. I absolutely loved every minute out there. The British crowd were incredible.

“I thought it was a really good match, one I won’t forget.”

Elsewhere Nick Kyrgios completed his match from Tuesday evening – winning 9-7 in the deciding set against Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

And defending champion Novak Djokovic continued his dominance with a straight sets win over South African Kevin Anderson.

Number 12 seed Victoria Azarenca won her first round match against Kateryna Kozlova of the Ukraine 6-1, 6-3, while Alice Cornet of France caused one of the shocks of the day, knocking out number five seed, Canadian Bianca Andreescu, 6-2, 6-1.

In the pick of the remaining men’s first round matches, Gael Monfils of France saw off Australian Christopher O’Connell, while number 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.


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