Murray returns to Wimbledon with a win

Andy Murray returned to Wimbledon with a win this evening, completing his victory over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili under the Centre Court roof just before 10pm.

Murray lit up the world’s most famous tennis court after a day which had threatened to be a complete washout, with rain spoiling the early stages of the first day of these Championships – the first in two years.

Play was not possible until almost 4pm on the outside courts, due to the persistent drizzle which fell.

Basilashvili offered, at least on paper, a tough test for the Scot, who is making his first appearance at the Championships since 2017, due to injuries and the pandemic.

But Murray ran out a comfortable winner in the end, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, despite losing seven straight games in the third set – Basilashvili winning it 7-5 after being 0-5 down.

Fellow Brit Johanna Konta was forced to withdraw on the eve of the tournament due to Covid reasons, and before Murray’s win it looked to be a poor day for the home players, with defeats for Katie Swan and Jodie Burrage.

Katie Boulter did make it through, though, beating Danielle Lao of the US.

Despite the early dampness outside, under the covers of Centre and Court One the lucky ticket-holders were served up a treat.

Brit Jack Draper threatened to cause of the shock of the tournament on day one when he took the first set off champion and world number one Novak Djokovic, but the Serb roared back to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Over on Court One, however, a shock was developing. Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was outplayed by a new crowd favourite – American Frances Tiafoe.

Who says there are no characters in men’s tennis these days? Tiafoe played up to the crowd to get him onside, then treated them to a wonderful display of groundstrokes against the Greek, running out a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 winner.

After the match, Tiafoe said: “Once I saw the draw coming out, yeah, these are matches I actually love.

“I think a lot of guys in the tennis community know that. I play great tennis against high-calibre players. I’ve beaten high-calibre players. The minimum I want to do is at least give myself a chance to win. I did.

“I woke up this morning like, Yeah, I’m beating Stefanos. It happened. I think believing it when nobody else does is so big.”

Tiafoe’s US compatriot, Sloane Stephens, caused the day’s other major shock, beating two-time champion Petra Kvitova in straight sets – 6-3, 6-4.

Stephens said after her win: “I think for me the biggest thing was feeling good on the court, feeling like I’m competing, like I’m in matches.

“Then obviously today, after French, I felt good. I felt like I was competing better. Even though obviously it didn’t end the way I wanted it to, I was just feeling more like myself on court.

“Obviously playing against Petra, you have to bring your A game. I thought I played really well today. I’m just trying to keep the momentum going, trying to find that, like, good, consistent level again.”

Elsewhere number 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka safely made it through to round two, beating Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-4, Poland’s Iga Swiatek brushed aside Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 6-4 and there were wins for number four seed Sofia Kenin and number 11 seed Garbine Muguruza.

In the men’s draw number five seed Andrey Rublev came from a set down to beat Federico Delbonis, of Argentina, while Spaniard Roberta Bautista Agut saw off Australian John Millman.