Andy Murray battles back to join Emma Raducanu in Wimbledon second round

WIMBLEDON — Andy Murray battled to a four-set victory over James Duckworth to close out the opening day’s play on Centre Court.

Duckworth, ranked No 76 despite being 0-7 for the season heading into the match, took the first set 6-4 when out-breaking Murray two to one.

Murray kept his composure, however, and won all 15 points on his first serve in the second set when levelling the match with a 6-3.

The two-time winner, returning to action following an abdominal strain that forced him out of Queen’s, even threw in an underarm serve in the third set, and was soon two breaks to the good as the momentum swung his way.

Murray took the third set 6-2, by which point it was 8.45pm and so the fading light resulted in the roof coming on.

A tight fourth set followed, but Murray crucially got the break in the ninth game before closing it out at 9.35pm.

Emma Raducanu overcame injury and expectation to book her place in the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Alison Van Uytvanck.

Remarkably, Raducanu had never played on Centre Court despite having already won her first major, and while it was not necessarily a nervy start, it was certainly not a clean one. More than 15 minutes had passed by the time both women had a game on the board, Van Uytvanck saving two break points in her first service game and Raducanu saving three.

Unforced errors more than winners defined the scoreline too and so it was appropriate that while a fine backhand return earned her 15-40, it was Raducanu’s opponent missing her second serve that elicited the break.

She could not consolidate though, and was broken herself, before retaliating for the third break in a row. With two fairly hefty serves on show, this should not have been a match in which breaks were so regular, but the lack of fluency on both sides of the net made it hard for either player to get much of a run going.

Raducanu though did manage to save two break points at 5-4 and serve out the first set to the delight of a crowd that grew fuller as the match went on, and more involved too. Umpire Kader Nouri had to remind them of their responsibilities to remain quiet during the point in the second set, but the excitement approached fever pitch when, after exactly 100 minutes, Raducanu brought up three match points. She looked almost incredulously towards her box after sealing the second of them. Tougher challenges await.

Meanwhile, Lily Miyazaki narrowly missed out on booking a second-round meeting with Raducanu.

The world No 204 was looking to record a victory in her grand slam debut, but Caroline Garcia – who won the Bad Homburg title on the weekend – fought back to beat the Brit 4-6 6-1 7-6(4).

Cameron Norrie became the first Brit to reach the second round at Wimbledon when beating Pablo Andujar in straight sets after two rain stoppages on the opening day.

As the men’s No 9 seed, Norrie is the highest-ranked British player in singles action at SW19, and though he was up first on No 2 Court he seemed undeterred by that somewhat surprising slot.

Indeed, Norrie had the backhand firing early doors to quickly go two breaks up, while a third sealed the bagel for the first set across the grounds on Monday morning – taking just 20 minutes.

There was a sprinkle in the air the moment Norrie served to open the second set, and an anxious crowd looked up given the day’s forecast was unpredictable at best.

Norrie was then broken by the world No 100 just before play was suspended, and a near two-hour wait ensued before the matches would restart on the outside courts.

After eventually returning, Norrie then broke back in the fourth game before edging a tight set when winning the tie-break 7-3.

Looking to complete the job, Norrie broke once more in the third game of the third set, and though he had two match points on Andujar’s serve at 5-3, he failed to convert those opportunities moments before the heavens opened for a second time.

The second delay lasted around an hour, and once back out Norrie needed under 10 minutes to seal a 6-0 7-6(3) 6-3 win.

Meanwhile, Jodie Burrage fell at the first hurdle when losing in straight sets to Lesia Tsurenko out on Court 18.

Burrage had beaten world No 4 Paula Badosa at Eastbourne – one of several impressive performances by the Brits in the build-up to Wimbledon – but the experience of Ukraine’s Tsurenko shone through.

There was at least a moment for Burrage to endear herself to the Wimbledon crowd, however, with the Briton offering a lightheaded ballboy some water and Percy Pigs before he was eventually escorted off the court having required medical attention.

“He just said he was feeling really faint. He couldn’t actually really talk. It was quite distressing to see,” she said afterwards.

“I was just like, ‘This kid needs sugar’. He wasn’t liking the gel. They’re not the nicest things to have.

“Someone just shouted on the side, ‘Got some sweets here if you want’. They were Percy Pigs, one of my favourites, I would say. So definitely recommend it if I ever happens again.”

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