Katie Boulter crashes out of Wimbledon as Katie Swan becomes first Briton to reach second round

Hello and welcome to coverage from day two of Wimbledon where Katie Boulter represents Great Britain’s best chance of a presence in the second week after a dismal opening day.

Ten Britons were beaten on Monday, which is one of the worst set of results in recent history. 

It could have been even worse but Jack Pinnington Jones was spared by bad light against Brandon Nakashima at two sets down and will have to finish his opener on Tuesday.

The tally of losses is the worst for the home nation since daily records began in 2000, while there is a possibility the record of 16 first-round defeats could be exceeded when the remaining players take to the court today.

Fran Jones, who became the final faller when she lost 6-4, 6-4 to France’s Diane Parry, said: “It will create bad headlines, probably slightly unfairly. I think, with some of the draws that people are handed, it was always going to be difficult.

“But no one can hide from the heaviness of Wimbledon. It’s important to everyone, and I’m sure it played a factor being at the home slam.”

The Lawn Tennis Association can justifiably point to the fact that the draws were particularly unkind this year, with only Cameron Norrie facing a player ranked lower than him.

The British No 1’s defeat by American Michael Zheng was undoubtedly the most disappointing of the day, although the qualifier played a terrific match to win in a fifth-set tie-break.

It was a sixth defeat in a row for last year’s quarter-finalist Norrie, who said: “If I could have had a few more matches leading in, I think I can win this match. There were so many small moments in the match that he did really well to go on his side.”

Harriet Dart was close to pulling off a sizeable upset against former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, eventually losing out 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who lost in the second round to Carlos Alcaraz last year, also played at a high level in a four-hour battle against 25th seed Arthur Rinderknech but was unable to force a deciding set.

Britain’s teenage trio of Mimi Xu, Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic were also among the losers after being handed very difficult draws.

Xu won her first senior set at Wimbledon against former quarter-finalist Daria Kasatkina but fell to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 defeat while Stojsavljevic was quickly beaten 6-2, 6-1 by last year’s semi-finalist Belinda Bencic.

Klugman, 17, took on 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova and was left feeling encouraged after a close second set in a 6-1, 6-4 loss.

“I feel so motivated because it was 4-4, I had points to go 5-5,” said Klugman. “In the first set I think I had a break point in most of her service games. So it’s close.”

Elsewhere, wild card Felix Gill was beaten by rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar while fellow debutants Alicia Dudeney and Max Basing also lost.