Charles Broom’s 26-year-old Grand Slam debut lasted just three sets against former world number three Stan Wawrinka on Monday, but the British player was on several occasions as a spectator After watching the game, I turned from the sidelines to the field.
Bloom earned a wild card for his impressive performance on the Challenger Tour and, despite being 153 points behind his Swiss rival on the ratings ladder, was ranked only second among bookmakers at the start of the tournament. Marginal disadvantage.
After all, the 12-year age gap between Bloom and his Swiss rival is likely to be even wider, at least in the opening match, and the Wimbledon rookie held his own against Wawrinka, who was Preparing for his 18th game.
Wawrinka is no stranger to early exits here in the past. The first of his seven first-round defeats occurred back in 2005, when his opponent celebrated his seventh birthday on Monday and has already exited at the second level four times.
But Bloom’s good start was wasted in the sixth game when he lost his serve and entered the first set three games later. Next, after winning the first three games, he missed the opportunity to double break in the fourth game, and ultimately failed to win the service set with a score of 5-3.
A tense start to the match saw him trail 30-0, and as he fought back to level the match, an attempted volley found the net, providing Wawrinka with a break point, which he later regained with a cross-court winner. initiative.
“I could feel the momentum starting to shift in the game and it was 5-3 and I knew this was a big game,” Bloom said. “I made some good runs, I just didn’t quite execute. To a certain extent, that’s probably my level, just putting myself in those big moments on a bigger stage, I think that’s something I have to get used to. .
Meanwhile, Heather Watson will be hoping to spend more time on court with Greet Minnen in the women’s doubles than she does in singles, after beating her 7-5, 6 Lost the tournament and became the first British player to be eliminated. No. 18 was -4.
Watson got off to her worst start in the first set, making mistakes as she gave up her first eight points and trailed 2-0 with less than five minutes left. She staged a fierce battle to level the score at 4-4 and had a chance to serve for the set after Mingning double-faulted on the break point, but Watson lost hers a few minutes later. Serve game.
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Mingning also made good progress in the next two games to end the set, and although there were occasional flashes of inspiration from his doubles partner on the other side of the net, the former British world No. 1 eventually found the net in front of Mingning. Withering under the strength of the hand.
“Everyone,” Watson screamed in frustration as her second backhand missed, leaving her serve in the second game, and her penultimate point of the match was a double fault by Watson. One fact summed up her day.
“It’s those small margins and fine details that can have a huge impact,” Watson said. “I just can’t find the court. Greet is a really good friend of mine from touring and we get along really well. I can’t wait to be on the same side of the court with her.
Britain’s Arthur Fery lost to Germany’s world number 80 Daniel Altmaier in an epic five-set match on Court 16. Ferry, ranked 247th in the world, won the first and third sets but began to have physical problems and received a medical timeout in the fourth set. Altmaier took the initiative in the fourth game and eventually won 4-6, 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, which took 3 hours and 43 minutes.
