Heather Watson and Harriet Dart both suffered first-round defeats in the women's singles
Wimbledon 2021 on the BBC |
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Venue: All England Club Dates: 28 June-11 July |
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full details here |
British duo Heather Watson and Harriet Dart produced a composed performance to sail through the opening round of the women's doubles at Wimbledon.
They completed a 6-3 6-2 victory over Estonia's Kaia Kanepi and China's Zhang Shuai in little over an hour.
In the men's doubles, Skupski brothers Ken and Neal won an all-British affair.
The siblings beat Liam Broady and Ryan Peniston 7-5 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
Luke Bambridge and Dom Inglot won Thursday's other all-British match but it was a tight affair as they edged out Stuart Parker and James Ward 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.
There was also victory for Lloyd Glasspool as he and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara came from a set down to upset 10th seeds Wesley Koolhof and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands, 5-7 6-3 6-4.
Elsewhere, a number of home players and pairs exited the tournament.
Anton Matusevich and Luke Johnson lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 to Australian duo Alex de Minaur and Matt Reid.
Jonny O'Mara also suffered a first-round exit as he and partner Hugo Nys, of Monaco, were beaten 6-4 7-6 (7-3) by Uruguayan-Ecuadorian duo Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar.
The same fate befell Jay Clarke as he and Romania's Marius Copil lost 6-3 3-6 6-3 to 15th seeds Marcus Daniell, of New Zealand, and Philipp Oswald, of Austria.
Former finalist Jamie Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, the seventh seeds, get their campaign under way on Friday, as do sixth seeds Joe Salisbury, of Britain, and American partner Rajeev Ram.
Naomi Broady and Jodie Burrage, meanwhile, were unable to join Watson and Dart in round two of the women's draw, losing 6-2 7-6 (7-3) to 15th seeds Viktoria Kuzmova and Arantxa Rus.
Tara Moore and Eden Silva also fell at the first hurdle, beaten 6-4 6-3 by 11th seeds Laura Siegemund, of Germany, and Vera Zvonareva, of Russia.
Naiktha Bains and Samantha Murray Sharan lost by a similar scoreline, 6-3 6-4, to Russia's Varvara Gracheva and Georgia's Oksana Kalashnikova.
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