Wimbledon 2011: Liam Broady beaten in boys' final
- Published
Liam Broady failed in his bid to become Britain's first winner of the Wimbledon boys' title since 1962 as he lost to Australia's Luke Saville in the final.
On a packed Court One, the 17-year-old left-hander from Stockport was beaten 2-6 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 42 minutes.
A rash of errors from Saville helped Broady take the first set before his big-hitting opponent fought back.
Broady lost 11 points in a row as the second set slipped away and he could not turn the tide in the decider.
"During the whole match I didn't serve my best," a disappointed Broady said afterwards.
"He managed to break me at the start of the second set and started to serve better himself, and the match just slipped away. He upped his game and I played a few slack points."
His defeat means Stanley Matthews Jr, son of the England footballer, remains the last home boys' winner in 1962.
Broady had plenty of support from a noisy crowd, who were hoping to enjoy some British success following the disappointment of Andy Murray's defeat by Rafael Nadal in the semi-final of the men's singles on Friday.
"The crowd were probably one of the best things today, my tennis wasn't," he added.
"It was a fantastic experience. They got behind me and helped me and made me fight."
Initially he outmanoeuvred Saville, who paid the price for some wild shots in a one-sided first set.
Broady, playing some punchy forehands, also went a break up at the start of a topsy-turvy second set but Saville's improving groundstrokes saw him reply instantly as he began to put pressure on the Briton's serve.
From 4-3 up, Broady collapsed, and he was broken to love with a double-fault before quickly finding himself at 0-40 in his next service game.
He saved two of those set-points with big serves but netted a forehand on the third.
Broady looked rattled when Saville broke again to go 3-1 up in the decider, although he did force two break-back points at 2-4.
Both of those escaped him, the latter when Saville recovered to win a thrilling rally, and the Australian went on to dismantle his serve again, sealing his victory with a smash.
Broady suffered another defeat later on Saturday, when he and his Slovakian partner Filip Horansky were beaten 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in the semi-finals of the boys' doubles by Britain's George Morgan and his Croatian partner Mate Pavic.
Morgan and Pavic will face another Briton, Oliver Golding, and Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic in the final after the top seeds beat Spanish duo Andre Artunedo Martinavarr and Roberto Carballes Baena 7-5 7-6 (7-5).
- Published4 July 2011
- Published30 June 2011