Wimbledon 2016: Tara Moore beats Alison van Uytvanck to reach round two
- Published
British wildcard Tara Moore reached the Wimbledon second round with her first victory at a Grand Slam.
Moore, the world 227, beat Alison van Uytvanck 6-3 6-2 to become the fourth Briton into round two.
The British number four joins Andy Murray, Dan Evans and world 772 Marcus Willis in progressing.
British number one Johanna Konta led 6-1 2-1 against Monica Puig before rain suspended her match, which will resume on Wednesday.
Heather Watson, who reached the third round last year, will start her Wimbledon campaign on Wednesday after her match was also delayed by rain.
Earlier, British men's number two Aljaz Bedene was knocked out by seventh seed Richard Gasquet and fellow Briton Katie Swan was beaten on her Wimbledon debut.
'Hard graft' pays off for Moore
Moore, facing a player ranked 100 places above her, broke the Belgian's serve in the eighth game before serving out the opening set in the following game.
The 23-year-old then dominated the second set to win in just 71 minutes, dropping only five games against a player who reached the French Open quarter-finals in 2015.
Moore will face Russian two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in round two.
"It's amazing," said Moore, who was born in Hong Kong and moved to the UK as a teenager.
"Who would have thought before the grass season that I'd be where I am right now? I'm really grateful to the All England Club for giving me this opportunity.
"I've definitely put in a lot of graft and I think it's paying off finally. I'm just really happy."
Gasquet outclasses Bedene
Bedene came into Wimbledon on the back of his best Grand Slam performance after reaching the third round at the French Open last month.
He faced a tough opponent, however, in the world number 10 and Gasquet outclassed Bedene for much of the match with a typically stylish performance.
Gasquet, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in last year's semi-finals, raced into a 4-1 lead, and despite Bedene breaking the Gasquet serve to recover to 4-3, the Frenchman claimed the opening set.
Bedene had seven break points during the match but managed to take just one with Gasquet saving some of his best tennis for the crucial points.
Gasquet's single-handed backhand is regarded as one of the best in the game and he hit 16 backhand winners on his way to victory.
"Honestly I missed too many shots or just went to his better shot like the backhand instead of his forehand," Bedene said.
"On previous days I felt better in training but just today when I woke up I felt like something's wrong."
Teenager Swan beaten on debut
Katie Swan lost 6-2 6-3 on her Grand Slam debut against Hungary's Timea Babos, the world number 44.
The 17-year-old British wildcard reached the junior final at the 2015 Australian Open.
Swan, who is from Bristol but based with her family in the United States, is ranked at 437 as she makes her way in the professional game.
"It's really good for me to have experienced that because I wasn't playing my best level but I was still competing with her and I had chances to do better than I did," she said.
"She's top 50 and I can compete with her. That's definitely a good confidence boost for me."
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