Wimbledon: Cameron Norrie starts British charge with opening win

British number one Cameron Norrie beats Pablo Andujar 6-0 7-6 6-3

By Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Wimbledon 2022 on the BBC

Venue: All England Club Dates: 27 June-10 July

Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app.

Cameron Norrie began the British charge at Wimbledon by becoming the first home player to win after a rain-interrupted start to the opening day.

British men's number one Norrie, 26, played confidently in a 6-0 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win against Spain's Pablo Andujar.

Norrie, seeded ninth, is bidding to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Wildcard Jodie Burrage lost 6-2 6-3 in her opening match against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.

Both matches were interrupted by a rain shower which forced play to be suspended on the outside courts from 11:45 BST until it resumed shortly after 13:00.

Norrie was also made to wait to clinch his victory by a second downpour, which came after Andujar had saved three match points when trying to hold serve at 5-3.

After another break lasting more than an hour, Norrie took his fourth match point in the same game when he whipped a forehand winner down the line to the delight of the home support.

"That was not easy. I saw the dark clouds coming and someone shouted, 'get it done before the rain'. I was like 'come on, I'm trying to get it done'," laughed Norrie afterwards.

"A lot of waiting around and it wasn't the prettiest performance, but I got it done in straight sets and I'll take that and move on."

British wildcard Lily Miyazaki was edged out 4-6 6-1 7-6 (10-4) by France's former world number four Caroline Garcia.

Garcia will face another Briton in the second round in Emma Raducanu, after the US Open champion triumphed over Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck on Centre Court.

Andy Murray was the other British winner on the opening day, earning an encouraging victory over Australia's James Duckworth.

British women's number two Heather Watson and wildcard Jay Clarke must both return on Tuesday to finish their matches.

Watson, 30, levelled at 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 against Germany's Tamara Korpatsch before play stopped at 22:40 BST on Court One.

Clarke, playing on the outside court 18, was trailing 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 5-5 against American Christian Harrison when they finished because of bad light.

Nine British players were due to play on the opening day, although wildcards Ryan Peniston and Katie Swan had their matches cancelled and moved to Tuesday after the rain delays.

Jodie Burrage rushes to help unwell ball boy during defeat by Lesia Tsurenko

Norrie overcomes rain and resistance to reach round two

With Norrie being the highest-ranked home player and the first British man to be seeded in the top 10 since Andy Murray in 2017, it was quite surprising to see the left-hander not playing on Centre Court or Court One.

Instead he opened the day on the outside court two amid a low-key atmosphere.

Norrie raced through the opening set in 23 minutes against 36-year-old Andujar, who is a clay-court specialist and has only won three tour-level matches on grass.

However, Norrie was broken by the world number 100 at the start of the second before the pair were forced off court by the wet weather.

Shortly after they resumed, with brollies now protecting the players from the sunshine and not the rain, Norrie levelled at 2-2.

The atmosphere started to build and became celebratory when a tight set was decided by a strong tie-break from the Briton.

An early break in the third put Norrie further in command and, after saving a break point for a 4-2 lead, he finally broke Andujar's serve again after eight deuces to reach the second round.

Norrie will play another Spaniard, Jaume Munar, on Wednesday.

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