British number one Katie Boulter did not allow another Just Stop Oil protest to get in her way of a place in the second round at Wimbledon after a comfortable victory over Daria Saville.

Boulter was trailing 4-2 in the first-set tie-break when a protester ran on to Court 18 and threw orange confetti and jigsaw pieces just two hours after a first protest on the same court.

But after a small delay, Boulter won the following five points to claim the first set and then raced through the second set to claim a 7-6 (4) 6-2 win against her Australian opponent.

The 26-year-old is enjoying an impressive run, having won her maiden WTA Tour title in Nottingham at the start of the grass-court season, and as the highest ranked Briton she will have designs on a deep run at her home grand slam.

She had to do it the hard way, though, as she had to resume the match – that was suspended 28 hours earlier due to bad rain – serving to stay in the first set, but delivered a service hold to love.

But after just 10 points of the resumption, and trailing 4-2 in the tie-break, a protester ran onto court and play was suspended again.

Along with Saville, she helped the ground staff in the clean-up operation and the mini-break seemed to work wonders for her as she reeled off five successive points in the tie-break to claim the first set.

Four more followed as she won the first game of the second set to love and that set the tone for what turned out to be a comfortable afternoon.

She won four of the next six games before serving out an impressive victory.

A showcourt appearance will probably now lie in wait in her second round match against Bernarda Pera or Viktoriya Tomova.

Three people have been arrested after two protests disrupted tennis at Wimbledon on the tournament’s third day.

Two men and a woman, all wearing T-shirts with “Just Stop Oil” printed on them, have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage after throwing orange confetti and jigsaw puzzle pieces on to a court.

The two incidents occurred about two hours apart on Wednesday.

The first featured Deborah Wilde, 68, a retired teacher from London, and Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, a retired musician from Manchester, Just Stop Oil said.

It happened just after 2pm during a match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro.

The second disrupted play between British number one Katie Boulter and her opponent Daria Saville, both of whom helped clear the court after an activist was escorted away.

The Metropolitan Police tweeted after the latter protest: “We are aware of an incident on Court 18 whereby one male has unlawfully entered the field of play and discharged items onto the playing surface.

“He was immediately removed from the Grounds and arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage.”

Wimbledon said on Twitter after the first stoppage: “Following an incident on Court 18, two individuals have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage and these individuals have now been removed from the Grounds.”

British number one Katie Boulter will play mixed doubles with Australian boyfriend Alex De Minaur at Wimbledon.

The pair are one of the highest-profile couples in tennis and, having supported each other court-side on many occasions, they will now be on the same side of the net for the first time.

Boulter and De Minaur, who will face Australian duo Storm Hunter and John Peers in the first round, are not the only off-court couple in the draw.

World number five Stefanos Tsitsipas and Spain’s Paula Badosa, who recently made their relationship public, are also playing together and will take on top seeds Austin Krajicek and Jessica Pegula.

Other notable pairings are all-British duos Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury and Jodie Burrage and Lloyd Glasspool, while Jamie Murray will play with American Taylor Townsend.

Britain’s Neal Skupski and American Desirae Krawczyk, meanwhile, are bidding for their third successive title.

Jodie Burrage admitted nerves got the better of her on her Centre Court debut as she tumbled out of Wimbledon in front of David Beckham.

Former England captain Beckham watched from the Royal Box as Britain’s Burrage was routed 6-0 6-2 by Russian 11th seed Daria Kasatkina.

“It was a good experience. Obviously not the result that I wanted. The first set was pretty brutal,” said Burrage, 24.

“But all in all, you dream to be out on Centre Court. When I found out yesterday, it’s so exciting.

“In the same breath, you’ve got to deal with those nerves as well. I wish I could have settled a little bit earlier today. But you’ve got to go through these experiences to feel more comfortable in the next ones.

“So, yeah, it was a tough day, but also one of my dreams come true.”

Burrage arrived on court with high hopes after reaching the Nottingham final last month and then knocking out Caty McNally on Monday for her first win at a grand slam and a likely place in the top 100.

But she found herself staring down the barrel of a humiliating ‘double-bagel’ in the second round after dropping the first set without winning a game in 19 chastening minutes.

Kasatkina held again at the start of the second before Burrage finally got on the board, raising her arms in mock celebration in front of the Royal Box.

Bear Grylls, also watching from the posh seats, would have enjoyed the survival skills on display as Burrage went on to clinch a break of serve to lead 2-1.

But she was unable to hold serve before a rain delay and, despite some admirable resistance upon the resumption, Kasatkina clinically closed out the match in exactly one hour.

“I mean, having the people who were in that box out there watching you. I actually didn’t see who was in there,” added Burrage.

“When you’re on the court, it’s hard to see who is in there. You don’t want to really look and stare.

“Then during the rain delay, they obviously had the cameras around, and in the room we’re in I obviously saw David Beckham was announced. ‘Oh my God, David Beckham is watching me play tennis right now’. And I was at 6-0, 2-2.”

Arthur Fery showed his potential on his Wimbledon debut despite a straight-sets loss to third seed Daniil Medvedev.

The 20-year-old, ranked 391, matched his illustrious opponent in the first set before a rain delay disrupted things and eventually fell to a 7-5 6-4 6-3 loss.

Fery has followed Cameron Norrie’s route to professional tennis by taking a scholarship to a US college – Stanford in his case – and is likely to decide later this year whether to complete his degree or pursue his sporting dreams immediately.

His natural touch and willingness to come to the net make him well suited to grass and he looked at home on Court One straight away after a rain shower delayed the start.

Fery, who has French parents but grew up in Wimbledon, won his opening two service games to love and forced a break point on the serve of Medvedev – playing his first match at the All England Club since 2021 after last year’s ban.

It was the Russian who made the first move with a break for 3-2 but Fery delighted the crowd by hitting straight back, prompting his excited father Loic – owner of French top division football club Lorient – to leap from his seat punching the air.

Fery held his own until 5-5 when rain again began to fall, calling into serious question the organisers’ decision not to close the roof.

Still it stayed open, and the delay did not help Fery as he dropped his serve on the resumption before Medvedev, who was returning from metres behind the baseline, clinched the opening set.

Listed at a generous 5ft 8in on the ATP website, Fery was giving away nearly a foot to his opponent and Medvedev began to make his longer levers count, drawing more errors from his young opponent.

The third seed was by a long way the highest-ranked player Fery, making his tour level debut, had ever faced, and he was bidding to defeat a top-100 player for the first time.

Medvedev saved a break point in a long service game at 1-2 in the second set before breaking Fery again, but back came the young Londoner.

The disappointment for Fery was that, having given himself a chance in the set by pulling back to 4-4, he was then broken again.

The 20-year-old recalled watching Medvedev’s US Open triumph in 2021 on his phone on the Tube while travelling back from a music festival, but he continued to do a good job of narrowing the gulf between them in the third set.

Medvedev was playing his part in that, too, with more errors than he would have liked but he succeeded in finding a way past Fery, who left the court to loud cheers.

Medvedev admitted he was unsure how he would be received, saying: “I was pretty nervous. I didn’t play here for two years.

“I didn’t know which reception I would get and it was unbelievable. I’m not loved everywhere for who I am, sometimes I get crazy on the court.

“It was an amazing feeling to be back here. I’m going to be loving my time here. Hopefully I can prolong it as long as possible.”

Two protesters have been arrested after disrupting Wimbledon by throwing orange-coloured confetti and jigsaw pieces on Court 18.

Tournament organisers announced on Twitter the pair were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage after running on to the court during a match between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro.

The Metropolitan Police said on Twitter that a man and a woman were in custody after the incident.

Just Stop Oil has named the activists as Deborah Wilde and Simon Milner-Edwards.

Wimbledon tweeted: “Following an incident on Court 18, two individuals have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage and these individuals have now been removed from the Grounds.

“Play on the court was temporarily paused and, following a suspension in play due to a rain delay, play is about to resume.”

The crowd jeered them before they were escorted away by security guards and police.

Grounds staff came on to pick the confetti and jigsaw pieces up while one member used a leafblower shortly before the rain started.

The protest happened as Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer held talks with police and sports chiefs to discuss how to prevent Just Stop Oil activists targeting flagship events.

The second Ashes Test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship have all been affected in recent months.

In a statement, Just Stop Oil said “we can’t leave it to the next generation to pick up the pieces”.

Deborah Wilde, 68, a retired teacher from London, ran on the court shortly after 2.10pm.

She said: “I’m just an ordinary grandmother in resistance to this Government’s policy of serving us new oil and gas licences. In normal circumstances this sort of disruption would be entirely unacceptable, but these aren’t normal circumstances.

“We’ve just had the hottest June on record, breaking the previous record by nearly a whole degree! We don’t need Hawk-eye to see that our Government issuing over 100 new fossil fuel licences is a very bad line-call.

“Forget strawberries and cream, scientists are warning of impending food shortages, mass displacement and war.

“We are facing new pandemics, economic inflation and increasingly authoritarian governments who will attempt to crush civil unrest.

“This is a crisis and it needs a crisis response. I want a safe future, not just for my grandchildren but for all children around the world and the generations to come.”

The other Just Stop Oil protester who invaded Court 18 was Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, a retired musician, from Manchester.

He revealed he brought the confetti into the grounds in a jigsaw box, but refused to say which gate he entered through.

Via the JSO statement, he said: “I’m here for my grandchildren and everybody else’s. I’m not prepared to let our politicians wreck everything and leave the next generation to pick up the pieces.

“The last thing I want to do is spoil people’s enjoyment of Wimbledon, but right now, on Centre Court, it’s humanity versus oil and gas – and the umpire is getting every call wrong.

“How long are we going to take this before we see a McEnroe-level meltdown?”

The protest did not disrupt proceedings too much as rain started falling shortly after.

The match resumed 45 minutes later.

Britain’s Jodie Burrage endured a nightmare Centre Court debut as she tumbled out of Wimbledon at the hands of Daria Kasatkina.

The 24-year-old arrived with high hopes after reaching the Nottingham final last month and then knocking out Caty McNally on Monday for her first win at a grand slam and a likely place in the top 100.

But she found herself staring down the barrel of a humiliating ‘double-bagel’ in the second round after dropping the first set without winning a game.

Burrage recovered her composure in the second set but Russian Kasatkina, the Eastbourne finalist and 11th seed, proved too strong in a resounding 6-0 6-2 victory.

The British number two was bound to be nervous on her first appearance on Centre Court, and unfortunately it showed.

She won just three points in the opening four games, double-faulting three times to give Kasatkina a 4-0 lead.

Burrage brought up a break point in the next but a slip on the baseline proved costly and before she knew it the first set was over in 19 chastening minutes.

Kasatkina held again at the start of the second before Burrage finally got on the board, raising her arms in mock celebration in front of David Beckham in the Royal Box.

Bear Grylls, also watching from the posh seats, would have enjoyed the survival skills on display as Burrage went on to clinch a break of serve to lead 2-1.

But she was unable to hold serve before a rain delay and, despite some admirable resistance upon the resumption, Kasatkina clinically closed out the match in exactly one hour.

Wimbledon became the latest major sporting event targeted by protesters after two people wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts ran on to Court 18 on the third day of the Championships.

The first-round match between Sho Shimabukuro and Grigor Dimitrov was suspended after two protesters got onto the grass court and threw orange confetti glitter on to the surface.

“Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the Wimbledon Tennis Championships,” a statement from the climate activists read.

“At around 14:10 two Just Stop Oil supporters ran on to Court 18, disrupting the match between Sho Shimabukuro and Grigor Dimitrov.

“The supporters threw environmentally-friendly orange confetti glitter and jigsaw pieces on to the courts, before being removed. Play was briefly delayed whilst marshals picked up the pieces.”

Deborah Wilde, 68, a retired teacher from London, who was one of the protesters who ran on the court, said: “I’m just an ordinary grandmother in resistance to this government’s policy of serving us new oil and gas licences. In normal circumstances this sort of disruption would be entirely unacceptable, but these aren’t normal circumstances.

“We’ve just had the hottest June on record, breaking the previous record by nearly a whole degree. We don’t need Hawk-eye to see that our government issuing over 100 new fossil fuel licences is a very bad line-call.

“Forget strawberries and cream, scientists are warning of impending food shortages, mass displacement and war. We are facing new pandemics, economic inflation and increasingly authoritarian governments who will attempt to crush civil unrest.

“This is a crisis and it needs a crisis response. I want a safe future, not just for my grandchildren but for all children around the world and the generations to come.”

The other Just Stop Oil protester who invaded Court 18 at Wimbledon was Simon Milner-Edwards, 66, a retired musician, from Manchester.

He said: “I’m here for my grandchildren and everybody else’s. I’m not prepared to let our politicians wreck everything and leave the next generation to pick up the pieces.

“The last thing I want to do is spoil people’s enjoyment of Wimbledon, but right now, on Centre Court, it’s humanity versus oil and gas – and the umpire is getting every call wrong.

“How long are we going to take this before we see a McEnroe-level meltdown?”

Wimbledon became the latest major sporting event targeted by protesters after two people wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts ran on to Court 18 on the third day of the Championships.

The first-round match between Sho Shimabukuro and Grigor Dimitrov was suspended after two protesters got onto the grass court and threw orange confetti glitter on to the surface.

“Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the Wimbledon Tennis Championships,” a statement from the climate activist read.

“At around 14:10 two Just Stop Oil supporters ran onto Court 18, disrupting the match between Sho Shimabukuro and Grigor Dimitrov.

“The supporters threw environmentally-friendly orange confetti glitter and jigsaw pieces onto the courts, before being removed. Play was briefly delayed whilst marshals picked up the pieces.”

Tournament organisers were presented with more scheduling headaches after another hour and a half was lost due to rain at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

All play on the outside courts was washed out just after midday on Tuesday, which led to 87 matches being scheduled on day three in a bid to clear the backlog of matches.

But more inclement weather arrived at 10.30am, just 30 minutes before play was due to get under way, meaning there was no action before 12.30pm.

The dark clouds were replaced with blue skies at lunchtime, but it is almost certain that a number of matches will be cancelled later in the day, leaving the tournament playing catch-up for the next few days.

There are still some matches that were initially scheduled for Monday that have yet to be played, while a number of matches that started on Tuesday also need to be finished.

Only eight matches were completed on Tuesday with all of the Centre Court and Court One schedule played under the roof.

Wimbledon organisers will try to play catch-up on day three after only eight matches were completed on a rain-soaked Tuesday.

Schedulers have had their work cut out devising an order of play for Wednesday, combining unplayed first-round matches with some second-round contests.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at what promises to be an exciting day’s action.

Jodie’s Centre stage

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Jodie Burrage’s reward for registering her first win at Wimbledon is opening up Centre Court’s schedule on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old was best known for her affiliation with the Percy Pig sweets after offering some to a stricken ball boy at last year’s event but it is her tennis that is attracting attention this year.

She will have it tough in the second round against 11th seed Daria Kasatkina, but she is playing with confidence after an excellent grass-court season and a partisan home crowd could help deliver one of her best career wins.

Brit watch

Burrage is one of seven home players in action in a packed schedule around the grounds. Youngster Arthur Fery gets the honour of opening Court One against Daniil Medvedev and Heather Watson follows in a tough assignment against 10th seed Barbora Krejcikova.

George Loffhagen will finish his match against Holger Rune, finding himself a set down after Tuesday’s play, while Katie Boulter completes her contest with Daria Saville that began 24 hours previously.

Jan Choinski is also scheduled to play his former doubles partner Hubert Hurkacz.

Clearing the backlog

It will have been a nightmare for tournament officials to plan, but punters will get value for money as the schedule is packed following Tuesday’s effective washout.

There are a host of first-round matches that have yet to even start, while all of Tuesday’s outside court matches need to be finished.

With 18 second-round clashes also due to get under way, some courts are set to host five matches should the weather stay fair.

Iga and Novak hoping for calm

Amid all the chaos of matches elsewhere, big hitters Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will be hoping to go about their business in serene fashion on Centre Court.

Women’s world number one Swiatek, in search of her first title at SW19, follows Burrage against Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, against whom she should have few problems.

Djokovic is seemingly invincible on Centre Court, unbeaten in the arena since the 2013 final against Andy Murray, and Australian Jordan Thompson seems unlikely to be the man who is going to end that record.

Match of the day

The rain robbed fans of a potential classic clash between fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem on Tuesday as the heavens opened midway through the second set.

They will return to finish on Wednesday and it is even more intriguing given Thiem won the opening set on his first outing at SW19 since 2019.

Tsitsipas is hardly rich in pedigree on the grass having never gone past the fourth round.

Murray will be among those looking on with interest as he will face the winner in the second round.

Order of playWeather

Dan Evans admitted switching off from tennis for a little while would help him get over more first-round disappointment at Wimbledon.

The British number two exited SW19 at the first hurdle for a fifth time in eight main draw appearances following a 6-2 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-4 defeat to France’s Quentin Halys.

Evans was knocked out by Australian Jason Kubler in round one last year and quickly found himself in the familiar position of being two sets down at the All England Club on Monday, but had to return on Tuesday to complete his match.

Rain produced a further delay and when all of the outside court matches were cancelled, Evans saw his clash moved to Centre Court where he pulled a set back.

But there would be no late-night heroics with Halys able to clinch his place in the second round with a booming forehand winner.

“I think now it’s important to spend time with family, friends. Tennis won’t be on my agenda for a little while,” Evans reflected after an underwhelming grass-court campaign.

“You know, it’s been a long six months or seven months, whatever it is. It’s important to recharge and get ready for a good swing in America, which I enjoy, but it’s important to rest as well. Yeah, that’s all I’m really going to do for a bit and then start back up.

“I think it’s important to totally switch off now. You know, it’s important to step away sometimes, to live a bit of a normal life and get away from living out of a suitcase for a long time.”

World number 30 Evans was at a loss to explain his flat display on Monday against a player who only made his Wimbledon debut in 2022.

After waiting all day to begin his comeback quest, Evans edged a third-set tie-breaker, much to the delight of those still in attendance on Centre Court.

Break points had been hard to come by for the Birmingham right-hander and when he was presented with an opportunity in the seventh game of the fourth set, Evans sent his forehand long and Halys claimed victory with his first match point to inflict a seventh defeat in eight for the 33-year-old home favourite.

Evans added: “I have done nothing different, so yeah it’s disappointing, but, you know, they’re good players out there. I think everyone is guilty of having opinions on certain players you should beat, you shouldn’t beat.

“I think when the draw came out, I must have had that many messages saying, ‘Quentin Halys is a clay court player’. It’s very easy to overlook people.

“They’re all good players on the tour and you have to put them away, that’s what I try and do but if I’m losing, which I am at the minute, you know – I wouldn’t say I’ve hit a wall. It’s frustrating, it’s annoying, it’s whatever.

“But I’m not sure what else you can do. You’ve just got to keep competing. It is no good practising, I tried that. I tried to take Eastbourne off and took Nottingham off, and first round, first round, it’s incredibly frustrating.”

Having not dropped outside of the top-40 since 2020, Evans will hope to bounce back for the hard-court US swing in August.

He will have to spend some of the next few weeks working out his coaching team after splitting with Sebastian Prieto last month.

“I’ve got to look at that,” Evans acknowledged.

“You know, I’ll leave incredibly frustrated after tonight, to work hard and then serve a double at 30-all.

“But like I said previously, it’s important to switch off. When I feel it’s right, I’ll start thinking about it.”

Andy Murray brushed aside Ryan Peniston in front of his old rival Roger Federer while Cameron Norrie battled his way into round two at Wimbledon.

Federer, whose career had been celebrated with a short video prior to the start of play, and the Princess of Wales made sure they were back in their seats in the front row of the Royal Box in time for the first shot of the all-British clash between Murray and Peniston.

Playing his 15th Wimbledon campaign, equalling the British record for a man held by Jeremy Bates, Murray claimed his second most convincing win ever at the All England Club, beating Essex player Peniston 6-3 6-0 6-1.

Federer gave Murray a thumbs up for his performance and the Scot enjoyed competing in front of the man who was on the other side of the net for some of the most significant moments of his career.

“It’s obviously brilliant to have him around the event,” said Murray. “I’m sure he will be around the sport a lot. I know he loves tennis.

“I didn’t find it strange. It was nice to have him there. I think (Pete) Sampras has sat up there and watched Roger and Rafa (Nadal). I’ve sat and Rod Laver has been at a bunch of matches at the Australian Open.”

Murray can relax on Wednesday while he waits to find out who he plays in round two, with Dominic Thiem a set up on fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas when rain intervened.

British number one Norrie also benefited from playing under cover, returning to the scene of last year’s memorable triumphs for a 6-3 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory over Czech qualifier Tomas Machac on Court One.

“It was a lot of fun coming out to that court, so special, a lot of good memories there,” said the 12th seed. “It was really fun to come out and see the audience and just good sensations.

“I played, I reckon, a really good match, with some normal drops in there, but a lot to learn from and take from that match. But a good day and nice to get the win.”

Dan Evans was a late addition to the Centre Court schedule to complete his match against France’s Quentin Halys.

Evans, seeded 27th but having a torrid season, was two sets down after a poor start to the contest on Court Two on Monday.

He rallied under the roof, winning the third set against the big-serving Frenchman, but was unable to force a decider, losing out 6-2 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-4.

“Yesterday I wasn’t very good at all,” said Evans. “I have to give him credit. He played very well, and it’s frustrating, but that’s why I have to keep coming back and putting my game on the court, competing.”

The other British players scheduled all fell foul of the bad weather, with Katie Boulter and debutant George Loffhagen the only two to make it on to court.

New British number one Boulter was 5-6 down to Australian Daria Saville when the rain came while 22-year-old Loffhagen was edged out 7-4 in a first-set tie-break by sixth seed Holger Rune.

Cameron Norrie reaped the benefits of not being Wimbledon’s rain man as he got his campaign up and running with a four-set victory over Tomas Machac.

The 27-year-old dropped the second set but went on to record a 6-3 4-6 6-1 6-4 win over the tricky Czech youngster under the roof on Court One.

While play on the outside courts was virtually wiped out due to persistent rain, Norrie is safely into round two – unlike the vast majority of his rivals.

Last year Norrie had to deal with two rain delays as he eventually beat first-round opponent Pablo Andujar, but as the 12th seed and British number one – and a semi-finalist last year – he has earned the right to play on the show courts and stay in the dry.

“Yeah that’s, for me, such a big advantage – to win, first of all, and to finish my match and know that I’m going to play,” he said.

“I looked at the weather this morning and I knew it was raining. (But) I knew I could plan as per usual to play.

“Yeah, it’s difficult. There are some guys still in the first round, and I was obviously fortunate enough to play, which is a big thanks to the club.

“I felt that I earned the right to play on that court, and I was able to hit on that court before I played, so I think that was a good advantage as well.

“So, yeah, it was nice to be through in four tough sets. He made it really tricky for me. He played great, I thought.”

Machac, ranked 108 in the world, was making his Wimbledon debut and playing the first Tour level match on grass of his career.

But nevertheless the 22-year-old was a dangerous first-round opponent who beat Norrie’s compatriot Dan Evans in the Davis Cup and took Novak Djokovic to a deciding-set tie-break earlier this year.

There was no drama for Norrie in the opening set, though, as he secured a break for 3-2 and another to wrap it up.

The 12th seed is still sporting the tape on his knee that he wore throughout Queen’s, but whatever the issue is it was not bothering him unduly.

However, things unravelled in the second with Norrie twice pointing an accusatory finger at the grass after misreading the bounce of the ball and dumping forehands into the net before Machac levelled the match.

But Norrie got back on track in the third, securing a double break to take the set in just 24 minutes.

He retrieved an early break in the fourth with a forehand which left a flagging Machac in a heap on the baseline.

Further break points went back and forth but it was Norrie who made one stick to complete an encouraging victory in two hours and 32 minutes.

Dan Evans suffered more Wimbledon disappointment after he exited the tournament in the first round for the second year in a row.

World number 30 Evans had started his match with Quentin Halys on Monday and quickly found himself two sets down, but had to wait until Tuesday to try and mount a comeback.

Rain from lunchtime onwards on day two forced a further delay before his tie was eventually moved to Centre Court and despite winning the third set, Evans exited 6-2 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-4.

Evans had been scheduled to be second up on Court Two on Tuesday but the wet weather arrived just after midday and subsequently saw all play on the outside courts cancelled for the day.

The British number two was made to wait before he was switched to Centre Court after women’s second seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Panna Udvardy in 62 minutes – allowing him to complete his round one match on the big stage under the roof.

Pumped up in front of a decent-sized home crowd, Evans watched his French opponent Halys take an early tumble in the third game of set three.

Halys grimaced in pain after he twisted his left ankle and would later call for the trainer, but he was fine to resume as the set stayed on serve.

The nip-and-tuck nature of the match extended into a tie-break and a backhand into the net from Halys saw Evans force a fourth set.

Break points were still hard to come by for the Birmingham right-hander, playing in the main draw for an eighth time, but an opportunity finally presented itself in the seventh game.

Evans wheeled off three points in a row after trailing 30-0 but his attempted forehand winner down the line landed long and his French opponent held after a super drop shot was combined with a fine winner behind the baseline.

It felt decisive and proved to be with Halys able to book his place in the second round on his first match point with a booming forehand winner to inflict another early exit on Evans, who has now lost seven of his last eight matches.