Bedene is best of nomads

IT WAS the battle of the nomads, the men who had changed allegiance and, in one case, changed it back. At one point, it would have been a battle of the Britons.

Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene came to England for tennis and took citizenship in 2015 only to quit and revert back to playing for the country of his birth two years later, after being denied a Davis Cup place. He was taking on Cameron Norrie, the South African-born player who was brought up in New Zealand by a Scottish father and a Welsh mother.

It was Bedene who looked more comfortable in SW19 and triumphed 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a nip-and-tuck contest as the evening shadows gathered on Court 14 at the All England Club last night. Bedene’s greater accuracy and steadier nerve proved too much for the more flamboyant but error-prone Norrie, left.

Bedene is ranked 71 in the world, while Norrie, the current British No 2, is ranked 75 – and it really was that close over the two hours and 49 minutes of combat. Norrie, aiming to reach the second round of a Grand Slam for the second time running after getting that far at the French Open, was edged out – serving only eight aces to Bedene’s 17, and hitting 32 winners to the Slovenian’s 44.

Bedene, 28, has only once ventured beyond the second round at Wimbledon in five previous attempts but in the end knew just a little bit too much for the 22-year-old.

Just as it was for Norrie, yesterday proved a heartbreaking day for Liam Broady, who went down 7-5, 6-0, 6-1 on No 1 Court to 13th seed Milos Raonic and was simply overpowered by the Canadian’s venomous serve.

Broady, one of two British men to receive a wild card along with Jay Clarke, matched Raonic until 5-5 in the opening set but 11 games in a row for the Canadian put him in control and he eased to victory.