Draper and Broady make it six of best

Heady days, these. Not since 2001 have six British men reached the second round of Wimbledon. and to think it could have been even rosier, had No 2 dan evans not crashed out to an australian qualifier ranked 66 places beneath him.

Or had Jay Clarke fought back against american Chris Harrison when their match resumed yesterday. alas, Clarke was beaten 7-6, 6-1, 7-6. That was a double dose of disappointment on an otherwise promising day. Jack draper and Liam Broady did join andy Murray, Cam Norrie, alastair Gray and Ryan Peniston in round two. evans, though, struggled to match former junior world No1 Jason Kubler, losing 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. ‘It’s not easy to take, but he was better than me,’ evans conceded. ‘That’s why they roll the balls out. If it was done on rankings, there would be no tournament.’ Broady, meanwhile, won a five-set tussle with world No 243 Lukas Klein over three and a half hours. The 28-year-old won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with 12th seed diego Schwartzman of argentina. draper’s Wimbledon debut last year saw him face Novak djokovic on Centre Court. This year, a more low-key introduction. But his 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 win over Belgium’s Zizou Bergs was the first of a very promising Grand Slam journey. ‘I know this is just a start, hopefully I can keep on going,’ the 20-year-old said. draper, the British No 4 and world No 94, now faces australian 19th seed alex de Minaur.

‘I come here confident,’ he added. ‘I’m ready to do some damage in this tournament. I believe in my ability. Let’s see how far I can go.’