I’m waiting for someone to pinch me – Peniston
RYAN Peniston is still pinching himself after making his belated Wimbledon debut. The 26-year-old wild card, from Southend, a virtual unknown until his run to the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club last month, beat Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on a packed Court 12 for a maiden grand slam win.
He said: “To be honest, I was chatting with my coach, Mark Taylor, yesterday and I was kind of saying I’m waiting for someone to pinch me and wake up back in May sometime. I’m just loving every second of it.”
Peniston is a self-confessed late bloomer after overcoming a rare cancer as a baby which affected his growth as a teenager.
“I didn’t start growing until I was 15 or 16,” he added. “I was always about a foot smaller than my peers.
“They all were growing and getting bigger serves and everything. I was struggling just trying to run around.
“It made me definitely tougher as a player and a person I think. Yeah, it’s a blessing in disguise really.”
An impressive defensive display, which earned him £78,000 for reaching round two, saw left-hander Peniston register just 18 unforced errors to Laaksonen’s 44, while he secured six service breaks including one in the opening game.
The players exchanged breaks early in the third set before Peniston wrapped up victory with a further two breaks to book a meeting with American Steve Johnson.
Peniston’s fellow Briton Paul Jubb was involved in a thrilling five-setter with Nick Kyrgios, but could not pull off a shock as he suffered a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 loss.
The British number eight reeled off the opening set in 23 minutes, while his eccentric opponent hinted at implosion when he blasted a tennis ball out of Court Three.
It took a mixture of big-serving and an array of glorious winners to send Kyrgios through after three hours and five minutes, with a sprinkle of trademark chatter with line judges and spectators thrown in for good measure.
Jack Draper marked a significant milestone with what is likely to be the first of many slam victories.
Having drawn another in-form player in Belgian Zizou Bergs, champion at the recent second-tier Challenger tournament in Ilkley, but Draper fought off three set points in the third set to claim a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory on Court 12.
Alastair Gray also surged through in three sets with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Tseng Chun-Hsin.
Heather Watson reached round two of the women’s event after she finished the job against Tamara Korpatsch on Court One, winning 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-2 in a match that was carried over from Monday night.
However, Bristol-born Katie Swan went down 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk despite taking the opening set.
■ Andy Murray threw in an underarm serve as he overcame a stiff examination of his form and fitness to get his Wimbledon campaign up and running on Monday night.
The former world number one had faced a race against time to recover from an abdominal strain in time to play at SW19, but the injury did not seem to be an issue – although match sharpness probably was – after Murray was broken twice on his way to dropping the first set against unseeded James Duckworth.
Murray was soon motoring again, though, as he wrapped up a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory, with a cheeky underarm serve – only the second of his career – thrown in for good measure.
“He changed his return position, that’s why I did it,” Murray explained. “He was struggling a little bit on the first-serve return, so he stepped probably two metres further back. As soon as I saw him step further back, I threw the underarm serve in.”
The tactic is a controversial one, but Murray insists underarm is not underhand.
“I personally have no issue with players using it. I never have,” he added. “No one says it’s disrespectful for someone to return from five or six metres behind the baseline to try to get an advantage. So I used it, not to be disrespectful, but to say ‘If you’re going to step back to give yourself more time, I’m going to exploit that’.”
Murray next plays American 20th seed John Isner.