British aces avoid seeds at Wimbers

BRITISH hopes at Wimbledon will be high after an encouraging draw for the home players.

Remarkably, of the 17 British representatives in the men’s and women’s singles, not one drew a seeded player in the first round.

Tenth seed Emma Raducanu, who is hopeful of overcoming a side strain in time, faces one of the trickier draws against experienced Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck.

The 19-year-old could set up an all-british clash in the second round against wild card Yuriko Miyazaki, who has a tough test against France’s Caroline Garcia.

Andy Murray is unseeded and battling an abdominal strain but avoided the big names, drawing Australian James Duckworth in round one, with 20th seed John Isner a likely second-round opponent.

Ninth seed Cameron Norrie will open against Spanish veteran Pablo Andujar, while number 28 seed Dan Evans drew Australian qualifier Jason Kubler. Nick Kyrgios is a firstround opponent for Britain’s Paul Jubb.

Of the other home players, Jack Draper takes on Belgian wild card Zizou Bergs, while Katie Boulter and Ryan Peniston, who have also both been in excellent form on the grass, meet Clara Burel and Henri Laaksonen, respectively.

Heather Watson faces German Tamara Korpatsch, Harriet Dart meets Spain’s Rebeka Masarova, Katie Swan and Jodie Burrage both take on Ukrainians in Marta Kostyuk and Lesia Tsurenko, respectively, Liam Broady plays Lukas Klein, of Slovakia, and Jay Clarke faces American Christian Harrison.

Top seed Novak Djokovic begins his quest for a seventh title and fourth in a row against South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo, while second seed Rafael Nadal, who is making his first appearance since 2019, takes on Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.

The returning Serena Williams also avoided the seeds, drawing 113th-ranked Frenchwoman Harmony Tan for what will be her first singles match since suffering a hamstring injury in the first round last year.