Bedene and Ward join the Brit-pack at SW19
GREAT Britain has four men in the second round at Wimbledon for the first time since 2006 after Aljaz Bedene and James Ward swept to victory last night.
Bedene scrapped past veteran Czech battler Radek Stepanek in five sets while Ward claimed a four-set victory over Italy’s lucky loser Luca Vanni, the duo joining Liam Broady and Andy Murray in round two at SW19.
The last time Britain had such a strong second-round men’s collective in south west London, Tim Henman and Andy Murray were flanked by Jamie Delgado, Martin Lee and Richard Bloomfield. Slovenia-born Bedene tasted his first Wimbledon victory after taking full British citizenship earlier this year, seeing off Stepanek 7-5, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
And just minutes after the 25-year-old had booked a second-round clash with Viktor Troicki, Ward completed his 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory over a visibly-flagging Vanni.
Stepanek might be in the latter throes of an illustrious career, but Bedene was always going to be in for a fight against an opponent once ranked No 8 in the world.
Last summer Stepanek dumped 2013 Wimbledon champion Murray out of the Queen’s Club tournament, so Bedene was right to approach this tie with caution.
Wildcard Ward has reached the second round at Wimbledon for the second time – and in light of Kyle Edmund’s defeat to Alexandr Dolgopolov earlier in the day may just have boosted his chances of selection for the forthcoming Davis Cup match with France.
Edmund lost out 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-2 to Ukraine’s Dolgopolov.
Ward will now face the winner of Jiri Vesey v Paolo Lorenzi in the second round.