Wimbledon: Heather Watson celebrates 'emotional' win over Tamara Korpatsch (2024)

Britain's Heather Watson celebrated an emotional victory at Wimbledon as she returned to beat Tamara Korpatsch following a "disaster" last year.

Watson had levelled at a set apiece before her match was halted as the 23:00 BST curfew approached on Monday.

The British number four, 30, was clinical on the resumption on Court One on Tuesday, winning 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 6-2.

However, 28th seed Dan Evans suffered a first-round exit as he lost in straight sets to Australian Jason Kubler.

Evans, 32, fell to a 6-1 6-4 6-3 defeat against the 99th-ranked Kubler.

Last year, on the same court at SW19, Watson had missed a match point as she fell to lucky loser Kristie Ahn.

She became tearful during her on-court interview after beating Korpatsch, saying: "I had a bit of a disaster match last year on this court, losing with match point, so I really wanted to turn it around and get a win this year. I'm just so happy.

"These are the moments you dream of as a little girl. I don't know why I'm getting emotional," added Watson, who plays China's Wang Qiang next.

"I think I've had a couple of really rough years, like so many people have. This means a lot."

Watson later added that she is on her period this week - the impact of which has affected her performance in the past.

In all, six Britons progressed on Tuesday, taking the total number of home players in the second round to nine - the most since 1997.

That could yet become 10 on Wednesday - the most since 1984 - after Harriet Dart's first-round match against Spaniard Rebeka Masarova was postponed.

Wildcard Ryan Peniston, who overcame a rare cancer as a child, progressed on his Wimbledon debut by beating Swiss world number 95 Henri Laaksonen 6-4 6-3 6-2. He will meet American Steve Johnson next.

Meanwhile, Jack Draper, 20, defeated Belgian Zizou Bergs 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to set up a second-round meeting with Australian 19th seed Alex de Minaur.

Paul Jubb, making only his second Wimbledon appearance, lost a five-set thriller to Australian Nick Kyrgios, who later admitted to spitting towards a "disrespectful" spectator.

Liam Broady triumphed in five sets against Slovak Lukas Klein, with his 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 victory securing a meeting with Argentine 12th seed Diego Schwartzman.

Fellow wildcards Katie Boulter and Alastair Gray both recorded straight-set wins, with Boulter beating Clara Burel 7-5 6-3 and Gray prevailing 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-3) against Tseng Chun-hsin.

Katie Swan, Sonay Kartal and Jay Clarke were unable to reach the second round.

Swan lost in three sets to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, going out 4-6 6-4 6-4, while Kartal, 20, was beaten 6-4 3-6 6-1 by Dutch lucky loser Lesley Pattinama-Kerkhove.

Clarke lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 7-6 (8-6) to American Christian Harrison in a match that was halted at 5-5 in the third set on Monday because of bad light.

Evans had reached the third round on each of his past three Wimbledon main-draw appearances - but the Briton could simply not find a way through against Kubler.

The Australian dominated the opening set before edging a much closer second, in which Evans had three break-point opportunities.

And there was to prove no let-up from the unwavering Kubler, who wrapped up a convincing victory with a second break in the third set to prematurely end Evans' challenge.

"It's not easy to take, but he was better than me," said Evans. "It hurts. You always want to do well here, I've done well here in the past. But the facts are I lost and he was too good."

Draper, a 2018 Wimbledon junior finalist, reached the semi-finals at Eastbourne last week and brought that form into his opener as he progressed with minimal fuss.

The 20-year-old took both the opening two sets with a single break of serve, though he was forced to withstand three set points in the third before edging the tie-break with his second match point.

One of four British wildcards to progress on Tuesday, Boulter, ranked 118th, reached the second round for the second successive year.

The 25-year-old recovered after falling 3-0 down in the opening set against world number 95 Burel and sealed victory in style by winning four successive games to close out the second.

Broady's day proved far trickier. Having turned the match around by claiming the second and third sets, Klein dominated a fourth-set tie-break to force a decider.

But the 28-year-old world number 132 was able to take his fourth break point of game six in the final set, and he held his nerve with two assured holds of serve to come through the three-and-a-half-hour encounter.

Making his Grand Slam debut, Gray pulled off the biggest win of his career as he overcame the 2018 junior champion Tseng.

Gray, the second lowest-ranked player in the men's draw, had not played above Challenger Tour level prior to his Wimbledon bow, but pulled off a straight-set win which he confirmed by winning the final five points in the third-set tie-break.