Four Britons make Wimbledon third round for first time in 20 years
Written by News on 06/07/2017
Four British tennis players have made it through to the third round of Wimbledon for the first time this century.
Defending champion Andy Murray, Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene all won their matches on the third day of play at SW19.
Four British players last made it to the final 32 in 1997.
Murray said it showed what could be achieved by the nation’s sports stars.
He said: "Aim as high as you can. Like why not try and get five, six players into the quarterfinals of slams? Why not?
"Like, it’s better to set the goal as high as possible and fall a little bit short than go, ‘Yeah, we’re delighted with five or six players in the second or third round of a slam.’
"It’s not to say that getting to the third round isn’t good, but some of the players, like Kyle and Heather and Jo, they’re capable of doing more than that.
"So let’s aim to try and go further."
The performance of Konta and Watson gave British women’s tennis its best showing at the All England Club Championships in more than 30 years.
The last time two British women made it to the third round was in 1986.
Murray eased through his match against Germany’s Dustin Brown 6-3 6-2 6-2.
Konta had a scare against Croatia’s Donna Vekic, eventually coming through 7-6, 4-6, 10-8.
Unseeded Watson – the former British number one – beat the No 18 seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-0 6-4, and Bedene beat Damir Dzumhur 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-3.
(c) Sky News 2017: Four Britons make Wimbledon third round for first time in 20 years
