Katie Boulter was the sole British winner at Wimbledon on a day affected by rain and protesters.
The British number one saw her match disrupted by the second Just Stop Oil incursion of the day on to Court 18 but it did not hamper Boulter, who won five points in a row when play resumed to take the first set against Daria Saville.
The pair had begun their match on Tuesday morning before rain intervened and picked it up again with Boulter 6-5 down in the opening set.
Having come through the tie-break against Australian Saville, who is working her way back from a serious knee injury, Boulter pulled away to win 7-6 (4) 6-2.
She said of the protest, which saw a man run on to the court and scatter confetti and jigsaw pieces: “It was obviously a little bit of a shock to the system. I think we both handled it really well. It’s a really unfortunate situation for everyone.”
Boulter’s good friend Jodie Burrage was the first British player in action in round two but her Centre Court debut ended rather too swiftly in a 6-0 6-2 loss to 11th seed Daria Kasatkina.
“It was a good experience,” she said. “Obviously not the result that I wanted. The first set was pretty brutal. But all in all, you dream to be out on Centre Court.”
Arthur Fery acquitted himself very well on his Wimbledon debut, pushing third seed Daniil Medvedev in an entertaining clash on Court One before going down 7-5 6-4 6-3.
The 20-year-old is likely to skip his final year of studies at Stanford University to turn professional, saying: “Experiences like I had today make me push towards going pro.
“I feel like it could be a pretty standard thing in the coming years to play in these tournaments on the big courts. I feel more and more ready as the years go by to switch to the pro career.”
Fellow wild card George Loffhagen was unable to quite match his first-set efforts on Tuesday as he fell to a 7-6 (4) 6-3 6-2 loss to sixth seed Holger Rune but the 22-year-old’s appetite has also been whetted.
“To just see guys like this, that you see on the TV all the time, it definitely gives you a lot of motivation to work hard and hopefully one day get here without wild cards or anything,” he said.
Heather Watson reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time here last year but she was also a first-round faller, beaten 6-2 7-5 by 10th seed Barbora Krejcikova.
“I feel like I was playing much better this year than I was last year,” said Watson. “It just happens with draws sometimes.”
Sonay Kartal was the final home singles player to make it out on to court and she was overpowered by 25th seed Madison Keys in a 6-0 6-3 defeat.
