Wimbledon is just not used to this kind of thing. On the hottest opening day in the history of the championships, with the temperature reaching 32.3C, British players sizzled with a record seven recording victories, the highest number on any day in the open era, beating the previous record of six.
Sonay Kartal got the ball rolling with a brilliant 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win against the former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and more than seven hours later Katie Boulter set the new mark, beating that achieved on day two in 2022, with an equally impressive 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win against the former world No 2 Paula Badosa.
