Support truly
independent journalism
Wild card Lily Miyazaki won only 19 points as she suffered a rapid straight-sets defeat to world number 12 Daria Kasatkina at the start of a colossal day of British tennis at Wimbledon.
The Tokyo-born player had already more than doubled her prize money for the year after earning £93,000 by breezing past German Tamara Korpatsch to reach the second round of the Championships for the first time.
But Eastbourne champion Kasatkina proved a step too far and cruised to a crushing 6-0 6-0 success in just 50 minutes.
Miyazaki later bounced back with victory alongside compatriot Emily Appleton in the women’s doubles – beating Chinese pair Wang Xiyu and Zhu Lin 3-6 6-2 7-6 (9) – to end the day with mixed emotions.
“I definitely went through highs and lows of sport today,” she said.
“After the singles, I was obviously quite upset because it was quite a heavy defeat.
“I guess I’m not used to playing at that level. When I got on to the court I was a little bit nervous. I never really settled in.
“Then when you have those nerves, your feet don’t really get going. Your arm is quite tight as well. I don’t think I managed to play well. But then again she’s a great player, and it makes it really tricky. It was just really tough.”
World number 148 Miyazaki was made to wait for her latest moment in the spotlight after wet weather on Wednesday contributed in pushing the match back a day.
She arrived on court to a ripple of applause and as the warm-up act for mouthwatering all-British encounters between Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart and Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie, in addition to Andy and Jamie Murray’s headline spot in the men’s doubles.
A landmark victory always looked a big ask for the 28-year-old and she nervously began with a double-fault en route to losing the opening 10 points.
She was quickly staring down the barrel of a swift exit and, despite going 30-0 up on Kasatkina’s serve at 5-0 down, surrendered the opening set to her Russian opponent inside 20 minutes.
Kasatkina, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2018, underlined her grass-court credentials with last week’s title success at the Rothesay International at Devonshire Park.
The 27-year-old showed little sign of easing up and ruthlessly continued her march towards round three with a dominant display.
Miyazaki finally earned an opportunity to avoid a double bagel at advantage in game three of the second set but eventually lost it with another double fault as a one-sided contest slipped away.
“I’m happy I managed to get the win in doubles, coming through such a close match in the end,” she added.
“I had my team around me at lunch. They kind of took my mind off of the singles, and I managed to focus on the doubles. It was nice to go out on the court again and try a few things out.”
