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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Majendie

Wimbledon 2023: Andy Murray to face Ryan Peniston in all-British opener

Andy Murray will begin his bid for a long run at Wimbledon against fellow Briton Ryan Peniston in the opening round.

The British No3 opted to forego the French Open in a bid to prepare himself for Wimbledon and, while he failed in his quest to be seeded, he arrives at his home grand slam off the back of title wins on the grass in Surbiton and Nottingham.

Murray will be expected to come through his opener against Peniston on Tuesday but then faces a potentially tough second-round encounter against Stefanos Tsitsipas or else Dominic Thiem.

Cameron Norrie also faces an arduous task to emulate his run to the semi-finals 12 months ago. He takes on a debutant in 22-year-old Czech player Tomas Machac in his first match but is then seeded to play Sebastian Korda, who knocked him out in the quarter-finals of Queen’s earlier this month.

(REUTERS)

Daniil Medvedev, returning to the tournament after a U-turn over the ban on Russian players, is a prospective quarter-final opponent.

Medvedev faces another Briton in the opening round in Arthur Fery while Fery’s countryman and fellow debutant George Loffhagen is against No6 seed Holger Rune.

Of the other British men in the singles draw, Dan Evans opens against Quentin Halys while Liam Broady takes on Constant Lestienne and Jan Choinski meets Dusan Lajovic.

One of the picks of the first round sees Venus Williams, who was awarded a wildcard into the main draw at the age of 43, drawn against another wildcard in Elina Svitolina, the Ukrainian who reached the quarter-finals at the French Open and has been repeatedly outspoken over the ongoing Russian invasion of her country.

But No1 seed Iga Swiatek suffered a scare when she came down with food poisoning today.

Heather Watson, who enjoyed a run to the fourth round at last year’s tournament, faces a tough opener against former French Open champion Barbara Krejcikova, the No10 in her opener.

Katie Swan is also drawn against a seed in Belinda Becic while Nottingham Open champion Katie Boulter begins her Wimbledon bid versus Daria Saville and Jodie Burrage, beaten in that Nottingham final, takes on Caty McNally.

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