Jodie Burrage notches first win for British women and breaks Wimbledon duck
Jodie Burrage made it third time lucky as she registered her first Wimbledon win by beating American Caty McNally.
British wild card Burrage had suffered first-round exits in the previous two years at SW19.
But the 24-year-old, who reached the final of the Nottingham Open last month, swept aside world number 67 McNally 6-1 6-3 to march into the second round.
Victory also means Burrage has likely broken into the top 100 for the first time.
McNally was clearly hindered by a problem with her right thigh, which was heavily strapped.
Ruthless Burrage broke her three times as she wrapped up the first set in only 22 minutes.
McNally received treatment on her thigh at the changeover and instantly improved, forcing a break after Burrage stopped to challenge a call which had clearly hit the baseline.
But Burrage hit back with a double break, and converted a match point at the sixth time of asking to wrap up victory in an hour and four minutes.
Earlier, Harriet Dart became the first British casualty at Wimbledon after she lost in three sets to Frenchwoman Diane Parry.
The British number four had an impressive build-up to her home grand slam, reaching the quarter-finals in Nottingham and Birmingham, but fell 6-7 (4) 6-0 6-4 to Parry.
Dart, who reached the third round here in 2019, was up against it from the start in tricky conditions on Court 12, where the wind was causing issues, as she fell 3-0 down in the opening set.
But she found her feet and levelled at 5-5 after an impressive long rally ended in her firing a superb cross-court backhand winner.
That seemed to turn the tide as Dart went on take the set in a tie-break and the Briton would have been eyeing a straight-sets win.
But the wheels soon came off as Parry raised her level with some heavy forehand hitting and breezed to the second set in just 33 minutes without letting Dart win a game.
The writing was on the wall when Parry broke early in the decider to take a 3-1 lead, but to Dart’s credit she immediately hit back to stay in the match.
However, the world number 96 struck again at 5-4 to clinch her place in the second round and send the first home hope packing.
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