First-round woe for Mimi on bad day for Brit stars

MIMI Xu joined the list of early British casualties as she suffered a first-round singles defeat on Wimbledon’s opening day.

- 

The Welsh teenager was beaten in three sets by Australia’s Daria Kasatkina.

Xu lost the first set 6-2, but hit back in superb fashion to force a decider as she won the second set 6-3.

But former French Open semi-finalist Kasatkina upped her level in the final set, taking it 6-2 to move into the last 64 of the women’s singles.

Cameron Norrie was a shock first-round casualty.

The British number one, a former semi-finalist, was beaten in a final-set tie-break by American qualifier Michael Zheng after a four-hour marathon on Court Two.

Britain’s hopes of any singles success this year looked set to rest solely on Norrie’s shoulders after Jack Draper's withdrawal from the Championships, coming a day after Emma Raducanu also pulled out.

But the South Africa-born left-hander arrived at SW19 in poor form, on a five-match losing streak and without a win on grass in 2026.