Wild card Lily Miyazaki beaten 6-0 6-0 at start of big day for British tennis
Eastbourne champion Daria Kasatkina cruised to a crushing success in 50 minutes.
![Lily Miyazaki endured a tough morning on Court 18 (Aaron Chown/PA)](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/07/04/12/4d5b2c096232e80be616b52c40f58256Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzIwMTc3Mjk5-2.76746420.jpg)
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Louise Thomas
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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.”
![Britain’s Lily Miyazaki ended day four of Wimbledon with mixed emotions (Aaron Chown/PA)](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/07/04/18/739033b0e4aed2b65904bc50b2b3f525Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzIwMjAwODUz-2.76746425.jpg)
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.
![Daria Kasatkina, right, shakes hands with Lily Miyazaki (Aaron Chown/PA)](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/07/04/12/e986d3ce8eafbcdbec75fc2af9f58458Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzIwMTc3Njk5-2.76746419.jpg)
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.”
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