British qualifier Tarvet into Wimbledon second round

Oliver Tarvet, a British qualifier, defeated Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round, making his Wimbledon debut.

Tarvet, 21, is the first British man to achieve that position since 2017 and is ranked 733rd in the world after three rounds of qualifying.

With his victory, Carlos Alcaraz, the defending Wimbledon champion, will next face the world’s number two.

There are a lot of emotions, Tarvet said to BBC Sport, “just really overjoyed.” It is obvious that my efforts over the past few years have paid off.

It’s just a dream come true for me to compete in a tour-level event, and to qualify, win a first-round match, have a chance to play Carlos on Wednesday.

As crowds gathered around the edges for his match against fellow qualifier Riedi, who is ranked 506th in the world but was 117th as recently as August last year, Tarvet’s underdog story ensured there was plenty of interest in his match on court four.

In a sparse opening few games, Tarvet got the crucial break in the ninth before turning to his serve to take the first set.

As Tarvet battled to break Riedi early in the second, his Swiss opponent became more and more frustrated as he struggled to break the Briton’s serve and lost the second set.

After more than two hours of playing tennis at temperatures over 30C, Riedi sent a long shot with a serve-handling accuracy to give Tarvet the winning break in the third set.

The 21-year-old will experience some disappointment, though it appears he will be entitled to significantly less than the £99, 000 prize money that was given to him for reaching round two despite having a fairy tale run at the tournament.

The Englishman has improved his game through the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) system while attending the University of San Diego.