Jacob Fearnley soundly beaten by Wimbledon's youngest player but other Brits land big wins

Jacob Fearnley’s 2025 men’s singles campaign at Wimbledon has ended on the opening day after the Scot was comprehensively beaten by Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca.

Edinburgh-born Fearnley was soundly overcome by Fonseca 6-4 6-1 7-6 (7/5) in just over two hours on Court No 1 on a sweltering day in south-west London. Fearnley produced an error-strewn performance, serving ten doubles faults and was unable to break Fonseca’s serve across all three sets.

The defeat is a blow for Fearnley, who reached the second round of Wimbledon last year, taking a set from Novak Djokovic. He has risen to 51 in the world rankings following a breakthrough 12 months, but could not with the 18-year-old from Brazil - the youngest player in the draw and deemed as one of the sport’s rising stars.

Scotland's Jacob Fearnley had no answer for Joao Fonseca at Wimbledon. | Getty Images

Five years Fonseca’s senior, Fearnley kept pace with the South American until 4-5 in the first set, when he was broken to fall behind. The teenager then ran away with the second set in 23 minutes and while the third was far more competitive, Fonesca took the tie-break 7-5 to set up a second-round clash with either Tallon Griekspoor or Jenson Brooksby.

Fearnley, who played collegiate tennis in the US, is now expected to focus on the North American hard court swing, which starts next month in Washington DC.

It was a better opening day of Wimbledon for other Brits as Sonay Kartal and Arthur Fery pulled off major upsets in the first round.

Great day for Kartal and Fery

British number three Kartal and wild card Fery took out the respective women’s and men’s 20th seeds, with the former seeing off Jelena Ostapenko 7-5 2-6 6-2 and the latter defeating Alexei Popyrin 6-4 6-1 4-6 6-4.

For Fery, it is by a long distance the biggest victory of his life, with the 22-year-old’s only top-100 win before this coming against then 99th ranked David Goffin two years ago.

Fery, whose French father Loic owns Lorient football club, was not in the initial batch of wild cards named by the All England Club having seen his ranking drop outside the top 400 because of injury but a strong week at the second-tier Challenger event in Nottingham earlier this month earned him a pass. He took advantage of it spectacularly to claim a first Wimbledon victory, and he will hope there is more to come with an unseeded opponent up next.

Sonay Kartal took down Jelena Ostapenko. | Getty Images

Kartal reached the third round as a qualifier 12 months ago but her hopes of another good run appeared to have been dealt a blow when she drew seasoned grass-court campaigner Ostapenko in round one. The Latvian is a former semi-finalist and beat Kartal in Eastbourne last week but, after recovering from 5-2 down in the opening set and saving three set points, the 23-year-old also proved the stronger in the decider.

Ostapenko’s body language became more and more negative as Kartal opened up a 5-0 lead in the third, and the British star appears to have a good chance of going further with Bulgarian outsider Viktoriya Tomova up next. It is Kartal’s third best win by ranking of her career and her best at a grand slam.

She described the match as one of the toughest she had ever played, saying: “Typically I struggle against the big hitters. So to be able to do that, get the win in front of the home crowd, I’m super proud of that one.

Kartal: I felt confident

“She can go through games, even sets, playing tennis that’s just unplayable. The pace she gets on the ball and the angle she gets off the ball is honestly unreadable at times.

“I knew that was going to happen. I knew it happened last week. I knew I just had to stay with it. If she was going to go on a good run, just not get too down, and know that hopefully I was going to get my opportunity, and when I got the opportunity, to maximise it the most I could.

“I feel confident. I feel like this is the best I’ve ever played on grass. It’s the most confident I’ve also got in my game, as well. I think I’m in a pretty good spot for round two.”

Oliver Tarvet celebrates his win over Leandro Riedi. | Getty Images

Kartal’s win was swiftly followed by another notable British success, this time for debutant Oliver Tarvet, who made it four victories in a row after coming through qualifying with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over Swiss Leandro Riedi.

Former British number one Cameron Norrie claimed his first win on grass this year with a narrow 6-3 3-6 6-4 7-6 (3) victory over Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut. Norrie rediscovered his form on clay after almost dropping out of the top 100 and will next take on 12th seed Frances Tiafoe.

British wild card Oliver Crawford clinched the opening set on his SW19 debut before suffering a 6-7 (2) 6-3 6-4 6-4 defeat to Italian world number 73 Mattia Bellucci.