Hove tennis star Alicia Dudeney made her Wimbledon debut on court 4 today (Monday 29 June) but, despite a battling performance, she lost in straight sets to Alycia Parks.
The 23-year-old earned a wild card after shooting up the rankings and showed her potential in a hard-fought match against the 25-year-old American.
But world No 81 Parks proved a class apart, taking an early lead in the first set before racing to a 4-0 lead in the second.
Dudeney showed good spirit to break back but she rallied too late and lost 6-3 6-3 after 77 minutes on her maiden appearance at the All England Club.
The British No 7 has yet to break into the top 200 but has risen more than 800 places in the past year and earned £80,000 on her exit today.
She started out at the Pav and Ave (Pavilion and Avenue Tennis Club), in Hove, and has trained alongside Sonay Kartal. The 24-year-old is missing Wimbledon this year because of injury.
Dudeney is due back on court later in the week in the ladies doubles with Welsh teenager Mimi Xu.
The 18-year-old also went out of the singles tournament today, losing in three sets to Daria Kasatkina. The 29-year-old was born in Russian but now represents Australia.
Xu looked as though she could cause an upset against the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist when she took the second set but Kasatkina responded to win 6-2 3-6 6-2.
Dudeney and Xu face a tough first round test in Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu who won the doubles crown at the French Open in 2023.
Hsieh Su-wei, 40, from Taiwan, is a former world No 1 in doubles with nine grand slam titles including four ladies wins at Wimbledon and a mixed doubles title two years ago.
She is regarded as one of the most successful and versatile doubles players in history.
Wang Xinyu, 24, from China, won a silver medal in the mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics in 2024 the year after her triumph in the French Open.
They are expected to play their first-round tie on Thursday (2 July) or Friday.
If they win, they are likely to face the No 4 seeds Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai in the second round.
Mertens, 30, has six grand slam doubles titles. They include two Wimbledon wins – one of them partnered with Hsieh Su-wei.
Her 37-year-old Chinese partner in this year’s tournament has three grand slam doubles titles to her name and was a finalist at Wimbledon four years ago.
