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Brit Broady continues his quest for glory by taking out world No 1

Robin Scott-Elliot
Thursday 30 June 2011 00:00 BST
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(GETTY IMAGES)

Liam Broady remains on course to provide the first home winner of the Boys Singles at Wimbledon since one Stanley Matthews, son of a somewhat more famous father, triumphed nearly half a century ago.

Broady underlined his burgeoning talent with a straight sets victory over Jiri Vesely, the top seed, to earn a place in the quarter-finals, where he will face a qualifier in Germany's Robin Kern.

It is the second time in little more than a week that Broady, who won 6-4, 7-5, has beaten the world's top ranked junior, having won the junior warm-up event at Roehampton ahead of the Championships. "It felt great," said Broady, 17. "Beating him last week gave me a lot of belief. I am starting to feel at home here. I love playing here."

Last year Broady was one half of the British pairing that won the boys doubles, but junior success at Wimbledon has all too rarely signalled a route to the top of the men's game. Matthews himself, who won in 1962, played 11 times in the main draw at Wimbledon and only reached the second round twice. Overall only four boys winners have gone on to win the men's trophy, Roger Federer being the last.

The step up to the senior ranks is now regarded as being wider than ever. It is an arena that Broady is just beginning to test himself in; he lost in the second round of qualifying, but yesterday's win was impressive on its own terms. He made the running for much of the match, finally breaking the Czech's serve in the 10th game of the first set when his opponent blazed a backhand wide.

Broady disappeared on a lengthy comfort break and when he returned promptly went 0-40 on his serve. "I came back cold," admitted Broady. He fought back to hold and the match went with serve, via Broady repelling four break points in the 10th game, before the Briton finally broke with a stretching volley to clinch a place in the last eight.

The Bryan brothers, No 1 seeds in the men's doubles, squeezed through an almighty battle with the Swedish-Australian pairing of Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley to reach the last eight. The match resumed at 3-3 in the deciding set and see-sawed for more than an hour until the Americans finally won 16-14. The Bryans, who are based in Florida, may be the dominant pairing in world doubles but their recent record here is modest by their standards. Their sole success came five years ago since when they have twice been runners-up.

British interest in the men's doubles ended with the exit of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins at the quarter-final stage. The Anglo-Scottish pairing were the first Britons to reach the last eight since 1993, but their hope of challenging for a title that has not come home since 1936 was ruined by Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya. The German and Austrian, also unseeded, won the first two sets but were forced into a decider by a spirited fightback before winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 2-6, 6-4.

Jamie Murray's mixed doubles campaign finished at the second-round stage. He and his Austrian partner, Jarmila Gajdosova, lost in straight sets to Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, the sixth seeds.

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