Day one certainly hasn’t been the smoothest going with the weather really not on our side. The players finally got out onto Centre Court at 3pm for the opening match of the Championships. Qinwen Zheng returned to The Queen’s Club for her second year and she faced Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. The match was started with a coin toss from a junior wheelchair player, Jospeh, representing the Queen’s Club Foundation’s Inclusive Player Pathway Programme and showcasing their inspiring opportunity’s on our major stage.

Unfortunately, the dry weather was short lived and play had to be abandoned after just seven minutes. However, a couple of hours later, in a shocking turn of events the sun began to peak out and we found ourselves back on centre court with blue skies overhead.

Jaqueline Cristian made the first move in this match, taking an early 3-2 lead following an unfortunate double fault from Zheng on break point. Cristian then managed to serve the set out after a nervy moment facing break point herself at 4-3. The first set finished 6-4 to the Romanian.
The second set saw both players performing very well on their serve, with a flurry of aces from each. This resulted in the set being decided by a tie break. Cristian maintained her high level to win the tie break 7-4 and take the match in straight sets.

There was no time wasted in getting the next match started on Centre Court. Home favourite Katie Boulter faced a tough first round opponent in Leylah Fernandez, who claimed her first WTA500 title in Washington last summer. Fernandez broke serve early in the first set, and once was enough for her to eventually finish it 6-3.

To their credit, this was a highly competitive, high quality match where both players showcased their strengths. There was some excellent shot making in what was a tight start to the second set. Heading towards 9pm, the play for the day had to be called at 3-3 so we will continue tomorrow!