Olivia Nicholls fell to a second first-round defeat in as many days at Wimbledon as she lost with partner Henry Patten in the mixed doubles.
Nicholls, who grew up in Acle, lost 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to North American pair Evan King and Gabriela Dabrowski, despite having fought back in the first set, after she had also fallen to defeat with Slovak Tereza Mihalíková on Thursday.
American King and Canadian Dabrowski have made back-to-back French Open finals, with Dabrowski previously winning the Grand Slam with a previous partner in 2017.
It meant that despite the loss, Nicholls was not left too despondent about the result.
“They’re a very good team. They both played very well and are probably one of the best mixed doubles teams, certainly one of the better ones we’ve played,” said the 31-year-old.
“We gave it a good go. We played some good stuff but not quite enough. I think they deserved to win.”
Nicholls and Patten, 30, were a break down in the first set at 5-3 but levelled proceedings to force the tie-break. But it was not quite enough as the tie-break ran away from them at 5-1 down, a deficit they could not recover.
“We did so well to pull it back in the first set so we’re happy about that. It was pretty good, but we were impressed by them,” added Patten.
“Gaby has been at the top of the women’s game for 10 years. She’s one of the best WTA players and Evan is right at the top of the men’s game so we knew it was going to be difficult.
“But we gave it a good go and had a good time as always.”
Nicholls has previously made it to the Wimbledon semi-finals in the mixed doubles in 2023 when she partnered with Jonny O’Mara but lost out to eventual champions Mate Pavić and Lyudmyla Kichenok.
For the latest updates on the British summer grass court season, visit the LTA website, lta.org.uk.
