TWO of the British wild cards who played in the Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy a fortnight ago were centre stage as Wimbledon began today.

And while 21-year-old Londoner Harriet Dart took a set off seventh seed Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) in a 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1 defeat, 19-year-old Katie Swan pulled off the finest win of her fledgling career.

The world No 201 dumped world No 36 Irina-Camelia Begu out 6-2, 6-2 in a composed and controlled victory in front of a packed Court 14 crowd.

Bristolian Swan stunned her Romanian opponent to reach the second round for the first time.

Dart, who has hit a career-high ranking of 171 this summer, shook off a leg injury after a baseline slip to claim the second set in style and force world No 8 Pliskova into a decider.

But after failing to convert three break points at the top of the final set, Dart – the first British woman to reach the quarter-finals in the four years of the Ilkley tournament – handed all the momentum back to her seasoned opponent.

And after that Pliskova hit cruise control to coast into the second round at SW19, but Dart showed extended bursts of her potential on her Wimbledon main-draw debut.

Liam Broady, an Ilkley regular, was unable to provide the first British victory of this year’s Wimbledon as he was beaten in straight sets by former finalist Milos Raonic.

Broady, one of two British men to receive a wild card along with former Ilkley quarter-finalist Jay Clarke, matched Raonic until 5-5 in the opening set but 11 games in a row for the Canadian put him in complete control and he eased to a 7-5, 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Once Raonic got going he was certainly far too strong for Broady, a 24-year-old from Stockport ranked 173.

He served 18 aces and lost just four points on his first serve throughout the match, failing to create a single break point.

Ilkley men's singles champion Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) came through 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 1-6, 6-4 in 3hr 29min to Portugal's Joao Sousa, while Italian Thomas Fabbiano, who rwsached the last eight at Ilkley, defeated India's Yuki Bhambri 206, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. 

Elsewhere there was a five-set defeat for Michael Mmoh (United States).

He went down 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-1 to hard-serving Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) in 3hr 35min, while fellow Ilkley semi-finalist Jason Kubler (Australia) lost in four sets to Argentina's Guido Pella, as did 2014 Ilkley winner Dennis Kudla (United States) to 17th seed Lucas Pouille (France).

The latter won 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in 3hr 8min, and there were straight-set defeats for Ilkley top seed Jordan Thompson (Australia) - against 11th seed Sam Querrey (United States) - Peter Polansky (Canada), John-Patrick Smith (Australia), Norbert Gombos (Slovakia), Gregoire Barrere (France) and Stefano Travaglia (Italy).

There was better news among the Ilkley women, with 2016 winner Evgeniya Rodina (Russia) and Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand) winning, but 2017 champion Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia), seeded 19th, went out.

Rodina defeated fellow qualifier Antonia Lottner (Germany) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in 2hr 8min, while Kumkhum saw off Bernardo Pera (United  States) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Rybarikova, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, became the first seed this year to lose as she was beaten by Sorana Cirstea.

The 19th seed, who reached the last four in Birmingham a fortnight ago, was downed 7-5, 6-3 by the Romanian.

Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus lost 7-5, 6-3 to 25th seed Serena Williams (United States),but the big shock of the day was the defeat of US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

The fourth seed lost 6-1, 6-3 to hard-serving Croatian Donna Vekic.

Hard luck story of the day belonged to Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse, with the Ilkley entrant having six match points before losing 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in 2hr 40min to 32nd seed Agnieszka Radwanska. 

The unseeded Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, while Ilkley winner Tereza Smitkova (Czech Republic) went out 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 to Bulgaria's Viktorija Tomova.

Another Viktoria

ja went olut, however, with Swiss miss Golubic losing 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Tunisia's Ons Jabeur.