The first day of the 2026 Lexus Nottingham Open is here, with a jam-packed schedule full of British talent set to contest their first round matches.
Women’s
Francesca Jones came within one point of a place in the second round but couldn’t get over the line as Talia Gibson edged the wild card 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4) in a three hour and six minute epic.
Despite taking two medical time outs in the second set, Jones went on break in the 12th game to force a decider.
There, she recovered from an early break to go 4-1 up before stepping up to serve for the match at 5-4. The Brit set up two match points but the Australian fought her way back to level terms to force the decider where she once again came back from a mini-break down to seal the win.
Elsewhere, third seed Emma Navarro fought back from a set down to beat Hungary’s Anna Bondar 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round, while sixth seed Maria Sakkari was beaten by Paris Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4.
Former HSBC Championships champion Tatjana Maria moved into the next round after beating ninth seed Janice Tjen 6-3, 6-2, while Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva came out on top in a marathon match against last year’s Lexus Eastbourne Open champion Maya Joint, winning 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-4 in three hours and 21 minutes.
Men’s
In the men’s draw, Jay Clarke has become the first Brit to punch his ticket to the second round after beating America’s Tristan Boyer, 7-6(3), 6-3.
Clarke let a 4-0 lead slip in the opening set but recovered well in the tie-break – reeling off six of the last seven points to take a one set lead before finding the decisive break in the second to progress to the next round.
Billy Harris closed out the action on Centre Court by knocking out fourth seed Coleman Wong 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
After dropping the second set, Harris found another level in the decider – breaking Wong twice before sealing victory on his fourth match point.
In the next round, he’ll face Frenchman Arthur Gea who earlier beat Britain’s Anton Matusevich, 6-3, 6-3.
Elsewhere, top seed Jaime Faria eased into the second round, along with Christopher O’Connell and Zhizhen Zhang.
It wasn’t to be for wild card Oliver Tarvet who lost out to former top 40 player Roman Safiullin in a tight match ending 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Qualifier Alastair Gray also fell short in his opener to lucky loser August Holmgren 6-4, 7-5.