We had better get accustomed to hearing the name of Henry Searle in the coming years at Wimbledon. The 17-year-old from Wolverhampton beat Yaroslav Demin of Russia 6-4, 6-4 to become the first British winner of the boys’ event since Stanley Matthews Jr in 1962.
Revelling in the atmosphere on a packed No 1 Court, Searle played superbly as he hit nine aces and 22 winners as he wrapped up victory in 1hr 24min. Having beaten the No 1 seed in the opening round, he won the title without losing a set, adding his name to an illustrious list of winners that includes Roger Federer, Björn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Pat Cash, all of whom went on to win the men’s title.
“It’s a pretty special feeling,” said Searle, who banged down one serve at 134mph. “It’s not going to come too often so I’m going to enjoy it. It was amazing being out on this court today.”
He came from a break down to win the first set and an early break in the second was all he needed, the Briton clinching victory on his first match point, when Demin’s return landed just long.
Expectations will be high as he heads to the professional Tour but Searle seems to have a wise head. “I’ll definitely try and prepare myself for it,” he said. “I’ll keep working hard and we’ll see what happens.”
Britain’s Hannah Klugman and Isabelle Lacy could not quite match Searle as they were beaten 6-4, 7-5 by the pairing of Alena Kovackova and Laura Samsonova in the girls’ doubles final. The home pair recovered from 5-2 down to level at 5-5 in the second set but were broken again as the Czechs held on to win the title. The girls’ singles was won by the American Clervie Ngounoue, who defeated another Czech, Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 6-2 to win her first junior grand slam title.
Alfie Hewett’s wait for a first wheelchair singles title at Wimbledon goes on after he lost in the final for the third successive year, beaten 6-4, 6-2 by 17-year-old Tokito Oda of Japan.
There was another British victory in the boys’ under-14s as Mark Ceban defeated Svit Suljic 7-6 (5) 6-3, but Hollie Smart was beaten in the girls’ under-14s by Luna Vujovic 6-3, 6-1.
