A confident-looking Emma Raducanu booked her place in the third round at Wimbledon on Wednesday as she took just 75 minutes to sweep aside world No. 33 Elise Mertens in straight sets on No. 1 Court.
Raducanu's 6-1, 6-2 victory means that she will play in the third round of a major for the first time since she won the US Open in 2021.
Earlier on Wednesday, the All England Club announced that it had awarded Raducanu and Andy Murray a wild-card entry in mixed doubles, pairing two of the biggest names in British tennis.
The superstar duo will face a tough task in their first-round match after being drawn to face El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and China's Zhang Shuai. Arevalo won the men's doubles title at the French Open for the second time in June, while Zhang is also a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion.
Murray, 37, withdrew from men's singles competition at Wimbledon on Tuesday, a little more than a week after having surgery to remove a spinal cyst. He is also set to compete in the men's doubles with his older brother, Jamie.
Meanwhile, on Court No. 1, Raducanu raced into a set lead with a virtuoso display of pure ball striking as she dominated Mertens, only letting up momentarily in the sixth game before serving out the opening set.
Raducanu, who missed last year's championships after undergoing surgery on both wrists and an ankle, allowed a 40-0 advantage in the first game of the second set to slip, but retook the lead in the third game via a spectacular crosscourt backhand to break Mertens' serve.
With Mertens' resolve broken, Raducanu breezed through the remaining games to secure victory in 75 minutes.
"I think I'm playing really good tennis and I'm just very happy with the improvements that I've made," Raducanu said.
"I knew that all the hard yards and the hard work that I was doing in the year, it would lead to something. And I'm just so happy that I'm able to reap some of the rewards here in Wimbledon."
She will face Maria Sakkari in the third round after the Greek beat Arantxa Rus in straight sets on Court 12.
Raducanu was joined in the third round by British wild-card Sonay Kartal, who continued her dream run at the championships as she beat Clara Burel 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 for what was the second Wimbledon victory of her career.
On a drizzly afternoon in southwest London that prompted one short rain delay, Kartal overcame Burel in front of a capacity crowd on Court 3, initially taking control of the match midway through the first set.
Kartal understandably showed signs of nerves as she approached the biggest win of her career, surrendering a 3-1 lead in the second set as her French opponent fought back to level.
However, the Brit withstood the pressure, breaking Burel twice in a competitive deciding set on her way to securing a shock victory. She will face world No. 2 Coco Gauff in the third round in a match that seems destined for Centre Court.
Kartal had claimed her maiden Wimbledon win on Monday when she beat Sorana Cîrstea in the first round. Cîrstea is 266 places above Kartal in the rankings, while Burel is 253 places higher than the Brit.
Daniel Evans' first-round match against Alejandro Tabilo resumed on Court 12 with the Chilean leading 6-2, 3-3 after it had been suspended on Tuesday evening with Evans complaining of a slippery court as the light faded. Tabilo picked up where he left off as he earned a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Henry Patten became the first Brit to move into the second round of the doubles as the 28-year-old and Finnish partner Harri Heliövaara won in straight sets on Court 6.
Jacob Fearnley and Jack Pinnington Jones were unable to join Patten in the next round after they fell to a straight-sets defeat to Brazilian duo Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo.