Wimbledon 2011: GB's James Ward, Dan Cox and Dan Evans bow out
Last updated on .From the section Tennis
British number two James Ward was among three home men casualties on the second day of Wimbledon after losing to Michael Llodra in the first round.
The 24-year-old, who reached the semi-finals of Queen's last week, was outplayed by the French 19th seed in a 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 3-6 defeat.
British number three Daniel Cox bowed out to Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky in their delayed opening-round match.
And another Brit, Dan Evans, also went out after losing to Florian Mayer.
It was a brave performance from the 21-year-old Solihull player, who at one point served to level at one-set all and then threatened a terrific comeback after winning the third set.
But Mayer, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2004 and seeded 20 this time, proved too tough, eventually winning 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-4.
Ward, on the other hand, was outclassed by world number 25 Llodra.
A poor first-serve success ratio - he only managed to land 50 in 98 attempts - did not help his cause, but the Londoner admitted his failure to take the second set tie-break proved his downfall.
"I was 4-2 up in the breaker," he said. "He hit a great slice just over the net and that's not an easy ball to deal with. If I had won that set, you never know what might have happened. The momentum might have changed.
"My serve let me down a little bit, especially in the third set. I still had chances though. I still had a lot of break points out there and a lot of chances but he came up with the goods at the right time.
"Llodra is ranked 25 in the world. He's not the easiest draw out there.
"I've got to look at what I did the week before Wimbledon and just take it forward for the rest of the year."
Cox, meanwhile, was dumped out in straight sets.
Resuming at 6-2 0-1 down after play was suspended because of rain on Monday, the 20-year-old struggled in the face of Stakhovsky's serve and groundstrokes.
Early breaks in the second and third set followed as Stakhovsky, ranked 46 in the world, won through 6-2 6-4 6-4.
It means all three British men handed wildcards by the All England Club fell at the first hurdle.
Andy Murray's second-round opponent, meanwhile, will be Germany's Tobias Kamke.
The world number 83 impressively saw off Slovenian Blaz Kavcic in four sets in their first-round clash 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-1.
Kamke, a right-hander who won the ATP newcomer of the year award last year, is playing his third Wimbledon, having reached the third round last year when he was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Having come through qualifying to take his place at SW19, Cox could have met Murray in the third round had results gone his way.
The Lincoln player, though, was happy with his showing on his first main-draw Wimbledon appearance, despite the defeat.
"This has been an incredible experience. It will be a very big learning curve for me," he said. "I will go back now and work on the things I need to make sure that I am here regularly.
"I always step on the court expecting nothing else but a win. I have to go in fighting to win every point. That's what I tried to do but I wasn't able to do it unfortunately."
