Wimbledon 2026: Britain’s Jan Choinski sails into second round with straight-sets win
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British No.2 Jan Choinski sailed into the second round of the Wimbledon men’s singles with a straight sets victory over Czechia’s Vit Kopriva.
The 30-year-old produced 18 aces to beat an injury-hampered Kopriva 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 in the final match of the day on Court 16.
He joins Katie Swan, Arthur Fery and Jacob Fearnley as the fourth British player of the day to reach the second round of the singles draws.
In the same week that he broke into the ATP top-100 for the first time in his career, Choinski booked a place in the second round of Wimbledon for a second time.
Choinski – who has had his best successes on the clay – has made a name for himself on the grass this year having come through qualifying to make his first ATP quarter-final at the Lexus Eastbourne Open.
In the next round, he’ll no doubt face a strong test up against either 17th seed and recent Halle champion Frances Tiafoe or French world No.52 Terence Atmane.
"I'm really happy to be able to play in this beautiful tournament," he said. "I'm very glad, you know, that I've got massive support this week, especially my coach, Gunter Bresnik, my family, my girlfriend who is always with me. All the guys from the LTA as well. I just wanted to put on a good show.
"I think I managed well, you know, serving great, and felt good out there on court. Result speaks for itself.
"I'm very pleased I went into the match confident, trying to play aggressive, big tennis. I think I just managed to do it from start to end very well, very effectively."
Kopriva called for an early medical timeout after suffering discomfort in his hip in only the third game. The Czech star was limping around the court and looked as if he might call an early night.
Choinski did well not to let his focus drop, having just taken the first break before the long timeout. Despite the potential distraction, he only dropped two points in his last three service games of the set to get himself on the board.
Kopriva was still massaging his hip at every change of ends, but in the points, the world No.64 remained highly competitive. Both players were going big on the serve and striking early in the points to limit the rallies to a minimum.
Choinski gave himself the chance to serve out the second set at 6-5 and then saved three break points to double his lead.
A two-set deficit was always going to be too far for the Czech to battle back from, and Choinski produced a high level to take an early 4-0 lead in the third.
It was a comprehensive victory in the end for Choinski – winning 90% (54/60) points on first serve and hitting 31 winners.
Choinski and the rest of the British singles winners are set to return on Thursday to compete in the second round.
