Paul Jubb takes the positives but left frustrated at early Wimbledon exit against Thiago Seyboth Wild

The Hull 24-year-old returned to SW19 for the first time since his five-set epic with eventual finalist Nick Kyrgios in 2022 and was fresh off a breakout week in Mallorca where he made a run to the semi-final.

After beating three top 100 opponents in Spain, Jubb was a set away from another scalp against world number 74 Thiago Seyboth Wild, but the Brazilian managed to turn it around.

“I’m just gutted,” Jubb said after coming so close to his first Wimbledon victory in a four-hour epic.

“I think you're obviously aware of the momentum shift, you try and do your best to kind of put a stop it. I think credit to him the way he was just able to produce as it went on and not give me as many looks as what I had earlier on.

“This is definitely where I feel I belong. My level is there. I'm good enough to compete in the top 100 and beat top 100 guys.”

Jubb admitted that it was frustrating to see the match fall victim to three rain delays alongside some shorter stoppages, but he did not feel like it affected his level.

“It was obviously frustrating, and after the second one, he played well,” 201-ranked Jubb added.

“I don't feel like I played bad. He started putting more balls in court, playing more aggressive, hardly missing, but also hitting more winners. So maybe it helped him kind of regroup.

“I felt like actually I did a decent job of not coming out too low. When he came back from the rain delay, he earned it.”

Jubb was quick out of the blocks and won the first four games in a row, putting the Seyboth Wild serve under pressure and making his opponent miss.

After a double fault from Seyboth Wild with Jubb a game away, the Yorkshireman put away a backhand winner from mid-court to win 6-1 in a dominant first set.

The second set started in a similar vein with the Hull man winning the first game on Seyboth Wild’s serve after an unforced error from the Brazilian.

After saving three break points with a drop volley and some deep hitting to force errors, Jubb came through a tricky service game with a wide ace to lead 4-1.

Having had a short stoppage for the rain earlier in the match, the first match suspension came with Jubb 30-0 up serving for the set.

Most packed into court 14 stayed in their seats throughout the rain delay as onlookers lined the entrances to get a glimpse of the in-form Brit.

After more than an hour, the players returned and Jubb fired an ace into the corner and brought an error from Seyboth Wild to move within a set of his first Wimbledon victory.

A topspin lob winner for another break of serve in the first game of the third set edged the Yorkshiremen closer, however Seyboth Wild responded with his first game against serve soon after.

Both players came through their next four service games to send the third set to a tiebreak.

After a Jubb match point went begging at 6-5 as he failed to send a Seyboth Wild serve back over the net, his crosscourt backhand dropped one millimetre wide on the Brazilian’s first set point.

Breaks of serve were exchanged within the first four games of set four, and after another match suspension for rain, Seyboth Wild seemed to come back out fresher. Jubb missed a backhand volley facing break point and the world number 74 served out to take the match to a fifth set.

After playing most of the fifth set a break of serve down, Jubb managed to find a response when Seyboth Wild served for the match. However, a drop shot miss at 30-40 meant that he was broken back immediately and this time the Brazilian was able to close out confidently to win 1-6 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 7-5.

There was some British success in the women’s singles, with Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart set to meet in round two after straight set victories.

Dart, 27, ranked 100 in the world, stormed to victory in the second set after a closely fought opener against China’s Zhuoxuan Bai, 21, ranked five places higher than her by the WTA.

“I’m really pleased with how I dealt with coming off the court with the rain delay,” said the Londoner after her 6-4 6-0 victory in the opening match on show court 18.

“I have nothing to lose, that's for sure. For me a big goal was just trying to get through round one.

“Last year was, I would say, heartbreaking for me, but also put me in a place where I had to dig deep towards the end of the year.”

Bradford’s Fran Jones was also in action on the final match on court 15 which started late due to the day’s earlier delays.