LIAM Broady suffered a heart-breaking defeat in the Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy tonight.

The British wild card had four match points in the tenth game of the second set against eighth seed Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) but lost 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 on Centre Court in the first round of the men’s singles.

The 24-year-old from Stockport was not about to be heavily criticised by his coach Dave Sammel, however.

The South African-born Sammel, who lives in Burley-in-Wharfedale, said: “Liam did everything right to win the match.

“However, he got a bit nervous in that tenth game and then did well to take it to a tie-break, but this is a maturing year.”

Broady, whose sister Naomi attended Woodhouse Grove School, tried to break down the backhand of a player who has beaten Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and almost managed it.

Elsewhere there were defeats for other British wild cards Brydan Klein and Jack Draper.

Former semi-finalist Klein lost in the second round of qualifying 7-6, 7-6 to Canadian Brayden Schnur, while Draper was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Darian King (Barbados) in the first round of the main draw.

The women’s qualifying brought no better news as there were losses for Freya Christie, Emily Appleton, Eden Silva and Sarah Beth Grey – all against seeds.

Midlander Christie fell 6-3, 6-2 to top seed Bibiane Schoofs (Netherlands), while Appleton only took a game off eighth seed Jaimee Fourlis (Australia).

Silva went down 6-3, 6-3 to fourth seed Miharu Imanishi (Japan), while Grey was beaten 7-5, 7-5 by second seed Bianca Andreescu (Canada).