Wimbledon 2015: Aljaz Bedene and Jamie Ward make it awesome foursome for Britain in second round

Bedene beats Radek Stepanek, while Ward followed suit with a four-set win over Italy's Luca Vanni

Jamie Ward poses for a selfie with a fan following victory at Wimbledon on Tuesday (Getty Images)

Andy Murray and Liam Broady have company. Swinging away in the shadows of Court Eight, Aljaz Bedene, once of Slovenia, shed the shackles of tradition to post a British victory in a five-set barnstormer against Radek Stepanek.

Five minutes later, with the clock racing towards 8.30pm, Jamie Ward followed him in with a four-set win over Italy’s Luca Vanni.

Ward had been due to meet Spain’s David Ferrer in the first round, but the eighth seed pulled out with an elbow injury and he completed a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Vanni. So for the first time since 2006 Britain has four males in the second round at Wimbledon.

It was too much to hope that there might be six. Kyle Edmund fell in the first match of the day on Court Three against Alex Dolgopolov, followed briskly by Brydan Klein, who also lost in straight sets to Italy’s Andreas Seppi.

What absurdly high hopes we had of Edmund, who, after his junior grand slam success, is presently hitting the same brick wall as the majority of his countrymen the moment he enters the main LTA Tour with a ranking.

Having won his maiden grand slam first-round match at the French Open in May only to withdraw with an abdominal injury, there was much fanfare about Edmund’s first-round match here.

And for the first set at least it was a contest. Edmund started the match with an ace and although he lost his second service game, he broke back to level at two apiece. It was nip and tuck, every point keenly fought.

Edmund held serve in the seventh to go 4-3, and at love 30 in the ninth game recovered his service rhythm to force his opponent to serve to stay in the set at 4-5, and again at 5-6. This Dolgopolov did, of course.

In the shoot-out Edmund closed out a stunning fifth point with a backhand volley of which Rod Laver would have been proud and followed that with a first mini-break to lead 4-2. Here we go. But no. There the dream died. Edmund gave the break back at 4-4 and then surrendered the initiative with a forehand into the net. Dolgopolov snapped his hand off and served out for the set.

Edmund was treated for a shoulder complaint but did not make that an excuse for his tame submission thereafter, losing 7-6, 6-1, 6-2.

“It affected my serve a bit but it is not the reason I lost. You get niggles here and there. It’s nothing new for me. I felt good going on court. I would not have gone on if I was injured. I was going for it a bit more with my serves.

“Alex was just better than me today. He played well and I could not find enough points. It’s frustrating to lose but you learn to deal with the loss and move on and try to get better the next week.

“It’s been a great experience. I was fortunate to be given a wild card into the event. I missed the grass- court season start. First time out was in Nottingham and now this.”