Australia's Daria Saville loses first round at Wimbledon after protesters storm the court

Ms Saville was leading 4-2 against Britain's Katie Boulter when a protester stormed the court armed with orange puzzle pieces and confetti.

An activist of the Just Stop Oil group was hauled away by security as both players helped clean up the mess.

The controversial group made headlines last year by walking onto the track during the British Grand Prix and by throwing tomato soup at a Vincent Van Gogh painting.

After the upset, Ms Boulter took the next five points in front of a roaring home crowd, winning the set 4-7.

The 89^th ranked player maintained her momentum throughout the remainder of the match, racing away with a comfortable straight sets victory (7-6, 6-2).

Ms Boulter will go on to play Bulgarian player Viktoriya Tomova in the second round.

Ms Saville said the interruption at such a crucial moment of the match rocked her concentration.

"These were the toughest circumstances I have had to deal with, I thought I would help pick up the pieces: it was nice to focus on picking up the pieces rather than stewing on 'what I am going to play next?' Or 'how to play the next point','' she said.

When asked if the incident was upsetting, she replied: "It was. I was like 'Oh, my God, why on my court out of all of them?' and I'm the worst with being able to refocus."

Currently ranked 228^th in the world, Ms Saville was the underdog going into the match. It was one of her first games back after spending eight months out with a serious ankle injury.

The 29-year-old achieved a career-high ranking of 20^th in August 2017 when she won the Connecticut Open.

Earlier the same day, Just Stop Oil members disrupted a match between Sho Shimabukuro and Grigor Dimitrov, again by throwing orange confetti and jigsaw pieces onto the court.

The protesters were later arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage.

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