Baltacha dances into second round

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:36

The British number two came from a set down to claim a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory – her fifth win at Wimbledon – to spare any further blushes on an otherwise embarrassing day for home players.

Anne Keothavong, the top British woman, failed to win a set of her match and there were also defeats for Baltacha, Georgie Stoop, Katie O’Brien, Alex Bogdanovic, Joshua Goodall and Dan Evans, while Mel South, Laura Robson and James Ward all crashed out on the opening day.

Keothavong, who had been expected to post a British victory, lost 7-5 6-2 to Austrian Patricia Mayr, while Bogdanovic, who went down 6-3 6-4 6-3 to 20th seed Tomas Berdych, has now lost all eight matches at Wimbledon.

The defeated Britons had the consolation of £10,750 cheques while the reward for Baltacha will be a second-round meeting with Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens, who put out 30th seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary in straight sets.

Baltacha showed all of her remarkable character, as well as bags of stamina, before adding to her tally of four wins at Wimbledon, where she reached the third round as a teenager in 2002.

She made hard work of a second victory in three meetings with an opponent 73 places higher in the rankings.

Baltacha produced 22 winners and a staggering total of 40 unforced errors, statistics that underline the erratic nature of her performance.

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