• Wimbledon, Day One

Baltacha and Robson tumble out at first hurdle

ESPN staff
June 21, 2010
Elena Baltacha has never reached the third round at Wimbledon © Getty Images
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British No. 1 Elena Baltacha was sent crashing out of her home event by Croatian teenager Petra Martic, while Laura Robson battled hard before being overpowered by Jelena Jankovic.

Flying the flag for Britain as the first home player out on court on the opening day, Baltacha gave the fans plenty to cheer about as stormed to the opening set in 33 minutes and looked to be on course for a comfortable victory after an early break in the second.

But Baltacha, who has never reached the third round at the All England Club in nine previous appearances, failed to grab her opportunity, and serving for the match, the world No. 52 was broken twice as Martic clawed her way back into the contest.

With the momentum now in her favour, the world No. 76, making her Wimbledon debut, grabbed a 2-6 7-5 6-3 victory to move into the second round. She will now face France's Marion Bartoli after the 2007 finalist beat Julia Goerges 6-4 6-3.

2008 girls' champion Laura Robson battled valiantly in her first-round match at Wimbledon before eventually sinking to a 6-3 7-6(5) reverse against Jelena Jankovic.

It was a contest that could have proved a mismatch - Robson has just one WTA Tour win to her name, while Jankovic reached the semi-final at the French Open - but the Brit never looked out of place against her illustrious opponent.

She stood toe to toe in the many groundstroke battles, but her serve lacked the required menace to pose a sustained threat to the former world No. 1 - Jankovic was presented with 16 break points across the 87 minutes of action.

There was further disappointment late in the day for Britain as Katie O'Brien was defeated 6-3 6-7 6-4 by No. 28 seed Alona Bondarenko.

British No. 5 Melanie South followed Baltacha out, falling 6-1 6-2 to Russia's Regina Kulikova.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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