Baltacha: Determined

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Britain's Elena Baltacha beat Angelique Kerber to reach the second round at Wimbledon.

The 24-year-old Scot, who reached the third round in 2002, needed to battle hard for a 6-3 2-6 7-5 victory on Court No.11.

Baltacha made a nervy start, losing the first two games of the match, but stormed back to win six of the next seven by playing some fine tennis.

Kerber, the world number 131 from Germany, hit back strongly to claim an early break in the second set and held on to force a decider.

It was the German who made the first breakthrough in the third set, breaking her opponent's serve for a 3-2 lead before consolidating to move 4-2 ahead.

However, having held serve in the seventh game, Baltacha broke back to level the set at 4-4.

Resolve

Kerber once again broke serve to take a 5-4 lead and appeared to be on the brink of victory, but Baltacha, ranked 158, showed her resolve to hit back once again.

Baltacha needed to save three break points to win the 11th game and then quickly moved 15-40 ahead in the next.

She missed two consecutive match points, but a fortunate net cord helped her to capitalise on a third chance for victory.

The Kiev-born Scot will face China's Zheng Jie in the next round after she defeated 30th seed Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets.

"I thought I lost the match three times but I just fought and fought," said

Baltacha.

"I always give 100 per cent. I've come back from quite a few matches where I've been down. That's my fighting spirit. I never give up."

Baltacha's career has been hampered by two bouts of tonsillitis, chicken pox, a liver infection and back surgery, but the Ukrainian-born 24-year-old is enjoying a problem-free spell.

Training at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton has taken her game to a new level - although she admits her new regime has come at a cost to her taste buds.

"Since I've been going to the NTC, I've been looking at other areas off court like nutrition," she said.

"I put on quite a bit of weight end of last year because of my back problem.

"At one event in Doha before I joined the NTC, my whole body just shut off. I knew I was unfit and I needed to do something about it.

"I've trimmed down a lot and now I feel really fit. I've lost a lot of weight and I'm chuffed about that. Physically, I'm at my peak."

Alex Bogdanovic, however, is out of the men's singles after a four-set defeat to Italy's Simone Bolelli.

The British number two - and world number 242 - lost out 6-7 6-4 3-6 6-7 on Court 11, suffering his seventh defeat in seven matches at Wimbledon.

"I feel I can get better. The day I feel like I can't get any better, that's the day when maybe it's over," Bogdanovic said.

"I'm still young and there's a lot of things I can improve on and get better at. It will be nice to win a match at Wimbledon - that's what I'm working towards.

"I believe I can win a match - it's just a matter of time."

Bogdanovic, ranked 271 in the world, added: "For me, it's about breaking the top 100.

"I believe that if I'm a top hundred player, I'll be playing bigger tournaments week in, week out and playing the top guys week in, week out, so that will help me."

South out

Fellow Briton Mel South also bowed out despite a brave fight against Alona Bondarenko, the 28th seed from Ukraine.

South fought back from a break down to take the second set on a tie-break, but was always up against it when Bondarenko claimed an early break in the deciding set.

Bondarenko claimed a second break to open up a 5-2 lead and, although South hit back with a break of serve to love and then saved four match points to hold serve, she served out the match at the second attempt to wrap up a 6-3 6-7 6-4 victory.