Baltacha's tears of joy are boost for the Brits

The 24-year-old British No4 fell to her knees and uncontrollably sobbed into her cupped hands after a lucky net cord ended 126 minutes of drama that enthralled a packed gallery around showcourt 11.

The scoreline of 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 told only part of the story of a match which Baltacha seemed to have in her grasp only to stand on the verge of losing due more to her own mistakes than anything her opponent produced.

But her success - only the third time she has reached the second round in seven Wimbledon appearances - confounded recent criticism of the commitment of British tennis players.

Born in the Ukraine but now based in London, Baltacha came from a break down to take the first set. And while 20-year-old Kerber, at 131 ranked 27 places above her rival, raced to the second set in 30 minutes, it was Baltacha's newfound determination and fitness that carried her to victory in a tense decider.

Significantly, Lawn Tennis Association coach Nigel Sears and two fitness experts from the new National Tennis Centre at Roehampton were courtside to see her blast Kerber aside with her trademark booming serves and whipping baseline backhands.

The work they have done with a player who has endured a history of illness and injuries, including a liver complaint and a prolapsed disc that required keyhole surgery, paid dividends as Baltacha frustrated Kerber to such an extent that the left-hander was reduced to pounding the sacred turf with her racket.

On a hot afternoon, emotions really came to the boil in the third set, with Baltacha at one stage punching the air and yelling at the top of her voice when a brilliant drop shot broke Kerber to level at 4-4.

The old frailties threatened to return as she immediately allowed herself to be broken back, some of her supporters including mother Olga covering their faces in dismay at the performance of the home girl.

Again Baltacha dug deep to break and stay alive at 5-5. Then she fought back from love-40 to hold serve with a clinching lucky forehand that climbed the net before dropping on Kerber's side of the court. Kerber was not going to give in on her own serve without a struggle and, after another net cord gave Baltacha two match points, she saved both and went to advantage only to lose it on a close baseline call.

That was all Baltacha needed. Another long backhand onto the baseline gave her a third match point, and she won it with yet another net cord.

With the crowd offering a standing ovation, Baltacha folded and let the tears flow.

While all that excitement was being played out down the far end of the Wimbledon site, an upset with repercussions for Baltacha was taking place on court 15, where 30th seed Dominika Cibulkova, of Slovakia, was shocked 6-4, 6-3 by China's Jie Zheng.

Zheng, ranked 133 in the world, will now play Baltacha for the dubious reward of a possible third-round meeting with top seed and current world No1 Ana Ivanovic, of Serbia.