An all-Ukrainian derby at the All England Club. Or it would have been had Elena Baltacha not moved to Perth as a six-year-old with her footballer father Sergei and Olympic pentathlete mother Olga.

An all-Ukrainian derby at the All England Club. Or it would have been had Elena Baltacha not moved to Perth as a six-year-old with her footballer father Sergei and Olympic pentathlete mother Olga.

All of Scotland and Britain were glad to call her theirs last night after the 25-year-old who was born in Kiev came back from a set down to beat a 25-year-old from Kharkiv called Alona Bondarenko by a scoreline of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

There were no shortage of spaces in the stands as the gloom descended around court No.1 but Baltacha can scarcely have been a more popular winner.

Particularly thankful will have been the LTA, who didn't have to explain the worst performance by British tennis players at this event in the open era. As it was, the two who did make it through equalled Britain's exploits back in 2007, when Tim Henman and Katie O'Brien were the only ones good enough to make it through to the second round.

Baltacha arrived at the tournament with a highest-ever singles ranking of 105 - one of five British women in the top 200 - but seemed likely to follow the likes of British No.1 Anne Keothavong, O'Brien and Georgie Stoop out of the competition in quick time when she lost the first set 6-3. But the player, who lives in Enfield and is coached by Nigel Sears, father of Andy Murray's girlfriend Kim, has the power to worry many opponents in the women's draw, and used it to wear down her opponent. By the end, with neither woman able to hold on to their serve in a frantic final set, Baltacha capitalised on her third match point to record a victory that was as good as any in her career to date, a career which has been curtailed by a liver complaint and back problems.

It is her fifth victory in all in the Wimbledon singles draw and Baltacha, who also made it into the second round of the Australian Open in January, will now plays Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who defeated 28th seed Agnes Szavay.

Coupled with Andy Murray's four-set victory over Robert Kendrick, it meant Britain's hacks will have something to keep them occupied for at least another day, and in Murray's case, possibly until the end of next week.

There was no hiding place for the others who slumped out though.

Keothavong, moved to tears as she reflected on her straight-sets exit at the hands of Austria's Patricia Mayr, walked out of her post-match interview and she wasn't the only one who was upset.

Alex Bogdanovic gave a stoical defence of the worst men's singles record at Wimbledon. The 25-year-old lost in the first round for the eighth year in a row when he was beaten in straight sets by 20th seed Tomas Berdych.

Bogdanovic, the third highest-ranked Briton at 191st in the world, has had to rely on wild cards for his Wimbledon entries and a first-round loser's cheque for £10,750 has taken his overall singles prize money to £75,830.

"Obviously, it's tough," he said. "But you look back at the draws I've had and they haven't been easy - Escude, Sargsian, Nadal, Berdych, these guys are all top players."

There were valiant displays from Joshua Goodall, who took experienced Frenchman Michael Llodra to five sets, and Georgie Stoop, who pushed No.7 seed Vera Zvonareva all the way in matches that spilled over the two days.

Goodall received a standing ovation following his 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 defeat in a match which was spread over two days. "I was disappointed but I think on general I'm pretty proud of myself," he said.

But the Brits tumbled out of the tournament with all the predictability of a Roger Federer groundstroke, Katie O'Brien and Dan Evans, joining the others as they followed Mel South, Laura Robson and James Ward who had all crashed out on day one.