Britain lost its first Wimbledon hopeful from the Championships today, even before any play had started on the show courts.

Elena Baltacha lost to Flavia Pennetta in just one hour and 14 minutes.

The 29-year-old lost 6-4, 6-1 to the Italian, ending this year's Wimbledon dream.

Baltacha had reached the second round at Wimbledon for the last two years but failed to reach the same spot this year.

The Scot's loss came before reigning men's champion Roger Federer had even taken to Centre Court to begin his title defence, in the first match of the day.

Meanwhile, Samantha Murray's first taste of Wimbledon was a short and sharp one as she was also sent packing in the first round, by Camila Giorgi.

Murray, who is the British number seven and comes from Hale in Manchester, was not disgraced as she went down 6-3 6-4 to her Italian opponent, but ultimately did not have enough to make a major impression.

With a typically partisan support on Court 10, Murray actually out-served Giorgi on the aces front and hit as many winners as her, but too many unforced errors proved to be her undoing.

She dropped the first set in 35 minutes and was made to regret a missed break point, with Giorgi able to have the luxury of making slip-ups on key points.

Murray more than held her own at the start of the second set and forced Giorgi to hit long and wide on more than one occasion in a lengthy second game, but once she was broken again in the third there was no way back.