Moore showed surprising maturity in the first set, because after going 4-2 down, she steadied herself and racked up 4 games in a row to win the first set 6-4. In the second set both players had chances to take the advantage, but neither managed to put any daylight between them, leading to an unevitable tie-break, with Moore saving 1 setpoint in the process. In the tie-break it was the experience of Puchkova that shone through, romping to a 7-0 win in the tie-break.

In the final set Moore seemed to be down and out after going 3-1 down, but again she recovered herself admirably, taking 2 breaks in a row for a 4-3 lead. After that it was again Puchkova’s chance to recover, breaking back and holding serve for 5-4 lead. With Moore serving and leading 40-15, the young Brit was one point away from again equaling the match at 5-5. But it was Puchkova who made 4 points in a row to finally break the resistance of Moore: 6-4. Having been so close, Moore will probably be disappointed at first, but will be able to take a lot out of this match, that has shown that British womens tennis has a bright future ahead.

Stefanie Vogele, former European Junior Champion, fought out a very equal first set with 10th seed Lilia Osterloh. Both players held serve until 6-5 to Osterloh, when Vogele untimely lost her servicegame to lose the first set 7-5. An immediate break in the second gave Vogele some breathing room with a 3-0 lead, which moved along to a 5-2 lead. Serving for the set at 5-3, Vogele faltered, only to break Osterloh one more time for a 6-4 second set win.

The final set proved to be one of the most fascinating sets of tennis unlikely to be seen at the entire Wimbledon tournament in the next 2 weeks. Osterloh drew first blood at 1-1, only for Vogele to strike straight back. Osterloh then had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4, but again Vogele broke back. At 6-5 there was another chance for Osterloh and again Vogele retaliated. Vogele all but seemed to have broken Osterloh’s resistance at 7-6, getting her first matchpoint. But this time it was Osterloh’s chance to strike back for 7-7. Several chances to win the match followed, with another breakthrough at 7-7 and 11-11 for Osterloh. At 12-11 Osterloh then finally got her first 2 matchpoints, converting the second one for an incredible 13-11 third set win.

Sevastova suffered an early break against Manasieva and never managed to recover, getting broken one more time for a 6-2 first set loss. The second set started off no better, but this time Sevastova managed to recover to even the score at 3-3. Another break ended the resistance of the Latvian, however, and Manasieva served out the match at 5-4 to win the match 6-2 6-4.

First round qualifying results Wimbledon:

Olga Puchkova (RUS,15) d. Tara Moore (GBR) 4-6 7-6(0) 6-4
Lilia Osterloh (USA,10) d. Stefanie Vogele (SUI) 7-5 4-6 13-11
Vesna Manasieva (RUS,17) d. Anastasia Sevastova (LAT) 6-2 6-4