Baltacha holds her nerve and serve to ensure progress

The British No 1 reeled off the first four games and held her nerve when things got tight in the second set to triumph 6-2 6-4 on Court 12.

The venue was notable for it was on Court 12 last year that Baltacha, who followed Andy Murray and Anne Keothavong into round two, served for a first-round win against Petra Martic only to go down in three sets.

When she trailed 19-year-old Barthel 15-40 serving at 5-4 in the second, a repeat seemed possible, but Baltacha used her experience, kept going for her shots and closed out victory.

The 27-year-old said: “I kind of felt I was playing two people out there. One, I was playing Barthel, and one I was playing my demons from last year here. It’s unbelievable to have won that, especially on the same court.”

Anne Keothavong admits this could be her last chance to make a big impact at Wimbledon after she secured a place in the last 64 for the third time in her career, with a 6-2 6-4 win over compatriot Naomi Broady.

“It wasn’t an easy match,” she said. “It was a match where really she had nothing to lose.

“I had to go out there as if it was my last Wimbledon. There’s no guarantee that I’ll be back again next year.”

British No 6 Emily Webley-Smith went down in a fighting 3-6 7-5 6-8 loss to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic on Court 14.

Heather Watson and Laura Robson were left frustrated after their first-round matches were cancelled due to the backlog caused by Monday’s wet weather.

In the men’s draw, James Ward could not produce a repeat of his Queen’s Club heroics as he exited in the first round with a straight-sets defeat to 19th seed Michael Llodra.

The Londoner beat Sam Querrey and Stanislas Wawrinka in the recent warm-up event to reach the semi-finals, but he could not find a way past Frenchman Llodra, losing 6-3 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.

Ward lost his first service game before Llodra powered down a number of blistering serves to win the opening set with an ace.

Llodra’s powerful serve proved too much for the 24-year-old in a second-set tie break and Britain’s No 2 was broken early in the third to seal his defeat.

Britain’s No 4 Dan Evans crashed out in a four-set defeat to German 20th seed Florian Mayer.

Evans, from Birmingham, lost his first service game but hit back to take the opening set to a tie-break, which he lost 7-5.

The world No 301 then took the second set to a tie-break, but failed to win again, this time losing it 7-1 on the Court Five clash.

The 21-year-old gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about when he took the third set 6-3, but Mayer broke him early on in the fourth and held on to take it 6-4.

Dan Cox lost out on his Wimbledon debut, falling in straight-sets to Sergiy Stakhovsky.

The 20-year-old from Lincoln was trailing by one set to love when the rain held up his match with the Ukrainian on Monday night, and his fortunes were little better yesterday as his opponent wrapped up a 6-2 6-4 6-2 win.