Photos: On and off court at WimbledonKEY POINTS:
LONDON - Marina Erakovic became the first New Zealand woman in 20 years to make the second round of Wimbledon when she beat her Dutch doubles tennis partner Michaella Krajicek 7-6 7-6 today.
The victory was not without its drama as nerves played havoc with the 20-year-old Aucklander in the opening games of the first set and again in the second when she was serving for the match at 5-3.
However, a couple of deep breaths and the support of parochial New Zealanders in the crowd on court six saw Erakovic home.
The last New Zealander to make the second round women's singles was Belinda Cordwell in 1988, who advanced to the third round in both 1987 and 1988.
"I was very happy to see so many Kiwis (today)," Erakovic said.
"It was fantastic. I wasn't expecting it. I saw quite a few faces from back home. Hopefully they'll be there next time I play."
That is likely to be on Thursday (local time) and will be against Germany's Julia Goerges, who beat Slovakia's 23rd seed Katarina Srebotnik 4-6 7-6 16-14 in the first round.
The match against Krajicek was predictably close because she and regular doubles partner Erakovic know each other's games so well.
"It was hard - the odds of us drawing each other were like 128 to one. I saw her in the locker room (afterwards) and we had a little chat.
"It was a very close match, very tight, very up and down," Erakovic said.
She put her poor start and the failure to capitalise on the first match point down to nerves.
"First round nerves, you get that always. Some players deal with it better than others. I knew at 4-1 (down in the first set) I had to pick myself up."
Once she broke back, it was a matter of who was going to keep maintain composure.
Erakovic went 5-1 up in the tiebreak, lost a couple of points, but then wrapped it up 7-3.
In the second set, Erakovic broke Krajicek in the seventh game and was serving for the match.
"It was tough again. I can say it was nerves. I was very nervous playing that game. She just put the ball in the court and it was up to me to do something."
To her credit, Croatian-born Erakovic refused to panic but to most in the crowd it appeared the set was lost when Krajicek went 5-1 up in the tiebreak.
But Erakovic battled back and this time made sure she converted the match point into victory.
"There were a lot of mind games going on and it was tough with the windy conditions."
Krajicek pounded the New Zealander's backhand, figuring that was a weakness, while Erakovic went for the forehand.
Neither came to the net a lot because of the quality of the groundstrokes.
- NZPA
