Baltacha vows to never throw in the towel after gutsy first round performance

By Sportsmail Reporter
Updated: 13:35 EST, 23 June 2008

Elena Baltacha showed her fighting spirit to edge into the second round of Wimbledon - but then met her match in an over-zealous official.  

The British number four dispatched bad-tempered German Angelique Kerber 6-3 2-6 7-5 to set up an appointment with the dangerous Jie Zeng of China.  

High emotion: Elena Baltacha uses her towel to wipe her tears away after a gruelling first round victory over Angelique Kerber...

But after collapsing to her knees in jubilation and sobbing into her hands, she was forced to fend off attempts from a court coverer to take her official tournament towels.   Players are urged by the All England Club to leave the two towels provided for each match after it was discovered their 'theft' was costing £60,000 a year.  

Baltacha wanted to keep a souvenir of her gutsy victory over an opponent who sits 27 places higher in the world rankings at 131, but was given short shrift by her new adversary.  

"I couldn't believe it - they took away the towel. I was so gutted," she said.  

"Maybe on Wednesday I can hide one or something when I walk onto court. I don't know why they took the towel away. The man put his foot down and that was it."  

It was the third time wild card Baltacha has progressed beyond the opening round at Wimbledon, but she flirted with an early exit on Court 11 this afternoon.  

Stationed throughout on the baseline, her shots ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous - sending Kerber scrambling one minute and gifting easy points the next.  

But she rallied magnificently in the decisive third set, showing tenacity to take advantage of her tiring opponent, whose display was peppered with several petulant outbursts.  

"I thought I lost the match three times but I just fought and fought," said Baltacha.  

"I always give 100%. I've come back from quite a few matches where I've been down. That's my fighting spirit. I never give up."  

Baltacha's career has been hampered by two bouts of tonsillitis, chicken pox, a liver infection and back surgery, but the Ukrainian-born 24-year-old is enjoying a problem-free spell.  

Training at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton has taken her game to a new level - although she admits her new regime has come at a cost to her taste buds.  

"Since I've been going to the NTC, I've been looking at other areas off court like nutrition," she said.  

"I put on quite a bit of weight end of last year because of my back problem.  

"At one event in Doha before I joined the NTC, my whole body just shut off. I knew I was unfit and I needed to do something about it.  

"I've trimmed down a lot and now I feel really fit. I've lost a lot of weight and I'm chuffed about that. Physically, I'm at my peak.  

"But I'm really gutted because it means I've had to cut out pizza - pepperoni was my favourite. I'll have to ask my coach if I can have a slice tonight to celebrate."