Wimbledon 2018: Defending champion Donna Vekic pushed all the way by Gabriella Taylor in Nottingham
Vekic dug deep to come through 7-5 5-7 7-6 (7/3) in a marathon match that fell four minutes short of three hours
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.British number five Gabriella Taylor pushed defending champion Donna Vekic all the way before losing their first round match at the Nottingham Open.
Taylor, who scored a stunning win over fellow Briton Heather Watson at Surbiton last week, almost repeated the feat as she grabbed an early break in the deciding set.
But Vekic, who required extensive physio on a back injury early in the third, dug deep to come through 7-5 5-7 7-6 (7/3) in a marathon match that fell four minutes short of three hours.
Nevertheless it was another promising performance from the 20-year-old Taylor, who reached a career-best 168 in the world last week.
Earlier Watson bounced back from her shock defeat to Taylor to move into the second round with a convincing win.
The 26-year-old Watson needed only 73 minutes to claim a convincing 6-1 6-3 win over American world number 252 Danielle Lao.
But there was another British player, Katie Swan, who went down 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 to Germany's world number 117 Mona Barthel.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments