Elena Baltacha made the perfect start for home fans at Wimbledon by overcoming Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-3 2-6 7-5 in the first round.

The 24-year-old wildcard recovered from an early stutter after dropping serve in her first service game of the match, breaking three times to take the opening set.

Kerber then reclaimed the momentum at the start of the second set, breaking the fourth-ranked Briton twice to reel off four straight games before easily taking it 6-2 to set up the dramatic decider.

Baltacha, who reached the third round at the All England Club six years ago, won the first seven points of the third set, but Kerber saved three break points to keep the final set on serve 1-1.

The German then collected the break advantage in the fifth game as the partisan Court 1 audience went silent.

The Middlesex resident somehow managed to pull off two more amazing comebacks, however, breaking back in the eighth game before trading breaks with the German again in the ninth and tenth as Kerber failed to serve out for the match.

Baltacha finally held serve again in the 11th game, saving four more tense break points, and eventually closed out the victory on her third match point after a lucky net cord went her way.

The Briton will next face China's Jie Zheng, who beat 30th seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 6-3.

British number three and recent Birmingham quarter-finalist Melanie South, meanwhile, lost her opening round match to 28th seeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-3 6-7 (1) 6-4.

On the men's side of the draw British number two Alex Bogdanovic crashed out to Italy's Simone Bolelli 6-7 (4) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (4), suffering his seventh loss at the All England Club in seven matches.

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Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport