Pictured: Katy Dunne in action against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the Aegon Trophy at the Nottingham Tennis Centre. (Copyright free image)
British wild card Katy Dunne stunned former Wimbledon semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to progress to the second round of the Aegon Trophy in Nottingham.
The 19-year-old showed great composure on the way to beating the seventh seed, ranked 383 places higher, 6-4 0-6 6-1.
Lucic-Baroni is the first player in the top 100 that Dunne has defeated.
"I can't really explain how happy I am after this win," said Dunne.
"Before today my best win had been against someone in the 300s, so I was pretty chuffed out there playing against a former Wimbledon semi-finalist."
Dunne found herself under immediate pressure against Lucic-Baroni, having her first service game broken.
She recovered to claim the set, but then found herself swept aside by the Croatian, who was beaten by seven-time Wimbledon champion Steffi Graf in the last four of the Grand Slam in 1999.
"I had a toilet break and just told myself I had nothing to lose. In my head I was thinking, 'okay there is more chance that she will win this now' because she had just won six games in a row," said Dunne.
"I just kept trying to be positive and telling myself that there were a few close games – I did have some chances."
Dunne returned to the court reinvigorated for the deciding set, racing to a 4-0 lead. And yet she refused to take her commanding hold on proceedings for granted.
"I'd never been in that position against a top 100 player so I was telling myself not to change, not to panic," said Dunne.
In the end, Lucic-Baroni handed her victory with a double fault.
Earlier, another British wild card Emily Webley-Smith went out against Serbia's Vesna Dolonc, ranked 284 places higher, in straight sets 6-2 6-2.
Former Aegon Classic winner Melanie Oudin was the first to advance to the second-round, easing past Nadiya Kichenok of the Ukraine 6-3 6-1.
Elsewhere, Marcus Willis got the better of fellow Briton Brydan Klein 6-7(3) 6-4 7-6(4) to progress to the main draw of an ATP Challenger event for the first time since 2010.
"I'm delighted to get through. Brydan is a good player, very tricky and he doesn't let you play your best tennis," said Willis.
"That is a really good win for me."
Meanwhile, the British duo of Edward Corrie and Joshua Milton were both beaten in three sets by Australians in the final round of qualifying.
Third seed JP Smith fought back from a set down to overcome Corrie 2-6 6-3 6-4, while Milton was beaten 7-5 3-6 6-0 by sixth seed Benjamin Mitchell.
Wild card Kyle Edmund will be in action on centre court on Tuesday against eighth seed Dudi Sela, while former World No. 8 and 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis faces former Aegon Trophy champion Benjamin Becker.
In the women's draw British No. 3 Johanna Konta takes on Andrea Hlavackova, wild card Tara Moore faces 2011 Aegon Trophy champion Eleni Daniilidou and Naomi Broady is up against Tamira Paszek.
The Aegon Trophy is the first of back-to-back events making up the Nottingham Festival of Tennis, with the Aegon Challenge finishing on Sunday 15th June.
Entry to both the Aegon Trophy and Aegon Challenge is free for all spectators.
For more information, including orders of play and a full list of results for the Nottingham Festival of Tennis, visit www.nottinghamfestivaloftennis.com.