Wimbledon 2013: Laura Robson beats 10th seed Maria Kirilenko

Laura Robson stunned Russian 10th seed Maria Kirilenko to reach the second round of Wimbledon and raise British spirits.

The 19-year-old, ranked 38 in the world, played superbly to win 6-3 6-4 and ensure Andy Murray will not be the only Briton in round two.

Heather Watson was earlier beaten by American teenager Madison Keys to become the seventh home player to lose in the first round, with Tara Moore still to play.

Robson gave further evidence on Court One that she can compete with the top players, restricting the world number 10 to a single break point as her sometimes unreliable serve worked beautifully.

"I think that was a big one for me because of all the nerves and playing in front of your home crowd at Wimbledon," Robson told BBC Sport.

"I could have gone 5-1 up in the second and lost my focus a little, started thinking about winning, but I got back to playing point by point and I served pretty well."

With her heavy forehand controlling things from the baseline, Robson broke at 4-3 with two blistering returns before serving out the set.

A thumping backhand down the line gave the Briton a break early in the second set, and a forehand return put her within sight of the finishing line at 4-1.

Robson was in complete control, but her ball toss deserted her as she was broken for the first time in a nervous game.

The pressure was on when the time came to serve again at 4-3 but, with new coach Miles Maclagan looking on, Robson took a close game with a forehand winner and closed out the match with another impressive hold.

Kirilenko joins Kim Clijsters, Li Na, Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams among the big names Robson has beaten in the last year.

The Londoner will hope to maintain her form against the lower profile Marina Duque-Marino, Colombia's world number 117, in round two on Thursday.

Watson, the British number two, had earlier gone down 6-3 7-5 in the opening match on Court Two.

The 21-year-old from Guernsey reached the third round last year and qualified by right this time, but was short of matches after a two-month absence with glandular fever.

She also ran into one of the game's rising stars in fine form.

Keys, 18, was reported to have been unwell over the weekend but there were no signs of that when she cracked forehand and backhand winners to break serve in game three.

Another break gave the American the set, before Watson stepped up the aggression at the start of the second to move ahead at 2-1.

However, Keys - ranked four places above the Briton at a career-high of 52 - always had the edge in power.

She hit back to level at 4-4, fired down two aces to get out of trouble in the next game, and benefited from two net cords as she broke again to wrap up a deserved win after one hour and 16 minutes.

"Some outsiders might look at my draw and think, 'She hasn't got a seeded player, she's got a good draw,'" said Watson.

"But I know Madison is a good player. She's going to be top 30 soon and maybe even higher. It is very tough to get up there."

Moore, ranked 198, takes on Estonia's former quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi on Court 17.
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