Katie O'Brien pointed to the biggest pay cheque of her career as vindication of her decision to turn her back on university. The 21-year-old from Yorkshire picked up a guaranteed £16,325 after becoming the first British player to reach the second round of Wimbledon with a hard-fought victory over Germany's Sandra Kloesel. O'Brien took her A-levels in maths and French during her first visit to Wimbledon three years ago but then called a halt to her studies in order to concentrate on her promising tennis career. "I could quite easily have gone to university but I think tennis is a unique opportunity," she said. "I wouldn't change it for the world. There's so much success to be had in tennis, so many opportunities. "There's no reason why I might not pursue an academic career later in my life but, while I've still got this opportunity, I'm going to take the tennis as far as I can." O'Brien, the new British number one, recorded her first victory at the All England Club in four attempts with a 6-3 7-5 win over Kloesel on court 17. Leading 5-3 when the match was stopped due to bad light on the opening day, she broke her opponent to secure the opening set but looked set to be pegged back when Kloesel, the world number 104, turned an early break in the second into a 5-3 lead. Kloesel, who had won the only previous meeting between the pair in 2003, failed to serve out for the match however, losing her serve twice in succession as O'Brien won the last four games. O'Brien, who is operating without a coach, intends to put some of her prize money towards buying a house in her native Hull with sister Holly as well as offsetting her travelling expenses. "To be honest, the money's not a big deal," she said. "I'm more than happy to pick up the ranking points and be in the second round now." O'Brien's cash bonanza will rise to a minimum of £27,050 if she were to beat Michaella Krajicek, the 18-year-old sister of former Wimbledon champion Richard, in the next round and she is full of confidence. She displaced Anne Keothavong as top British player after toppling two top-70 ranked players in the International Women's Open in Eastbourne and admits she has received favourable draw at Wimbledon. "After all that happened last week, I knew I had a good draw," she said. "I was almost expecting myself to win. Now I think I've settled down, I'm really looking forward to the next round. "It feels really good. I think I probably had the most favourable draw out of all the Brits. They all drew seeds, which is a pity. I'm really glad that I've managed to do British women a favour. I have to play better than I did today, that's for sure but I was playing some good tennis last week and my confidence is right up there." O'Brien was left to fly the Union Jack single-handedly in the women's singles after fellow wild-card entrants Melanie South, Keothavong and former British number one Elena Baltacha joined teenager Naomi Cavaday in falling at the first hurdle. Keothavong was predictably no match for world number three Jelena Jankovic in her delayed first-round match - losing 6-2 6-0. Baltacha, who slipped more than 700 places in the world rankings after undergoing back surgery, demonstrated more signs of a recovery against 19th seed Katarina Srebotnik but an error-strewn performance produced another hard-luck story for the Britons. The Kiev-born Scot had the measure of an opponent she beat to reach the last 32 of the Australian Open in 2005 but paid a heavy price for some slipshod serving as she went down 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2. "I came close," she said. "I think it was a really good match. I'm disappointed that I lost." South, 21, from New Malden, reached the second round at her first attempt 12 months ago but was outclassed by veteran Ai Sugiyama, making a 15th successive appearance at Wimbledon. The Japanese world number 27 eased to a 6-3 6-2 victory. | 
