Oxford's Lucy Brown gave a good performance despite going down 6-3, 6-4 to Serbia’s Jovana Jaksic in the first round of the girls’ singles at Wimbledon on Saturday.

The 17-year-old, from Elsfield, near Oxford, was making her singles debut at Wimbledon, though she had played in the girls’ doubles last year.

Playing in front of a big crowd on Court No 9, Brown started nervously, losing her first service game, and soon found herself 2-0 down in the opening set.

She got into the match after that, however, and served well, but found Jaksic, the Serbian No 1 junior, just a bit too solid and aggressive at times, and made too many unforced errors to break back.

In the second set Brown again found herself 2-0 down, but then enjoyed a purple patch, winning four games in a row to lead 4-2. However, the Belgrade youngster then stormed back to take the next four games to seal victory in an hour and five minutes.

Brown, the world No 100 junior who had been given a wild card into the girls’ singles after a good performance at Eastbourne the previous week, said afterwards she thoroughly enjoyed the experience on tennis’s biggest stage.

“It was the first time I played singles at Wimbledon, obviously you’re on the court by yourself, but it’s good to have the crowd with you,” she said afterwards.

“I’d only ever seen the girl I played, some people told me bits about her.

“At first, it’s quite difficult just to see how she plays, and then after a few games you can get a feel of what she’s going to do.

“She started off pretty well, playing aggressive, broke my seve, so I was behind all the time, and she just dominated really in the first set.

“The second set I was 4-2 up, but I think she played really well. I just think I made too many unforced errors, gave her too many free points. My serve went well.

“Eastbourne definitely helped, I relaxed in front of the crowds, it was OK.

“I didn’t feel too nervous. I think it’s really good to be around these players.

“I saw Djokovic practising, which was nice to see. I think it’s really inspring, it makes you just want to work hard and carry on.”

Brown, who was practising on the grass courts of St John’s College in Oxford yesterday, will be back at Wimbledon tomorrow.

She is teaming up with Laura Robson in the girls’ doubles, and they have been handed a tough draw against Timea Babos of Hungary and Sloane Stephens of the USA, the No 4 seeds.