Elena Baltacha came through a battle of the walking wounded on Court 18 this to secure a first-round win over Karin Knapp.
The 28-year-old Briton, who has been handed a wildcard place for the Olympics, saw off her Italian opponent 4-6 6-4 6-0 after a match littered with medical time-outs.
It had first looked as though Baltacha would win through retirement, with Knapp requiring lengthy treatment after a fall early in the second set.
But then, after Knapp returned and failed to stop her opponent levelling at one set apiece, Baltacha, the world number 101, asked for treatment herself.
She was the stronger player in the third set, though, and broke serve three times to tee-up a second-round meeting with defending champion Petra Kvitova.
Appearing at Wimbledon for the 11th time and already buoyed by her Olympics news, Baltacha started the better of the two players and took the first break in the fifth game, forcing Knapp to hit a backhand off the court.
With momentum in her favour it was therefore surprising to see her surrender her advantage in a marathon eighth game. She had already saved two break points on deuce and squandered three match points of her own when she planted a forehand wide, letting Knapp in to level, with the 24-year-old quickly breaking again to take the set.
The second set started with Baltacha pinning a forehand to the corner that Knapp reached for but could not get, causing her to fall to the floor.
She was clearly in some pain and was treated for almost 20 minutes but, to her credit, she returned, albeit only to fall to a 6-4 loss.
Baltacha offered Knapp hope at the end of the set, though, asking for medical attention herself, only to shake off whatever the problem was and break three times in a row to take the match.
"The last three weeks have been a complete and utter nightmare," said Baltacha.
"But, everything I have been feeling in the last three weeks has all come out in those tears. I'm a very happy girl. I will always remember the moment I found out I was going to be an Olympian. You're talking about the elite people in sport in the whole world."
Anne Keothavong became the third British woman to make it through to round two of Wimbledon after a 6-3 6-3 win over Spain's Laura Pous-Tio.
Keothavong, who is ranked 25 places higher than Pous-Tio, recovered from a scrappy opening to clinch the first set with relative ease.
Keothavong then broke her opponent twice in the decider and despite a late break from Pous-Tio, the Londoner served out to follow Heather Watson and Elena Baltacha into the last 64, where she is likely to meet Italy's Sara Errani.
There was a nervous start to the match, with both players losing their opening two games amid a tense atmosphere on Court Three.
Keothavong then broke again after Pous-Tio netted to move 3-2 ahead. She double-faulted twice in the following game but still held before engineering three set points on Pous-Tio's serve immediately after.
The home favourite needed only one opportunity, powering down a big forehand return to take the set after 40 minutes.
Keothavong then suffered a shaky moment at the start of the second set, needing 11 minutes to hold her first service game.
The Londoner grew in confidence and broke her opponent in the following game with a fine forehand return.
Pous-Tio could not break Keothavong's serve and gave her opponent three break points in the sixth game.
Keothavong failed to convert the first two but had no such trouble with the third, smashing down a winner at the net after a thrilling rally which saw both players running to all corners of the court.
Serving for the match, Keothavong suddenly had a wobble, losing to love, but she held in her following service game to move through to the second round at SW19 for the fourth time in her career.
"The win today was good," she added.
"It's a first-round match at Wimbledon so I was a little bit nervous at the start.
"There were quite a few breaks at the start but I felt like I settled into the match well eventually, and I never really felt I was going to lose it."
Keothavong now hopes to get through to the third round for the first time in her career.
"Errani is a French Open finalist so she's going to be a tough opponent," Keothavong said.
"But it's a match where I definitely feel I've got to do things better than I did today if I'm going to have a shot at it."
Francesca Schiavone came from a set down to break Laura Robson's heart in a thrilling clash.
Robson is ranked 71 places below world number 26 Schiavone, but the 18-year-old Londoner made the 2010 French Open champion look ordinary in the first set by putting on a majestic display of powerful baseline tennis.
Despite needing treatment for what looked like a back injury, Schiavone regained her composure and survived break point in the second set before running out a 2-6 6-4 6-4 winner.
Robson earned a huge standing ovation when she left Court Two, and despite showing flashes of brilliance, the ambitious teenager will no doubt see this as a missed opportunity to claim a huge scalp against a woman who was once ranked fourth in the world.
A crestfallen Robson said afterwards: "In general I think she took a lot of time between points, and that gave me more time to think about what I was doing. I think that's really tough."
Schiavone defended her conduct by saying she had every right to bide her time.
"She wanted to be fast, and sometimes you have to stop a little bit more," Schiavone said.
"We have a lot of seconds (between points), and it's important to use them.
"We forget that because we are in a rush, but it's important to play at the best, and not just keep running and running."
Robson took just 25 minutes to wrap up the first set against 24th seed Schiavone, but she lost momentum in the second.
Schiavone had 15 minutes' worth of off-court treatment for a back injury, and also called the physio to the court twice more, but she did need any medical help in the deciding set.
Robson denied the break which followed the first set had anything to do with her defeat.
"I don't think it affected me because I won my first service game in the second set, and then I was holding serve fairly easily until the one service game that I lost," Robson added.
"I just tried to go for a little bit too much on my first serve.
"I should have just stuck with how I was playing before."
"I'm really disappointed today. But she's a grand slam champion and I am definitely closer to winning matches like this than I was a few months ago."
Johanna Konta could not cause an upset on her Wimbledon debut as she lost to 30th seed Christina McHale in a marathon encounter on Court 17.
Konta, who was born in Australia but received British citizenship last month, won the first set on a tie-break but lost the second and play was suspended at 7-7 in the decider at 9pm on Monday night.
Konta, ranked 187 places below her opponent, had her serve broken in the third game when the match resumed on Tuesday, and despite then setting up three break points of her own the Briton lost 6-7 (7/4) 6-2 10-8.
"I had good support, it was good to hear them and from what I heard I think they embraced me," Konta said.
"I've heard of (the Plastic Brit debate), but I have lived here for seven years so it's not a new thing.
"I feel British and I am happy to finally have GBR next to my name.
"People who are in touch with tennis will have seen my name around for the last few years. I very much hope that I have been accepted now."
