British teenager Naomi Cavaday insisted there were no regrets after she squandered two match points against former champion Martina Hingis.

The 18-year-old from Kent was on the brink of the biggest win of her fledging career against one of her idols until a 70% fit Hingis stormed back to win the last nine games and clinch a 6-7 (1-7) 7-5 6-0 first-round win.

"It happens," said Cavaday. "It's happened before against different players. It's just slightly different when you've got Hingis down the other end.

"It's very tough. But I gave absolutely everything into staying into that second set. I nearly took it back to a tie-break. I didn't bag it or roll over or anything. In the third, it was very, very tough."

Cavaday, the first of five British wild-cards in action in the women's singles, threatened to add another page to the historical annals of the graveyard of champions on Court Two when she led 3-0 with two early breaks of serve.

She went on to take the first-set tie-break 7-1 and, leading 5-4 and 40-30 in the second set, had two chances to deliver a famous knockout blow against a player 221 places above her in the world rankings.

But Hingis, the ninth seed and Wimbledon champion 10 years ago at the age of 16, dug deep to save two match points before levelling matters and running away with the deciding set.

Cavaday, who has taken her game to a new level after spending three months at the Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida, insisted there were more positives than negatives to take from her defeat.

"Obviously to play that type of champion is obviously a great honour," she said. "I had a fantastic crowd, a big buzz and there are loads of positives I can take from it.

"But I'm incredibly gutted right now that I didn't take it. I have mixed feelings really. There are so many positives to take from it as well as so much to go away and work on.

"I know I can win at this level, I've proved that. It's now just getting to the point where I can do it day in, day out and have that relentless pressure and then I'll be coming through those matches."

The powerful left-hander was the first to settle after the match finally got under way after a delay of almost three hours and broke the former world number one in each of her first two service games.

Hingis gradually worked her way into the match, varying her game more than her inexperienced opponent, and levelled by the eighth game.

Under threatening rain clouds, Cavaday demonstrated her battling qualities to save three set points in the 10th game, despite producing two double faults, and held once more to force a tie-break.

She then held her nerve to win seven points in a row in a one-sided breaker to take it 7-1 and wrap up the 50-minute set.

The exertions appeared to have taken their toll on the British youngster when she twice dropped her serve at the start of the second set.

Cavaday, who provided tough opposition for 18th seed Ai Sugiyama on her Wimbledon debut 12 months ago, pulled one of the breaks back and comfortably held her serve until levelling in the eighth game.

Cavaday, growing in confidence, once more seized the initiative and, serving to save the match, Hingis suddenly looked vulnerable before digging deep to save two match points.

Hingis then rode her luck, breaking her opponent in the next game, and served out to take the second set 7-5 and level the match.

Again Cavaday dropped her serve at the start of the third set and this time Hingis consolidated the break with a confident love service game.

Thereafter the British girl managed only fleeting glimpses of her earlier power and precision as the Swiss ace tightened her grip on the match, although she looked mightily relieved as she left court.

"You couldn't get any closer than being two match points down," reflected Hingis, who has three times lost in the first round at Wimbledon.

"I felt 'no, this is not going to happen to me, not here again at Wimbledon.

"I have never lost on Court Two. I know it's a graveyard of champions but it's never been to me."

Ten years on from her glorious triumph at the All England Club, Hingis admits that, on today's form, she remains an outsider to reclaim her crown and reveals she is still struggling to overcome a hip injury that forced her to miss the French Open.

"I just didn't want to give up not playing Wimbledon, no matter what," she said.

"Maybe it wasn't the smartest decision at first. I'm about 60, 70%, so it's not healed properly but my doctor told me I can't make it worse."