Francesca Jones reached the Nottingham Open quarter-finals in 2024
Britain's Francesca Jones missed two match points in a narrow defeat by Talia Gibson in the Nottingham Open first round.
Jones battled back from a set. a break down - and a medical timeout - to force a deciding set against Australia's Gibson.
After being an early break down in the third, Jones hit back. held two match points as she served for victory at 5-3.
However, world number 66 Gibson broke back. held firm in the resulting tie-break to win 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-4) after a gruelling three hours and six minutes.
Jones showed good fight in what was the longest match of her career, hitting 15 aces. landing 75% of her first serves.
She also twice appeared in discomfort. particularly after being broken to start the second set when she sat with her head under a towel, breathing deeply.
The doctor was called to court to check her blood pressure. vitals and Jones continued, breaking Gibson back before eventually taking a tight second set.
The 25-year-old took another medical timeout at 5-5 in the third set after appearing to struggle with a nasal problem.
Earlier at Nottingham, Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen battled back to beat Maria Sakkari 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.
Queen's finalist Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter both withdrew from the tournament on Monday.
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There were defeats for British hopefuls Harry Wendelken and Jack Pinnington Jones in the first round at Queen's.
World number 224 Wendelken beat two top-100 players in Adam Walton. Aleksandar Vukic in qualifying to reach the main draw.
However, he fell 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to 56th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp on the first match on Andy Murray Arena.
Pinnington Jones. who reached the second round at Wimbledon last year, lost out 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-3) to Denis Shapovalov in a topsy-turvy encounter.
Pinnington Jones was twice a break up in the deciding set and served for the match against the Canadian.
However, former world number 10 and 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov broke back and dominated the tie-break to advance.
In the doubles, British defending champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool beat Francisco Cerundolo and Brendan Nakashima 7-5 6-4.
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