British No 4 Mel South became the first home-grown player for six years to qualify for the third round at the DFS Classic and immediately set her sights on breaking into the world's top 100.

The 22-year-old from Surrey spanked fourth seed Sybille Bammer in straight sets to emulate Julie Pullin's run at Edgbaston Priory in 2002 which was finally derailed by Magdalena Maleeva.

But South, who beat compatriot Anna Fitzpatrick in Monday's first round, is in the type of form that could take her past her next opponent - Japan's Aiko Nakamura and Romania's Sorana Cirstea meet today to decide who that will be - and into alien territory.

Although South came through without losing a set, the 6-4, 7-5 scoreline barely hints at the drama involved, particularly in a hard-fought second set that had five consecutive service breaks until the Briton eventually closed the match out after an hour and a half.

In all there were 14 breaks as both players assailed the other's serve with South particularly brutal on the Austrian's, allowing her only one point in her final three service games.

Finally the world No 154 held her nerve and produced two non-returnables to set up a pair of match points, the first of which was accepted as Bammer, ranked 28, went long with yet another unforced error.

South also discovered she has been awarded a wild card into Wimbledon, which starts on Monday week, and will return to the scene where two years ago she stunned No 11 seed Francesca Schiavone: "The nerves were jangling a bit at the end but I have had big wins before so Iused that confidence, knowing I could close it out," South said. "Obviously it was going to be tough, she has been a top 20 player for a while and she has got good results but I just kept fighting.

"I think I can do something similar at Wimbledon now, if you look at it point by point you can take a point off anyone. I think I can beat a lot of the girls who will be in the draw at Wimbledon. I believe in myself. I have done a lot to work on my game but my next step is the top 100 by the end of this year."

Domestic No 1 Anne Keothavong did not enjoy such a good day, however. Already into the main draw at the All England Club by virtue of her recent climb into the top 100, the Londoner was dumped out of the tournament by Kateryna Bondarenko.

Keothavong struggled to come to terms with the Ukrainian's power game and, having lost the first set 6-3, she was blown off court in the second. Pinned into her backhand corner, the 24-year-old could not find away out and could win only two more games.

But she remains positive that, after reaching the final at Surbiton last week, she is still in a good position to make her presence felt at Wimbledon.

"I feel I've had a good year so far and come on leaps and bounds," Keothavong said. "I'm feeling confident and believe more in myself and in my game and I think my results and my ranking shows that. There are a lot of things to be positive about and I can look forward to the summer."

Before she takes to the lawns at Wimbledon, however, she plays in the Netherlands - her tournament win in Lebanon last month earned her direct entry leaving another British player free to accept a wild card at Eastbourne.

There were also first-round victories for Petra Cetkovska, Marta Domachowska, Camille Pin, Sam Stosur, lucky loser Melinda Czink, Virginia Ruano Pascual, Marina Erakovic, Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua.

Second-round wins came for Michaella Krajicek, Bethanie Mattek and Ekaterina Makarova while Tamarine Tanasugarn knocked out ninth seed Tamira Paszek for the loss of only one game.