by Spencer Vignes

This morning Gabriella Taylor felt so ill that she was on the verge of pulling out of Junior Wimbledon altogether.

Some under-cooked chicken consumed on Tuesday evening had caused the 18 year old Hampshire tennis starlet to be sick throughout the night.

Playing a third round match in the girls’ singles at the All England Club was the last thing she wanted to do.

Yet somehow Taylor managed to regather herself.

By 2pm she had decided to play. By 3pm she was on court. And by 4pm she was off it again having somehow managed to beat the number two seed Rebeka Masarova 6-1 6-1 in a match that was perhaps closer than the scoreline suggests.

"I was up being sick so I am really surprised the way I played,” said Taylor. “I was really bad. I didn’t practice as I usually would. I really was considering withdrawing, it was that bad. I’m just glad I didn’t.

“I feel slightly better now after the match, now that I’ve settled down, but I still didn’t feel too good going out there. I was lucky because the match before on that court was a very long one which went on and on. That gave me more time to prepare myself.

“In the end there was no pressure today. I didn’t think I’d be able to play. I didn’t expect to be there so I just went out and gave it my best shot. It was ‘Let’s see what happens’.

“I’m really glad with the way I performed. The score doesn’t show how difficult it was. She had a really good serve, a very good first serve. She’s number two in the world for a reason and she won the (junior) French Open. She wasn’t an easy player.”

In her three girls’ singles matches so far at this year’s Junior Wimbledon Taylor has yet to lose a single set. On top of that the Southampton teenager has won all her rounds for the loss of just 10 games, a quite staggering statistic.

She is now the only British boy or girl left in the singles at Junior Wimbledon and tomorrow will face Kayla Day of the USA for a place in the semi-finals.

“That win and everything that happened before it has boosted my confidence for the next round,” adds Taylor.

“I don’t really look at who I’m going to play next or their results. I just try to go out there and play my best tennis."