A frustrated Mel South lamented her out-of-sorts serving after the New Malden star was bundled out of Wimbledon in rapid fashion on Monday.

South was brushed aside in her 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Regina Kulikova, losing in less than an hour.

And the 24-year-old admitted she struggled to gain any foothold in the match.

South said: “I got pretty frustrated with my serving out there and that was a big disappointment.

“I was broken way too many times during the game.

“Serving is the big strength in my game and if that is not working things become very hard for me.

“I just couldn’t get things started today and she was all over my second serve.

“In terms of effort I was pretty pleased that I gave it a go but I certainly expected a lot more from my performance.”

The Kingston-born player appeared on Court No.5 with both knees heavily taped.

But South insisted she would not be blaming that for her loss to the Russian.

She added: “The knees are an ongoing problem for me.

“The way they were taped actually made it look worse than it is as I needed all of that to keep things in place.

“I am still in the doubles here so I will have to get the OK with the doctor before that begins.

“It is annoying but it is not career threatening or anything like that.”

The SW19 setback is the latest in a line of problems that have seen the New Malden slump to 221 in the world.

But South insisted thoughts of quitting were a long way off.

She added: “On paper I was expected to lose that match so I am not going to get too uptight about it.

“The grass court season to date has been pretty good for me, but the one thing you do learn is that matches are very different to practice.

“There have been a few niggles here and there which has meant I have not really been able to push hard, but I think things will get better.”