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Heather Watson through to Hobart International second round

Heather Watson of Great Britain plays a backhand in the women's single's match against Teliana Pereira of Brazil
Image: Heather Watson plays a backhand her first round victory over Teliana Pereira

Heather Watson eased through the first round of the Hobart International with a 6-3 6-0 win over Brazil's Teliana Pereira.

The British No 2, who is defending the title, won the first set but she did not have it all her own way against a player ranked seven places above her at 46th in the world.

Watson broke serve twice but faced 10 break points on her own serve, Pereira only able to convert one of them.

The Guernsey player broke in the opening game of the second set and again in the third, and a hard-fought hold took her 4-0 up.

Yet another break followed - Pereira winning just 35 per cent of points on her first serve in the set - and Watson served out a comprehensive victory.

Watson next faces fourth seed Monica Niculescu after the Romanian beat the United States' Christina McHale 7-5 7-5.

Eugenie Bouchard and seeds Dominika Cibulkova and Monica Niculescu were among the other first-round winners on day one.

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Eugenie Bouchard of Canada serves in the women's single's match against Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States during
Image: Eugenie Bouchard beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands to reach the second round

Unseeded Bouchard, who has dropped to 47th in the world rankings following a 2015 disrupted by a serious concussion, enjoyed a routine 6-2 6-1 win over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

But Madison Brengle and Barbora Strycova, seeded fifth and sixth respectively, slumped out of the tournament, the former after retiring due to a respiratory illness when trailing 6-0 1-1. Strycova lost 6-4 6-4 to Sweden's Johanna
Larsson.

Cibulkova was the highest seed in action at number three and the Slovakian battled to a 7-6 (8/6) 7-5 win over Britain's Johanna Konta. 

Australian wild card Kimberly Birrell, ranked 341st in the world, produced a notable result for the home crowd to enjoy when she beat world number 55 Danka Kovinic 6-4 6-3.

Ninth seed Mona Barthel won 6-4 6-4 against Misaki Doi and there were also wins for fellow German Annika Beck, Japanese pair Naomi Osaka and Nao Hibino and Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg.

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