The British No 1 will face Jelena Ostapenko or qualifier Iga Swiatek in the second round
Tuesday 18 June 2019 08:37, UK
Johanna Konta breezed past Anett Kontaveit 6-4 6-2 in her first match on grass to reach the second round at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham.
The British No 1 was taking to court for the first time since reaching the semi-finals of the French Open and quickly adapted to the surface.
Kontaveit is ranked just two places lower than the world number 18 but the British player competed at a high level throughout.
Konta wrapped up victory in an hour and 12 minutes. She broke her opponent twice in each set and never faced a break point on her own serve.
"No single match guarantees anything but I really enjoyed being on the grass playing the match I played today," Konta said post match.
"I had a very tough opponent out there and I had to really make sure that I didn't have too many dips in my level because she was always going to be right there."
After a career-best clay court season, the signs are there that the 28-year-old could mount a real charge on the grass over the coming weeks. She will face either Jelena Ostapenko or qualifier Iga Swiatek in the second round.
The fourth seed Elina Svitolina did not fare as well as Konta and instead fell at the hands of Margarita Gasparyan 6-3 3-6 6-4.
Gasparyan will continue on and play either compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova or Croatia's Petra Martic.
World No 3 Karolina Pliskova began her campaign with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Mihaela Buzarnescu but fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka was on the end of the wrong side of a deciding set tie-break against Hsieh Su-wei and lost 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1).
Heather Watson was beaten by world No 51 Barbora Strycova, Watson's third straight first-round defeat.
The British No 2 won the first set convincingly and things might have panned out differently had she taken advantage of being 0-40 up in the first game of the second, but Strycova fought hard to turn things around.
Watson, who is looking climb back towards the top 100, saved four match points at 5-3 in the deciding set but Strycova served it out for a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory.
In a jam-packed draw, the two top-ranked players in the world Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty will take to court against Maria Sakkari and Donna Vekic respectively on Tuesday.
Venus Williams, who took a wildcard to enter, will meet Aliaksandra Sasnovich while Britain's Harriet Dart faces Yulia Putintseva.
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