British star and No. 2 seed Johanna Konta and fellow local hopeful Tara Moore will hit Centre Court on Ladies Day at the Aegon Open Nottingham tomorrow (Thursday) as they look to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA International event.
World No. 18 Konta, who became the first Brit to break into the top 20 in 33 years, gets the day started as she takes on China’s Saisai Zheng at 12pm, while the day of ‘tennis passion and fashion’ on Centre Court concludes with Moore up against eighth seed Christina McHale.
Moore, who reached the final of the Aegon Trophy Eastbourne last week, said: “Everything feels like it has clicked, which is really nice and it is quite rare in tennis, you don’t have periods like this that often.
“You take it when it comes, you roll with it and I’m really trying to run with it as much as I can.”
Moore and Konta will be looking to join Anett Kontaveit in the last eight after she shocked former World No. 1 and third seed Caroline Wozniacki in a high-quality encounter on Wednesday.
The Estonian prevailed 6-7(5) 6-3 7-5 in a gruelling two hours and nine minutes on Centre Court to set up a quarter-final meeting with America’s Alison Riske.
“I managed to stay aggressive, and managed to keep playing my game and doing that every point.”
Wozniacki, returning to the tour after a 10-week injury lay-off, put in a battling display in the third set, coming back from 4-1 down to level at 4-4. But she could do little to prevent an inspired Kontaveit from breaking in the eleventh game.
Reflecting on the defeat, Wozniacki said: “It was a match with some up and downs and she played really well so hats off to her.
The Dane was also complimentary of the tournament as a whole. She said: “It’s a great tournament. It’s really nice and they really take good care of us players and the courts are really good. I’ve had absolutely no complaints. It’s a great event.”
Meanwhile, top seed Karolina Pliskova and Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig had no such difficulties as they blasted their way past their second round opponents in 58 minutes. Pliskova eased to victory over America’s Anna Tatishvili 6-1 6-3, while Puig saw off qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito 6-4 6-0.
Elsewhere, Nottingham local Joss Rae and her British partner Anna Smith, finalists in the Aegon Open Nottingham women’s doubles in 2015, were beaten 3-6 6-3 [6-10] by Alla Kudryavtseva and Lin Zhu in the first round.
That result leaves Naomi Broady as the last remaining British hope in the doubles, as she partnered Anastasija Sevastova to beat Shuko Aoyama and Renata Voracova 3-6 6-2 [11-9].
Ladies Day
Fans at the Aegon Open Nottingham tomorrow (Thursday) will be treated to Ladies Day fun. Presented by House of Fraser Nottingham, ‘Fashion on the Court’ will take centre stage at 11.30am. There will be a host of activities and pop up stores for people to pick up their summer essentials.
Fans can also take advantage of the ‘Doubles Deal’ offer available where you can buy three tickets and get one free. Please visit the LTA website for more details.
For those coming down later in the day, they can take advantage of the twilight ticket offer, with adults £10 and children (4-16) free.
AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
$250,000
6-12 JUNE, 2016, RESULTS – JUNE 08, 2016
Women’s Singles – Second Round
[1] [WC] Ka. Pliskova (CZE) d A. Tatishvili (USA) 61 63
A. Kontaveit (EST) d [3] C. Wozniacki (DEN) 67(5) 63 75
[4] M. Puig (PUR) d [Q] M. Larcher de Brito (POR) 64 60
A. Riske (USA) d S. Hsieh (TPE) 62 64
Women’s Doubles – First Round
[1] H. Chan (TPE) / Y. Chan (TPE) d R. Olaru (ROU) / A. Tatishvili (USA) 46 63 13-11
A. Hlavackova (CZE) / S. Peng (CHN) d N. Melichar (USA) / A. Rosolska (POL) 62 64
A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / L. Zhu (CHN) d J. Rae (GBR) / A. Smith (GBR) 63 36 10-6
N. Broady (GBR) / A. Sevastova (LAT) d S. Aoyama (JPN) / R. Voracova (CZE) 36 62 11-9
ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, JUNE 09, 2016
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
S. Zheng (CHN) vs [2] J. Konta (GBR)
[Q] A. Barty (AUS) vs [LL] A. Hlavackova (CZE)
[LL] T. Paszek (AUT) vs M. Rybarikova (SVK)
[8] C. Mchale (USA) vs [Q] T. Moore (GBR)
COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
[3] X. Han (CHN) / Y. Wang (CHN) vs Ka. Pliskova (CZE) / Kr. Pliskova (CZE)
A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / L. Zhu (CHN) vs [4] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / Z. Yang (CHN)
N. Broady (GBR) / A. Sevastova (LAT) vs [2] Y. Xu (CHN) / S. Zheng (CHN)
[1] H. Chan (TPE) / Y. Chan (TPE) vs A. Hlavackova (CZE) / S. Peng (CHN)