Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki will be joined by a parade of British stars, including Heather Watson, Naomi Broady and Laura Robson, on centre court at the Aegon Open Nottingham on Tuesday.
A fourth Brit, Tara Moore will be in action for a fourth straight day, having come through qualifying to reach the main draw of a WTA event for the first time. She plays 19-year-old Croatian Donna Vekic first up on Court 1.
The quartet will be looking to join British No. 1 Johanna Konta in the second round, after the second seed celebrated reaching a career-high ranking of 18 with a commanding 6-3 6-0 victory over American Victoria Duval.
Nottinghamshire local Freya Christie was the only Brit to exit on the opening day, with the 18-year-old’s WTA main draw debut ending 6-4 6-2 against China’s Saisai Zheng.
Wozniacki, the 23-time WTA title winner, will be making her return after two months out with an ankle injury, which ruled her out of the entire clay-court season. The third seed, however, has recovered in time for the first WTA-level event on grass and takes on Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay first on centre court at 12pm, and the Dane is thrilled to be back playing after a 10-week absence.
”I want to get back into the rhythm of playing matches and find my form,” she said. “I’m excited to be here and to play my first time here, so it is a new experience and it is fun.”
Wozniacki anticipates a challenging week at the WTA International event at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.
Already, Johanna Konta, who moved up to a career-high world ranking of 18 on Monday, comfortably beat American Victoria Duval to move into the second round.
“It’s a good field,” said Wozniacki. “I think it’s nice also for the British girls to play here in front of a home crowd, and it’s nice to see more British girls playing well.”
The British trio of Watson, Broady, and Robson also get their campaigns underway tomorrow on centre court, although Robson will no longer face defending champion Ana Konjuh, who has pulled out of the tournament with injury.
Robson will now face Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Meanwhile, top seed Karolina Pliskova, had to come from a set down to beat Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. However, she will not face her sister Kristyna in round two, as she went down 6-4 7-6 to America’s Anna Tatishvili.
Leicestershire’s Katie Boutler bowed out at the final qualifying stage, losing 6-0 6-1 to China’s Kai-Lin Zhang.
AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
$250,000 – 6-12 JUNE, 2016
RESULTS – JUNE 06, 2016
Women’s Singles – First Round
[1] [WC] Ka. Pliskova (CZE) d A. Sevastova (LAT) 67(5) 60 62
[2] J. Konta (GBR) d V. Duval (USA) 63 60
[8] C. Mchale (USA) d M. Linette (POL) 61 64
A. Tatishvili (USA) d Kr. Pliskova (CZE) 64 76(4)
A. Kontaveit (EST) d L. Davis (USA) 63 61
S. Zheng (CHN) d [WC] F. Christie (GBR) 64 62
Women’s Doubles – First Round
[3] X. Han (CHN) / Y. Wang (CHN) d O. Savchuk (UKR) / K. Zhang (CHN) 76(1) 61
[4] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / Z. Yang (CHN) d C. Buyukakcay (TUR) / K. Nara (JPN) 63 62
Women’s Qualifying Singles – Third Round
Qualifying – [1] K. Zhang (CHN) d K. Boulter (GBR) 60 61
Qualifying – A. Barty (AUS) d [2] T. Paszek (AUT) 64 61
Qualifying – M. Larcher de Brito (POR) d A. Hlavackova (CZE) 62 46 76(2)
Qualifying – T. Moore (GBR) d S. Aoyama (JPN) 62 62
ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, JUNE 07, 2016
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
C. Buyukakcay (TUR) vs [3] C. Wozniacki (DEN)
[WC] L. Robson (GBR) vs [Q] M. Larcher de Brito (POR)
S. Hsieh (TPE) vs N. Broady (GBR)
M. Rybarikova (SVK) vs [6] H. Watson (GBR)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
[Q] T. Moore (GBR) vs D. Vekic (CRO)
Z. Diyas (KAZ) vs [5] Y. Wickmayer (BEL)
[LL] T. Paszek (AUT) vs K. Nara (JPN)
after suitable rest – [WC] F. Christie (GBR) / L. Robson (GBR) vs Ka. Pliskova (CZE) / Kr. Pliskova (CZE)
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
[Q] A. Barty (AUS) vs S. Peng (CHN)
[7] M. Barthel (GER) vs A. Riske (USA)
[4] M. Puig (PUR) vs [Q] K. Zhang (CHN)
L. Davis (USA) / C. Mchale (USA) vs [2] Y. Xu (CHN) / S. Zheng (CHN)
The Aegon Open Nottingham will see two tournaments take place in June, with the women’s WTA event being staged from 4-12 June 2016. Both tournaments will be an integral part of the British grass-court season, which features 11 international grass-court tournaments in eight venues across the country.
Fans can watch action at the Aegon Open Nottingham for as little as £15. Please visit the LTA website for more details.