Eastbourne | Dart kicks off with a powerful win

Britain’s Harriet Dart battled previous Marie Bouzkova on the Rothesay Worldwide at Devonshire Park, in sunny Eastbourne, with the mind-set that she would play Elena Rybakina in spherical 2, however the World No 4 and high seed has withdrawn from the WTA 500 occasion, reportedly attributable to sickness.

It was an unimaginable match, so many ups and downs. Marie’s an unimaginable fighter, and all the time makes it robust. I am very pleased that it turned my manner this time. Harriet Dart

The highest 4 seeds at Eastbourne have been all given byes into the 2nd spherical, however Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, withdrew from the occasion following what the WTA stated was a ‘change of schedule’, however her withdrawal additionally in Berlin attributable to sickness offers rise to issues over her Wimbledon participation.

Dart, the British No 2, now faces Sofia Kenin, a former Australian champion, who enters the draw as a fortunate loser.

The Brit, now ranked 105, fought again from a double break down within the opening two units, later revealing she was scuffling with ache attributable to a knowledge tooth, however she fought again to take the primary set earlier than narrowly shedding a second-set tiebreak.

Dart maintained her composure within the decider on her option to a powerful 7-5 6-7(7) 6-4 win over Bouzkova, the Czech World No 22.

She moved forward for good by breaking for 2-1 within the deciding set, and by no means relinquished her benefit, saving a break level at 4-3 on her option to the win.

A wildcard entry, Dart delighted the house crowd by outlasting the previous Wimbledon quarter-finalist within the marathon encounter that lasted a gruelling 3 hours and 29 minutes, the Third-longest match on tour this yr.

“It was an unimaginable match, so many ups and downs,” Dart stated afterwards. “Marie’s an unimaginable fighter, and all the time makes it robust. I’m very pleased that it turned my manner this time.”

Dart’s compatriots, Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Lily Miyazaki are all in motion on Tuesday.

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In the meantime, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko launched her bid for a 2nd Eastbourne title with a gritty straight units win over Greet Minnen, the 2017 French Open champion defeating the Belgian qualifier, 7-6(3) 6-1 in just below 90 minutes on courtroom.

There was a worrying second when Ostapenko slipped on the grass halfway by means of the second set, however the World No 13 recovered to shut out the match.

Ostapenko gained 9 straight matches at Eastbourne, taking the 2021 title and reaching the 2022 closing earlier than her profitable run was ended by Czech Petra Kvitova.

“I feel the floor fits me rather well,” Ostapenko stated after Monday’s match. “The primary time I performed on grass, I used to be like, ‘how can we play tennis on this floor? I don’t perceive what’s occurring right here’, however then, yearly, was higher and higher.”

Ostapenko got here into Monday’s match figuring out she had routed Minnen on grass of their lone earlier encounter, 6-1 6-2, within the 1st spherical of Wimbledon simply final yr.

Minnen’s sole prior Prime 20 win, although, additionally got here on grass, when she shocked former champion Garbiñe Muguruza at Wimbledon in 2022, and she or he introduced that type of type into Monday’s opening set, the place she led by a break on 3 separate events, and served for the set at 5-4 and 6-5.

Every time Ostapenko fell behind, the Latvian unleashed her big-hitting recreation to instantly pull again on serve, and, within the breaker, the fifth seed fired a backhand crosscourt winner to succeed in triple set level at 6-3.

She solely wanted one, slamming a forehand return winner to squeak out the one-set lead.

A slip and fall at 3-1 within the second led Ostapenko to take an off-court medical time-out, however the tumble seemingly didn’t halt her momentum as she simply closed out the win.

“Grass is a good floor, however generally it may be actually slippery and actually difficult,” 27-year outdated Ostapenko stated in her on-court interview. “So I took the medical time-out simply to ensure I’m effective.”

Qualifier Magda Linette got here from behind to upset Eighth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her opening spherical at Eastbourne on Monday

© Glyn Kirk/AFP through Getty Pictures

Elsewhere, Poland’s Magda Linette, who got here by means of qualifying, managed to upset Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from a set and 3-5 down, to bag her first win over the Eighth-seeded Russian on her Third try, advancing to the 2nd spherical, 1-6 7-6(4) 6-4, after 2 hours and 16 minutes.

One other qualifier, Anhelina Kalinina from Ukraine, took down Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, 6-3 6-2, whereas Yuan Yue superior to spherical 2 when Anastasia Potapova from Russia retired with the rating standing at 6-3, 6-6 in favour of the Chinese language.

As gentle fell on Day 1, Leylah Fernandez, ranked No 30, earned her first win over Barbora Krejcikova, the Czech seventh seed and former French Open champion, after the Canadian notched up a 6-2 3-6 6-2 upset in a match that completed at 9.27pm.

Within the final match of Day that completed at 9.27pm, Leylah Fernandez upset Barbora Krejcikova, the No 7 seed, in 3 units

© Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Pictures for LTA