Daria Gavrilova and Ash Barty began their Birmingham campaigns brilliantly with straight-sets wins on Tuesday.
Birmingham, UK, 21 June 2017 | AAP
Ninth-seed Gavrilova recorded a regulation 6-4 6-4 win over Taiwanese qualifier Su-Wei Hsieh.
Gavrilova broke Hsieh routinely throughout the match, taking a 4-1 lead in the first set before ultimately serving it out and then broke her another three times in the second to close out the match.
While Gavrilova had it relatively easy, comeback kid Barty faced a difficult prospect in Czech rising star Marketa Vondrousova.
The 17-year-old qualifier – who has been on a tear in 2017, winning her first WTA Tour title in Switzerland, defeating world No.22 Barbora Strycova along the way – gave Barty all she could handle.
The Australian, who also won her first Tour title this year eventually prevailed 7-5 7-6(1) to advance to the second round where she will face Strycova.