Svitolina survives Birmingham battle

Elina Svitolina has opened her grass season with a first round victory in Birmingham, but it wasn’t without a scare.

The world No.5 recorded a 6-2 5-7 6-3 win over British wildcard Heather Watson in two hours, nine minutes.

Svitolina finished strongly after dropping the second set to her No.126-ranked opponent, serving three aces and not facing a break point in the deciding set.

“I have confidence with me, but still I was very happy that I could play my game in the tough moments, in the third set, even though I lost second set in very tough moments,” Svitolina said. “I came back strong and didn’t let the negative things go in my head and was fighting, this was very good today.”

The Ukrainian is the highest-ranked player in the draw following the late withdrawal of world No.1 Angelique Kerber.

Eighth seed and last year’s finalist Barbora Strycova was also a first round winner, defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-3.

In other first round matches, Naomi Osaka fought past Lauren Davis 6-1 2-6 7-6(4) and British wildcard Naomi Broady upset Alize Cornet 7-6(3) 6-0.

The day two schedule is headlined by two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who is competing in her second tournament in a comeback from a serious hand injury.