Nottingham Open: Kristina Mladenovic moves into second round

Kristina Mladenovic and Donna Vekic were among the winners in the first round of the Nottingham Open.

Kristina Mladenovic moved into the Nottingham Open second round, while former champion Donna Vekic battled through on Wednesday.

Mladenovic, coming off a French Open doubles success, was too good for qualifier Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-2 at the WTA International tournament. The eighth seed managed to break five times in her win, setting up a last-16 meeting with Australian Astra Sharma.

Vekic, the 2017 champion, overcame Dalila Jakupovic 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 in just under two hours.

The rain may have forced play indoors, but @DonnaVekic advances at the #NatureValleyOpen!

She survives Jakupovic, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-0 pic.twitter.com/IsIhDF7agZ

— WTA (@WTA) June 12, 2019

 

After a second-set hiccup, the Croatian rushed through the third set, losing just 10 points to advance from a match moved indoors due to persistent rain in Nottingham. On what was a good day for the seeds, Caroline Garcia thrashed Naiktha Bains 6-1, 6-2, Maria Sakkari brushed past Heather Watson and Ajla Tomljanovic beat qualifier Danielle Lao.

At the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch, two-time runner-up Kirsten Flipkens upset fourth seed Lesia Tsurenko 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 in the second round.

There were also wins for qualifier Greet Minnen and Natalia Vikhlyantseva.