EASTBOURNE, England — Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova saved two match factors on British opponent Harriet Dart’s serve earlier than rallying to win her opening match Tuesday on the grass-court Eastbourne Open.
Dart was 40-15 up on serve main 5-4 within the decisive third set of a rain-affected round-of-32 match that second-seeded Krejcikova went on win 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5.
It was simply the second victory this 12 months for the Seventeenth-ranked Krejcikova, whose season did not begin till Could due to a again harm.
The 29-year-old Czech participant got here to Eastbourne for her closing warmup earlier than starting the defence of her Wimbledon title subsequent week. She misplaced within the first spherical at her earlier grass-court occasion at Queen’s Membership in London.
Emma Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, dropped the primary set on her strategy to a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 win over Ann Li of america. The seventh-seeded British participant subsequent faces Australian teenager Maya Joint, who on Monday eradicated Ons Jabeur, the two-time Wimbledon overwhelmed finalist from Tunisia.
Sofia Kenin, the fourth-seeded American, misplaced her opening match 6-4, 6-4 in opposition to Kimberly Birrell, the 77th-ranked Australian.