Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki headlines a world-class line-up on Centre Court at the Aegon Open Nottingham on Wednesday, as three of the top four seeds aim to progress to the quarter-finals of the WTA event.
Third seed Wozniacki, fresh from a 7-5 6-3 victory over Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay on Tuesday, is third on Centre Court for her second round match against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia - which will be their first ever meeting on the WTA tour.
Wozniacki, in her first match since returning from a 10-week injury lay-off, advanced in the WTA International tournament on what was a mixed day for British hopes, with Tara Moore joining World No. 18 Johanna Konta in the last 16, while Heather Watson, Naomi Broady and Laura Robson all bowed out.
On the prospect of facing Kontaveit, Wozniacki said: “She is a big hitter and obviously grass suits her, but I am going to make the most out of it and be sure I have another match out here.”
That match will come on after top seed and World No. 17 Karolina Pliskova takes on Anna Tatishvili, who beat Pliskova’s twin sister Kristyna in the opening round.
Fourth seed Monica Puig, who breezed past qualifier Kai-Lin Zhang 6-1 6-1 in her first match, gets the action on Centre Court started against another qualifier, Michelle Larcher De Brito, who overcame Robson 6-3 7-5 in the first round on Tuesday.
On her straight-sets defeat, having been 4-1 up in the second, Robson said: “I started playing more consistent tennis to go 4-1 and not giving her so many freebies. I definitely thought I should have won that second set.
“She played a very quick game to go 4-2 and then it disrupted my rhythm a little bit on my serve. It’s totally my fault and I should have been more aware from that moment what was happening and I just let it get away from me a little bit.”
Broady, beaten 6-2 6-1 by Su-Wei Hsieh, returns to the grass on Wednesday as she teams up with Anastasija Sevastova in the doubles against Shuko Aoyama and Renata Voracova in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Watson, who went down in three sets to Magdalena Rybarikova 4-6 6-0 6-4, revealed that she came into her first grass-court tournament of the year with limited preparation, having struggled with an abdominal tear after the French Open.
“I only had four days of practice before the tournament, but I was actually pleased with the way I served. My first serve today was one of the best parts of my game” Watson said.
“I’m just pleased that I didn’t feel my ab at all today because I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to play.
“I’m pleased that I played and I need a lot more practice on the grass.”
Nottingham local Joss Rae teams up with British partner Anna Smith to round off Wednesday’s Centre Court schedule with their first round doubles encounter against Alla Kudryavtseva and Lin Zhu.