Former champion Agnieszka Radwanska succumbed to a first-round defeat for the third year in succession at the Eastbourne International as the top seed was beaten 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The 2008 champion, failed again to gain traction on the south coast lawns and goes into next week’s start of Wimbledon well short of match practice.
Former world No1 Caroline Wozniacki received a much-needed boost following her opening round French Open exit as she dismissed Sam Stosur 7-5, 6-4, to set up a second round clash with American Sloane Stephens.
Wozniacki rallied from 3-5 down in the first second and 0-2 down in the second to defeat the Australian and post her first win since Madrid six weeks ago.
German fifth seed Angelique Kerber also got off to a winning start at Devonshire Park, the 2012 finalist beating American Alison Riske 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
The Russian spent almost two-and- a-half hours compiling her upset win, firing nine aces and 41 winners while breaking four times from eight chances.
World No8 Victoria Azarenka is making her return to tennis this week after more than three months out with a foot injury, which she says is now fine.
The two-time Australian Open champion from Belarus starts in the first round on a wild card against Italian Camila Giorgi.
“I’m very excited, I can’t wait to play,” said Azarenka. “That’s the most important thing. That’s why I’m here. “Once I felt healthy, I started practising and I just wanted to play. I’m here in Eastbourne to try to test myself in competition. I’ve been tested in practise, but competition is a completely different thing.”
In the men’s draw, Jeremy Chardy upset fifth seeded Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4 and 2013 finalist Gilles Simon, the No6 seed, began with a defeat of Australian qualifier Chris Guccione, playing his first ATP singles match in almost a year, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
Australian Bernard Tomic ignored distractions from an adjacent court, lining up a secondround meeting with top seed Richard Gasquet after a defeat of Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-4.
“The calls from Court 1 were coming in, I thought half the time it was a let. It was very difficult,” said Tomic. “I didn’t know what was going on until I addressed the umpire, and he managed to turn down Court 1’s speaker system, because it was tough to play when you were hearing calls in the back.”
