Dates: 12-18 June Venue: Nottingham Tennis Centre |
Coverage: Live coverage daily on the BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and app |
Britain’s Andy Murray continued his fine form on grass to move into the Nottingham Open second round.
Britons Liam Broady and Arthur Fery also won their opening matches.
In the women’s event, Britain’s Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart and Jodie Burrage advanced but defending champion Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil was knocked out.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray claimed his first title on home soil since Wimbledon in 2016 with his win at Surbiton last week.
He is ranked 44th in the world and is trying to secure a top-32 seeding for Wimbledon, which begins on 3 July.
“I want to go as deep as possible here to try to get close to a seed for Wimbledon,” the Scot said.
“That’s my goal, so hopefully I can get a bit closer. The courts here are more similar to how Wimbledon plays in the second week so hopefully I can get to the second week of that.
“It was tricky, very blustery conditions. I’m serving well and that helped me out.
“The main thing is to get as many matches played in different conditions against different types of opponents. He was a really big server but I made it through.”
wound, 409th in the world, came back from a set down against American Steve Johnson to win 4-6 6-3 6-3 in a match that could not be finished on Monday because of rain.
Broady also fought back in his match, defeating Japan’s Rio Noguchi 5-7 6-1 6-2.
Jan Choinski, Ryan Peniston and George Loffhagen are all scheduled to play on Tuesday as well.
New British number one Boulter advances
Boulter won her first match since replacing Emma Raducanu as British number one this week, beating compatriot Emily Appleton 6-1 6-3 to move into round two in Nottingham.
Dart beat Canada’s Rebecca Marino 6-4 6-2 and Burrage gained a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) win over Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic.
Boulter is 126th in the world rankings, with 128th-ranked Raducanu currently out of action after hand and ankle surgery.
Burrage and Dart, 131st and 143rd in the rankings respectively, could overtake Boulter next week.
Heather Watson, who won her first-round match on Monday, is 195th and a former British number one and could also regain top spot, but would need to reach the final to have a chance to do so.
Kate Swan is 134th in the world and also could have overtaken Boulter, but those hopes ended as she lost in the first round on Tuesday, beaten 2-6 6-1 6-4 by France’s Alize Cornet.
Boulter became the 23rd woman to become British number one since the rankings began in 1975 and needs to reach at least the quarter-finals in Nottingham to have a chance to stay there.
In a post on Instagram, she wrote: “Been mulling over whether I was going to post this today.
“It’s not my highest ranking nor my best career moment however someone reminded me today that this little girl would be proud if I told her she would be British number 1 one day.
“Whether it be for one minute, one day or one year, it’s not my biggest goal but shows I’m heading in the right direction. Now I’ve got work to do as my main goals are pending.”
Against world number 420 Appleton, Boulter dropped only four games and in the next round she plays Ukrainian lucky loser Daria Snigur, after she gained a shock 6-4 6-3 win over French Open semi-finalist and last year’s Nottingham champion Haddad Maia.
Dart plays fifth seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine in the second round, while Burrage will meet third seed Magda Linette of Poland.
Play at the Nottingham Tennis Centre went ahead as planned on a day there was a series of knife and van attacks in the city in which three people were killed.
“My thoughts go out to all those people and I hope everyone can stay safe,” Boulter said. “Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.”