The Malta Independent 25 April 2024, Thursday
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Tennis: Collins, Pavlyuchenkova through to 2nd round in Eastbourne

Monday, 25 June 2018, 09:45 Last update: about 7 years ago

Danielle Collins is through to the second round of the Eastbourne International after beating British wild card Katie Swan on Sunday.

The 24-year-old American held off a comeback from the teenager to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Collins will play 16th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in the second round. The two have met once before, with Suarez Navarro winning in straight sets in the round of 16 at Indian Wells in March.

Elsewhere, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia fought back to beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Pavlyuchenkova will face No. 2-seeded and defending champion Karolina Pliskova, who has won all five of their previous meetings.

Camila Giorgi will play top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, last year's runner-up, after the Italian eased past Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-2, 6-2.

Kateryna Bondarenko faces arguably an even tougher test in the next round as the Ukrainian is up against third-seeded Petra Kvitova, who continued her impressive form by clinching her fifth title of the season on Sunday in Birmingham.

Bondarenko beat Alize Cornet of France 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova is also safely through to the second round after beating Maria Sakkari 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

The Russian will face Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Donna Vekic of Croatia beat Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with 14th-seeded Czech player Barbora Strycova.

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