British number one Johanna Konta defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4 7-6 to advance to the third round at Eastbourne.
Konta struggled briefly in the second set, but fought back valiantly to win the tiebreak and clinch victory in one hour and 37 minutes.
The world number 19 will now face Ons Jabeur in the third round, after the Tunisian recovered to defeat Mandy Minella 2-6 6-2 6-1.
“There was so little in this match. I felt she was playing better than me for most of that match,” Konta said.
“I’m really pleased to have stayed tough and created as many opportunities as possible.”
Dan Evans made a winning start to his campaign at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne.
The British number three made it 11 wins on grass so far this season by beating higher-ranked Moldovan Radu Albot 7-6 (2) 6-2 and he will play either Pierre-Hugues Herbert or Denis Kudla in round two.
It was revenge for Evans after he narrowly missed out on winning a first ATP Tour title in Delray Beach in February, losing to Albot in the final after holding three match points.
Cameron Norrie will face countryman Kyle Edmund for the first time after an impressive 6-3 7-6 (4) victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the opening round.
The match was suspended overnight with Norrie 3-0 up in the opening set. He went on to take that but the second was much tighter and the British number two had to save a set point at 5-6 before coming through the tie-break.
There was disappointment for Jay Clarke, who won the first set against Juan Ignacio Londero but eventually went down 6-7 (5) 6-1 6-3.
PA
