Tennis: Barty into second round in Birmingham

French Open champion Ashleigh Barty got her grass-court season off to a winning start with victory over Donna Vekic in the first round in Birmingham.

The 23-year-old Australian recovered from an early break in the first set to beat the Croat 6-3 6-4.

She is joined in the second round by seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 6-4.

Britain’s Johanna Konta faces Jelena Ostapenko in the second round later.

Barty and Williams’ matches were among several to be postponed when play was suspended because of rain on Tuesday.

After a wobbly start against Vekic, Barty won five games in a row from the seventh game in the first set to set up a meeting with American Jennifer Brady, who beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-3 6-3.

Vekic, runner-up at the Nottingham grass event on Sunday, staged a mini fightback when she broke Barty during the Australian’s first opportunity to serve for the match but Barty sealed victory in her next service game.

Barty said that playing as a Grand Slam champion had freed her up, rather than putting pressure on her shoulders.

“I can just go out and enjoy it, enjoy every single match. It is an opportunity to try and be better and really go out there and just have fun,” she said.

“It was really nice to come out now and kind of get back into a normal routine of playing matches again.”

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Williams – who accepted a wildcard to make her first appearance at the Edgbaston Priory Club – put in a solid performance against world number 36 Sasnovich with less than two weeks to go until the start of Wimbledon.

It is only the fourth time Williams has played in a grass-court event before Wimbledon. She appeared in the doubles here earlier in the week but her surprise partnership with Briton Harriet Dart ended in a first-round defeat.

The American will face China’s Wang Qiang in the second round of the singles.

Czech identical twins Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova meet in the second round later on Wednesday.

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