Nature Valley International. Eastbourne. Tuesday 26th June 2018

26^th JUNE 2018

On another sweltering summers day in Eastbourne, another near capacity crowd witnessed a fine day’s tennis.

Opening proceedings on Centre Court was an ATP match between Gilles Simon from France and the number 5 seed Argentinian Leonardo Mayer.

In a tight contest between the two players it was the Number 5 seed Mayer who edge the match in straight sets 6-4,7-6.

With plenty of action on the outside courts, a packed crowd on Number 3 court saw an impressive performance by Belgium’s Elise Mertens. The Number 9 seed was up against Russia’s Svetlana Ostapenko. Mertens dropped just two games in the match to comfortably win 6-1,6-1.

Back on Centre Court it was the turn of Great Britain’s Number 1 Johanna Konta to entertain the crowd. She was up against the Serbian girl Aleksandra Krunic. Konta booked her place in the last 16 with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory in 1 hour and 13 minutes.

Konta broke Krunic in the fourth and sixth games of the opening set to take the opener 6-1 in 29 minutes. Krunic immediately called for an injury time out after problems with her knee. Eventually a medical time out was needed for the Serbian girl, who was in some discomfort. Eventually after a long delay Krunic’s knee was strapped up and she continued the match.

Konta broke Krunic in the fifth game of the second set and proceeded to take the second set 6-3. The British Number One will know face the Number 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the last 16.

The in-form Petra Kvitova continued her winning ways on grass after beating qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets 7-5,6-3. The Number 5 seed Jelena Ostapenko booked her passage into the last 16 after defeating Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi in straight sets 6-3,7-5.

To cap a great day for the Brits, Cameron Norrie defeated German Daniel Brands in three sets 7-5,6-7,6-2 to seal a place in the next round of the tournament where he will face fellow Brit Jay Clarke.