French Open champion Ash Barty opened her grass court season with a win against last week’s beaten Nottingham finalist Donna Vekic.
Barty faced break points in her opening service game but was able to fight them off to take the first set.
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The Australian is a chance to end the week as world no. 1 if the results go her way.
Since winning the French Open, Barty has played a round of golf at The Belfry before getting back to business in Birmingham.
In the opening set, Barty broke Vekic twice to take the first set 6-3. She was broken once by the Croatian.
The second set was much the same with Barty going up two breaks of serve before Vekic kept in the match by breaking Barty when the Australian first served for the match at 5-2.
After letting Vekic keep in the match, Barty was able to serve it out on her second attempt to complete a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
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Barty looked pretty good in her first match since winning her first Grand Slam tournament in Paris. She hit 21 winners to 14 unforced errors. Vekic had 19 winners and 18 unforced errors.
Next for Barty is a round two match against USA’s Jennifer Brady, the world no. 66.
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