Wozniacki, Pliskova ease through at Eastbourne

June 25, 2019 | 10:36

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Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki started her grass-court season brightly, while top remaining seed Karolina Pliskova moved into round three at Eastbourne on Monday (Jun 24).

wozniacki pliskova ease through at eastbourne

Happy memories: Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki began the defence of her Eastbourne title. (AFP/Glyn KIRK)

Newly crowned world number one Ashleigh Barty withdrew from the Wimbledon tune-up due to an arm injury after her efforts in winning the Birmingham Classic on Sunday.

That means world number three Pliskova is the highest-ranked player in the draw and she became the first player into the last 16 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Russia's Margarita Gasparyan.

Wozniacki, seeded 11th, was also a comfortable winner in the first round as the Dane dispatched Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-4.

"I love playing here, it brings back great memories for me," said Wozniacki, who also won at Eastbourne in 2009.

"I was here for the first time when I was 14, so that's basically half of my life."

Wozniacki faces German Andrea Petkovic in round two.

Women’s second round:

Karolina Pliskova (CZE) bt Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) 6-3, 6-3

Women’s first round:

Ons Jabeur (TUN) bt Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5

Daria Gavrilova (AUS) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 6-0, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (8/6)

Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Tamara Zidansek (SLO) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-3, 6-4