Ashleigh Barty has returned to singles action in style, beating Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the opening round of the Birmingham Classic.
Barty played doubles earlier his week as she re-acclimatised to her favourite surface of grass, before brushing aside world No.22 Vekic, a finalist at the Nottingham tournament on Sunday, 6-3 6-4.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the the 23-year-old, who had seven double faults and was broken in the second set when serving for the match.
However, her return game was impressive and she produced the shot of the match in the final game with an exquisite back-hand lob that even drew applause from her opponent.
The Queenslander can potentially move to No.1 in the world if she wins this event, which also features top-ranked Naomi Osaka, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko.
She will now face Jennifer Brady in the second round after the American defeated Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets.
Barty could overtake Osaka at the top of the rankings if she wins the title and the Japanese goes no further than the semi-finals.
Barty said she was delighted to be back on grass and felt fully rested and ready following her Paris exploits.
“I love playing here on the grass on this beautiful court, felt good, nice and clean,” said Barty, who reached the final in Birmingham last year.
“It was a perfect first test for me and I had to be ready. Donna has had phenomenal grass court form in the past.
“I felt good after Paris, a fair bit of adrenalin got me through, but it was good to have time to rest and recover.”