Johanna Konta is quickly up to speed on grass

The British No.1 notched up her first win on grass this season with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Anett Kontaveit at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham.

Konta chose to miss last week’s Nature Valley Open in Nottingham in favour of a week of rest following her gruelling run to the last four of the French Open in Paris. She showed no signs of rust against Kontaveit but afterwards admitted that the transition was not quite as easy as she made it look.

“I wouldn’t say like I’m fully adapted by any means,” said Konta, laughing. “But I think that will come with time and come with matches, but it’s a step in the right direction.

“It was nice to get some court time on the grass because the girls that maybe have had more time maybe haven’t played as much on the grass because the weather hasn’t been too kind. So the fact to be able to play on the grass and play a match, just really happy with that.”

Konta’s path to what would be a first Maud Watson Trophy will not get any easier. She faces either Iga Swiatek or Jelena Ostapenko tomorrow, who face off as part of an impressive line-up today.

Venus Williams, who lost with Britain’s Harriet Dart 4-6, 7-6, 10-7 to Nadia Kichenok and Abigail Spiers in the doubles, and the top two seeds Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty, ranked one and two respectively, will also open their accounts.

Britain’s Heather Watson could not overcome fleet-footed Czech Barbora Strycova. Watson let a lead slip in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat

“I was in a bad mood,” admitted Watson. “A lot of things were getting to me.

“I actually didn’t sleep great last night so that is why I was in a bad mood, just sort of over-thinking the match. And maybe I wanted to win too badly and so I didn’t keep my focus.”

Watson is languishing at 122 in the world rankings and may need a wild card for Wimbledon

World No.3 Karolina Pliskova began her campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Mihaela Buzarnescu but there were defeats for fourth seed Elina Svitolina and fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Svitolina, whose season has been disrupted by a knee injury, went down 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan, while Sabalenka was beaten 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 by Hsieh Su-wei.

Tickets are still available for the Nature Valley Classic and are available at the gate via the LTA Box Office. 0844 581 4995 (Open Tue-Fri 9am to 7pm - 19:00, Sat - Sun 9:00 - 17:00)