First upset as a top 10 player
Beatriz Haddad Maia will not remember well her first match as a world's top 10 player. The Brazilian, who came to Nottingham shortly after advancing into semifinals of Roland Garros and becoming a top 10 player for the first time in career, got eliminated in first round of Rothesay Open after losing to Daria Snigur. The Ukrainian, ranked 157th in WTA list, won 6-4 6-3 to perform a big upset and eliminate the last year's champion of the tournament in Nottingham. Snigur was on the front foot in both sets and despite losing two service games in second set, gave no big chances for Haddad Maia and close the match under 80 minutes of play.
Haddad Maia was a sensation of last year's grass season, as she scored 13 wins in a row to win back-to-back tournaments in Nottingam and Birmingham and advanced into semifinals in Eastbourne. The Brazilian will need to improve in the following weeks and defend some of points won last year to stay in top 10 for a longer time than just one week.
6 out of 8 seeds are still in contention after winning in the opening round. The top seed Maria Sakkari has need to put some effort against Xiyu Wang, but made it through by winning 6-2 7-6(6). Donna Vekic went on whole distance against Cristina Bucsa, but the tournament's 3rd seed advanced into second round with after three sets with a score 6-3 4-6 6-1. Magda Linette scored a comfortable win against the qualifier Olivia Gadecki, winning 6-4 6-4.
Shuai Zhang is the only seed apart Beatriz Haddad Maia, who got eliminated in first round. The Chinese is still struggling on the court, as she faced the 9th lose in the row, coming up short 1-6 4-6 to last year's Wimbledon quarterfinalist Tatjana Maria.
102 unforced errors to win
Jodie Burrage has performed probably the most unusual win of this year in WTA related to stats describing the on-court performance. The Brit has fought an exciting battle against Tereza Martincova, winning 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(4) after 3 hours of fight. The most shocking fact is that Burrage managed to move into next round despite committing 102 unforced errors (!) throughout whole the match. The Czech has made much less, but still a significant amount of 54 unforced errors, in compare to just 18 winners, while Burrage managed to hit 31 winners during this long match. Burrage has clearly overperformed, as she created 9 less breakpoints than Martincova (6 to 15), gained less breaks (1 to 3 on Martincova's favour) and won the whole match fespite winning 11 single points less (123 to 134).
Great start for the Brits
Apart from Burrage's win, the opening round of Rothesay Open was really successful for the home representatives in general. 7 players from UK have appreared in the main draw, including 3 of them who managed to come out of the qualifying stage. 4 of the Brits are still in the tournament after prevailing in the first round, which is a really impressive result for the players competing there as qualifiers or wild card receivers.
Katie Boulter have showed a dominant performance in her first appearance as a UK number one. Boulter has became the highest ranked Brit after advancing into semis in last week's ITF Challenger in Surbiton. This time, Boulter was facing her fellowcountry Emily Appleton, who advanced into main draw from qualies. Boulter was a big favorite against the player ranked 420th in WTA list and proved her class by winning 6-1 6-3.
Heather Watson has faced Jule Niemeier in the opening round after prevailing in qualies. The German was a slight pre-match favorite related to odds, but Watson managed to eliminate her opponent in straight sets, 6-4 6-3. Harriet Dart achieved the most valueable win by rank, being the only one Brit who defeated the opponent ranked in top 100 of WTA list. Dart eliminated Rebecca Marino, winning 6-4 6-2.
