World number one Iga Swiatek began her grass-court season with a comeback win over last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria.
The Pole, fresh from her French Open triumph, beat the German 5-7 6-2 6-0 at the Bad Homburg Open.
Swiatek, 22, has never gone beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon but is one of the WTA Tour’s most dangerous players.
Earlier, Britain’s Sonay Kartal was narrowly beaten by former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
World number 264 Kartal, who is ranked 213 places below the Canadian, overturned a 3-0 deficit in the final set but ultimately fell 6-2 3-6 7-5.
Swiatek is among the favourites for the Wimbledon title, having dominated the women’s game over the past 18 months.
A former junior champion at SW19, she led Maria by an early break before the veteran German fought back.
Maria, 35, saved three of five break points she faced and broke as the Pole served to stay in the opening set, before Swiatek reasserted her dominance.
She broke Maria early in the second and third sets to accelerate to victory and set up a second-round meeting with Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann.
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 US Open runner-up, needed just 54 minutes to beat German lucky loser Lena Papadakis 6-0 6-1.
Russian-born Varvara Gracheva also won her first match since becoming a French citizen, beating Romanian Jacqueline Cristian 6-2 6-2.
Gracheva was born in Moscow but has lived and trained in France for six years and will represent her new country at Wimbledon.
Elsewhere, Italy’s world number eight Jannik Sinner confirmed he would be fit for Wimbledon after an injury scare last week.
Sinner retired from his quarter-final match at the Halle Open with a leg injury but has since consulted with a doctor after a few days rest.
“Never easy to withdraw, but I had to do what was right for my body in that moment. I’ll be fit and ready for Wimbledon,” he wrote on Twitter.
