Collins and Pavlyuchenkova in Eastbourne second round

EASTBOURNE: Danielle Collins is through to the second round of the Eastbourne International after beating British wild card Katie Swan.

The 24-year-old American held off a comeback from the teenager to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Sunday.

Collins will play 16th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in the second round. The two have met once before, with Suarez Navarro winning in straight sets in the round of 16 at Indian Wells in March.

Elsewhere, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia fought back to beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Pavlyuchenkova will face No. 2 seed and defending champion Karolina Pliskova, who has won all five of their previous meetings.

Camila Giorgi will play top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, last year’s runner-up, after the Italian eased past Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-2, 6-2.

Kateryna Bondarenko faces arguably an even tougher test in the next round as the Ukrainian is up against third-seeded Petra Kvitova, who continued her impressive form by clinching her fifth title of the season on Sunday in Birmingham.

Bondarenko beat Alize Cornet of France 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova is also safely through to the second round after beating Maria Sakkari 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. The Russian will face Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Donna Vekic of Croatia beat Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with 14th-seeded Czech player Barbora Strycova. In Birmingham, Petra Kvitova fought back from a set down to beat Magdalena Rybarikova and retain her Birmingham Classic title as the Czech player continued her impressive form ahead of Wimbledon.

Kvitova hadn’t dropped a set in Birmingham but was tested by Rybarikova before eventually prevailing 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The two-time Wimbledon champion turned on the style after losing the first set and sealed the match with an ace at the end of a love service game.

It was Kvitova’s fifth title this year, more than any other player on the Tour.

If she maintains this high level for another three weeks, everything seems possible for the player whose career looked seriously in doubt 18 months ago after a knife attack at her home in December 2016.