- Author, Joe Rindl
- Role, BBC Sport journalist
Defending champion Katie Boulter reached the third round of the Nottingham Open with an assured win over Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino.
The British number one broke early in both sets in her 6-4 6-4 victory to set up a quarter-final tie with either fifth seed Magdalena Frech or Tatjana Maria.
But despite her win, secured in one hour 14 minutes, the third seed warned “it’s going to take some time” before she hits her top form on grass.
Boulter is building towards Wimbledon, which starts on 1 July.
Having needed more than three hours to beat Harriet Dart in the first round, she got off to a dream start on centre court by breaking Marino’s second service game.
She defended two break points while serving for the opener before taking the set with a fine forehand Marino could only return into the net.
In the second, she broke twice to lead 3-0 but then uncharacteristically lost her next service game having been 40-0 up.
The world number 30 was unperturbed though, breaking Marino for a fourth time to win the match.
“I’m very realistic, for me it’s about bedding in some of this momentum,” she added.
“I’m going to take it one match at a time and see how far we can go.”
Later on Wednesday British number five Heather Watson was beaten by Czech sixth seed and 2016 champion Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-4.
Evans beats British teenager Searle
Earlier, Great Britain’s Dan Evans reached the third round of the Nottingham Open with a battling win over teenage compatriot Henry Searle.
Second seed Evans was well matched by the 18-year-old and after his 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) win said the reigning Wimbledon junior champion will be “a hell of a player”.
Searle, the current world number 630, is yet to make his debut at ATP Tour level, but underlined his potential in a tight contest.
“He’s obviously very good,” said Evans.
“I’m just happy to come through to be honest – it’s not the draw I wanted to see when I saw I was next to his name.”
Neither player was able to break serve in the opening set which Evans sealed with an ace at the end of a tense tie-break.
In the second set qualifier Searle broke Evans early and missed out on a second break point at 4-3.
In the next game Evans broke back and then had the edge in the tie-break to record a straight-set win.
Evans will face British qualifier Charles Broom in the quarter-finals after the 26-year-old beat South African eighth seed Lloyd Harris 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-4 on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, British number two Jack Draper beat American Marcos Giron 6-3 3-6 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting with fourth seed Frances Tiafoe in the Stuttgart Open.
Naomi Osaka set up an intriguing quarter-final match against fellow US Open winner Bianca Andreescu in the Netherlands.
Japan’s Osaka, playing in her first grass-court tournament for five years, beat Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens 6-2 6-2 in s’Hertogenbosch.
Canadian Andreescu, who has been blighted by injuries since winning the US Open in 2019, came past Chinese sixth seed Yue Yuan 6-4 6-4.