Nottingham Open champion Ashleigh Barty has continued her red-hot Wimbledon lead-up form after opening her Birmingham Classic account with a straight-sets win over France's Oceane Dodin.
The world No.16 showed no signs of slowing down after lifting her second career title on Sunday, beating the 21-year-old Dodin 6-4 6-3 to join fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova in the second round.
Barty will next face German fifth seed Julia Goerges on Thursday while Gavrilova is up against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 24 hours earlier.
Goerges beat Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday to book her place in the second round.
Defending Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza made light work of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, winning 6-1 6-2.
Kvitova defeated Brit Johanna Konta - the beaten finalist in Barty's Nottingham triumph - to set up her match against world No.5 Gavrilova.
Wimbledon and Australian Open semi-finalist Konta said she felt her game was almost there a fortnight out from the All England grand slam.
"I think for 90 per cent of the match I was shoulder to shoulder with her, which was a very positive thing for me," she said. "That 10 per cent is what I'm working on right now to be able to do just that bit better and to come through in some of those close moments."
Elina Svitolina, who came within two wins of becoming world No.1 in January, has maintained her ambitious momentum to reach the top by surviving a tricky start to her Wimbledon build-up.
The second-seeded Svitolina stumbled within sight of a two-set victory and briefly faltered again in the last set before beating Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-1 3-6 6-1.
