British No.3 Heather Watson has been drawn against Greek fourth seed Maria Sakkari in the first round of the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham, while her Fed Cup teammates Harriet Dart and Katie Swan will play Vera Lapko of Belarus and American Bernarda Pera respectively.
Fellow Brit Naiktha Bains will be making her WTA International main draw debut against French top seed Caroline Garcia at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, where the 2018 runner-up of the ATP Challenger event Dan Evans will be returning as first seed.
World No.80 Evans, who was given a first round bye, will play the winner of the match between Korea’s Yunseong Chung and 17-year-old British wild card Jack Draper. The 2018 boys' finalist at The Championships, Wimbledon will be looking for his first ATP Challenger main draw victory.
With main draw action starting on Monday, second seed Donna Vekic will begin her quest to reclaim her Nottingham crown from 2017 against Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic, and former world No.10 Kristina Mladenovic is scheduled to play Tatjana Maria of Germany. Glaswegian wild card Maia Lumsden has also been drawn against a qualifier, with victory setting up a potential clash against Garcia or fellow countrywoman Bains in round two.
In the men’s event, 19-year-old US college champion Paul Jubb will face Estonian Jurgen Zopp, while fellow British wild cards Liam Broady and Evan Hoyt will be up against Tobias Kamke and Mirza Basic respectively.
Konta and Barty withdraw
After stellar performances at the French Open this week with Ashleigh Barty winning the title and British No.1 Johanna Konta reaching the semi-final, the pair have withdrawn from the tournament.
Konta said: “Regretfully after speaking to my team, I have decided to take the difficult decision to withdraw from the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham. After the couple weeks I spent here in Paris, my body is pretty exhausted from all the matches I have played.
"Nottingham is one of my favourite events. The courts are wonderful so I’m disappointed not to be there this year, but I certainly look forward to seeing all the fantastic fans back there again next year.”
Barty said: “I am sorry to miss returning to Nottingham and the chance to defend my title. Nottingham is one of my favourite tournaments and a place that I hold fond memories of.
"I want to thank Rebecca James and her team for their support and wish them the best of luck for the week ahead. I hope to be back and start my grass season here next year.”
Tournament Director, Rebecca James, said: “There is much for fans to look forward this year with the likes of 2018 champion Donna Vekic and former world No.4 Caroline García in the women’s draw, along with Dan Evans and local star Jay Clarke in the men’s.
"Of course, we were disappointed to lose Ashleigh and Johanna after their great runs in Paris, but we look forward to seeing them back here again in the future.
"We will have a host of other Brits such as Heather Watson, Liam Broady, Harriet Dart, Jack Draper, Paul Jubb and Katie Swan who will all be in action during the first couple of days next week. It promises to be a thrilling week of tennis.”
Catch courtside action!
Centre court tickets are available online and start from just £10 for children under-16 and £21 for adults.