Emma Raducanu overcame injury concerns as she roared back from a set down to beat Ann Li in her opening match at the Eastbourne Open.
The seventh seed at the WTA 250 event, Raducanu rallied from a set down to beat world No 64 Li 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 in her first match since withdrawing from the Berlin Open last week.
Raducanu responded quickly after falling an early break down in the opening set to Li, though ultimately spurned a 5-3 lead in the tiebreak to fall behind her US rival.
Concerns grew for the Brit after she was broken in the opening game of the second set, though she was immediately handed the break back following a sloppy game from her opponent.
Raducanu grew in confidence from there and broke twice more to force a deciding set, before claiming victory in two hours and 18 minutes.
“I feel incredible,” said a visibly emotional Raducanu in her on-court interview. “I just want to thank the crowd for getting me through some really sticky moments.
“It really meant a lot to me, and I’m so proud of how I fought back after losing the first set.
“It was a tough match. Ann was hitting winners all over the place. It was obviously very windy, but I’m really happy just to have come through that.
“It was tough, it was up and down, but I really think from the middle of the second set I found an extra gear, I found an extra level. I’m really proud of how I came through that.”
The Brit struggled with injury in her Queen’s Club Championships quarter-final defeat to Zheng Qinwen, with a lingering back issue proving to be a problem.
That forced the world No 38 out of last week’s WTA 500 event in Berlin, and there were lingering questions regarding her fitness heading into Eastbourne.
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Raducanu appeared to be struggling physically at points in the first set, though she looked to be in fine fettle as she ultimately stormed to victory.
The Brit dropped two places to world No 38 in the WTA Rankings after missing action last week, and she has provisionally fallen to world No 40 in the WTA Live Rankings.
An early exit would have put Raducanu at risk of dropping back out of the top 40 just weeks after returning to that milestone, though victory here has boosted her hopes.
The 22-year-old remains at 40 in the WTA Live Rankings but now holds 1,321 ranking points, ahead of live world No 41 Dayana Yastremska.
Ukrainian Yastremska is also playing in Eastbourne this week and could have overtaken Raducanu with a round-two victory, had the Brit been beaten in round one.
Yastremska made it through to the second round on Tuesday after Magda Linette retired injured in their round-one contest.
Raducanu will now face Maya Joint in the second round, with the Australian having beaten Ons Jabeur on Monday.
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