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Watson stuns Wozniak to reach round two

Heather Watson upset the form book to reach the second round in Eastbourne © Getty Images

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Britain's Heather Watson delighted the Eastbourne crowd when she upset Aleksandra Wozniak to book her place in the second round of the AEGON International.

The US Open junior champion further underlined her potential when she stunned the Canadian, ranked nearly 300 places higher in the world rankings, with a 6-3 6-2 victory.

The world No. 344 stormed out of the blocks and grabbed a double break to take a 3-0 lead, forcing her opponent onto the back foot as she struggled to overcome Watson's momentum and the fiercely partisan crowd.

Britain's No. 1 female tennis player, Elena Baltacha, is also through after Na Li was forced to retire late on Tuesday. Li had just taken the opening set 7-6(6) when she called a halt to proceedings.

The Chinese star came into the tournament high on confidence after her AEGON Classic triumph over Maria Sharapova, a victory that sent her into the world's top 10. And it was that class that shone through in the only set of the contest, which saw her fight back from an early break to claim the tiebreaker.

Baltacha can take plenty of positives into the next round, not least the fact that she managed to equal her rival despite working with a far less consistent serve.

Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki was sent crashing out of the tournament at Eastbourne by an in-form Aravane Rezai.

The top seed recovered from a slow start and looked to be on course for victory after comfortably winning the second set 6-1, but was beaten 6-4 1-6 6-3 by an aggressive Rezai who dictated much of the play.

It was an impressive victory for the world No. 19, who picked up her first title of the year in Madrid last month, and she will now meet Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the second round.

"I like grass and I play very well on each surface," Rezai told the crowd after her victory. "I tried to play fast because the court was very quick. I feel very comfortable and I love to play in England, and right before Wimbledon it is just perfect."

It was a very different story for fifth seed Kim Clijsters who needed just 54 minutes to steam past her fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-1. With Clijsters, 27, enjoying a successful 'second career' after a two-year break from the sport, the 20-year-old Wickmayer showed she still has some way to go to match the success of her compatriots Clijsters and Justine Henin as she served eight double faults and won just six points on her second serve.

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also joined Wozniacki on the casualty list after being knocked out by Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian world No. 15, who has now beaten Radwanska on four of their six meetings, broke her opponent five times as she wrapped up a 7-6(2) 6-1 victory.

Other winners included Nadia Petrova, Jie Zheng, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sorana Cirstea and Ekaterina Makarova, who defeated sixth seed Flavia Pennetta.

Meanwhile, at the Unicef Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic is out after she lost to No. 7 seed Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-7(4) 6-1. Ivanovic, who was unseeded, hit 12 aces but simply had nothing behind her second serve.

Elsewhere third seed Maria Kirilenko was forced to retire from her second round match against Kirsten Flipkens with an abdominal injury. Flipkens was leading 6-3 3-3 when Kirilenko handed her opponent the walkover. And there were wins for Dominika Cibulkova, Yaroslava Shvedova and Sandra Zahlavova.

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