NOTTINGHAM, Great Britain - With No.1 seed Caroline Garcia and No.2 seed Donna Vekic leading the way, all 16 first-round singles matches took place indoors, on hard courts, at the Nature Valley Open on Wednesday after the first two days of the grass-court warmup event were washed out by rain.
In total, seeds went 6-2 in the first round, with No.4 seed Maria Sakkari, No.6 seed Ajla Tomljanovic and No.9 seed Tatjana Maria, who was bumped up to a seeding position in the draw following the withdrawal of Yulia Putintseva due to GI illness, all winning in the afternoon.
Tomljanovic defeated American Danielle Lao, 6-2, 6-3, while Maria edged former finalist Monica Niculescu in a third-set tiebreak, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3), but it wasn't a winning day for all the seeded players in more ways than one.
Read more: Sakkari soldiers on in rainy Nottingham
No.5 seed Dayana Yastremska was forced to withdraw from the event early on Wednesday due to a viral illness, and the draw was reshuffled to include No.10 seed Evgeniya Rodina, who fell to Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse, 6-3, 6-3.
"My favorite surface is grass, so I would like to play on grass, but this weather is tough for everyobdy. I'm very happy with my win today," Ruse said.
"It's my first Top 100 win in a long time, because I was injured. I'm very happy and looking forward for the next matches."
In addition, American Jennifer Brady scored a 6-3, 6-3, upset of No.7 seed Zhang Shuai.
In unseeded affairs, however, the locals had plenty to cheer about. Great Britian's Harriet Dart defeated Vera Lapko, 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-3, while wildcard Maia Lumsden scored her first WTA main draw win over compatriot Tara Moore, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Rounding out the evening, as No.8 seed Kristina Mladenovic was the last player to win, Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo edged American Shelby Rogers in a match that lasted three hours and 12 minutes, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4)
