Peer wins Birmingham opener ahead of Wimbledon

Shahar Peer got her Wimbledon preparations off to a winning start on Monday afternoon as she won her first round match at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.

Up against Frenchwoman Kritina Mladenovic, she didn’t get off to the best of starts as she lost the opening set 6-4. However, showing a battling display which has been lacking from her game of late, she levelled the match up by winning the second set 6-2, before winning the third and final set by the score. She next takes on the ninth seed, China’s Shuai Zhang.

Elsewhere on Monday, Israeli players enjoyed a mixed bag of results. At the Aegon Championships at Queens, Dudi Sela lost his first round singles match to Australian qualifier James Duckworth, 6-0, 5-7, 4-6. There was though a win for Jonathan Erlich in the men’s doubles after he and South African Kevin Anderson beat Australian Matthew Ebden and Pole Mariusz Fyrstenberg 6-3, 6-4. They next take on Philipine Treat Huey and Great Britain’s Dominic Inglot in the second round.