Rybakina withdraws from Eastbourne; Kasatkina, Keys advance

No.1 seed Elena Rybakina has withdrawn from the Rothesay International with a viral illness, the tournament announced on Monday.

Rybakina, a semifinalist in Eastbourne in 2021, had been scheduled to play Wang Xiyu on the first day of main-draw action. The reigning Wimbledon champion had fallen in the second round of Berlin last week to Donna Vekic, and a month ago, she also withdrew ahead of her third-round Roland Garros match also citing a viral illness.

The Eastbourne draw was reshuffled as a result of Rybakina's withdrawal before the start of play. Barbora Krejcikova, a finalist last week in Birmingham, moves into Rybakina's position as the No.10 seed and will face Wang instead.

No.9 seed Daria Kasatkina's opener against Anhelina Kalinina replaced Rybakina on Centre Court on Monday's order of play. Kasatkina rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory in that match.

"Of course I'm happy to get my first win on grass [this year]," Kasatkina said after her win. "As many matches as you can play on grass, it's good and counts. I'm really happy with my performance today and really looking forward for the next match."

Kasatkina took 1 hour and 14 minutes to defeat Kalinina for the third time in their four meetings. Kasatkina had 21 winners to Kalinina's 13, and the ninth seed won exactly two-thirds of points when returning the Kalinina second service.

Kasatkina will face two-time Eastbourne champion Karolina Pliskova in the second round. Earlier on Monday, Pliskova moved past Elise Mertens 6-7(3), 6-3, 3-0, ret., after Mertens retired with a left hip injury.

Former World No.1 Pliskova, who won the Eastbourne title in 2017 and 2019, has won two of her three meetings with Kasatkina.

Finally, former champion Madison Keys of the United States won Monday's late first-rounder, defeating lucky loser Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-4.

World No.25 Keys, who won the Eastbourne title in 2014 as a 19-year-old, fired nine aces en route to victory over 113th-ranked Martincova. 

Martincova held two set points at 5-3 in the first set, but Keys erased those chances before taking the one-set lead after a tiebreak. Keys also came back from an early break down in the second set, winning six of the last eight games in the 1-hour and 43-minute clash.