Eugenie Bouchard won only her second match since mid-March after struggling to find form, earning a 7-6, 6-3 defeat of Alison Riske at the Eastbourne International.
Bouchard’s second-round victory in one hour, 40 minutes was her first on grass this season and could not have come at a better time, with Wimbledon starting in six days.
“It’s good to finally get a win,” said the Canadian, who was helped by two aces in the final game as she closed out the 42nd-ranked Riske.
“I had to try and stay with her, she was playing well. I tried to stay calm at the end, enjoy the moment. I’ve really had some ups and downs this season. I’ve learnt a lot about tennis, myself and life as a result.”
The seventh seed will wait for her third-round opponent, either Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic or 2014 title-holder Madison Keys, seeded 12th.
Bouchard is making her Eastbourne main draw debut after falling out of qualifying two years ago.
Two other seeds met upset eliminations in the second round, with Briton Johanna Konta extending her hometown win streak by knocking out Russian fourth seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-4.
“It’s important for me not to treat it differently, I do believe very much so that I do need to approach every match exactly the same with my same intentions and personal goals,” the world No 146 wild card said.
“I’m just happy that I was able to do that today and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to be able to do that again.”
American Sloane Stephens eliminated Carla Suarez Navarro, seeded fifth, 6-1, 7-5.
Czech eighth seed Karolina Pliskova beat Australian Casey Dellacqua 6-4, 7-5 and German 10th seed Andrea Petkovic beat Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-4 to level her summer grass record at 1-1.
Top seed David Ferrer received a Wimbledon warm-up headache when he lost to Marcos Baghdatis at the Nottingham ATP tournament.
In his first outing on grass this year, the Spanish world No 7 lost 6-2, 7-6 to the unseeded Cypriot.
Baghdatis bagged his first win against a Top 10 player in two years by firing nine aces and converting more than 70 per cent of his service points.
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