CoCo Vandeweghe gets long-awaited win at grass-court tournament

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Former top 10 player CoCo Vandeweghe earned her first tour-level main-draw victory in nearly two years by beating Kristyna Pliskova 6-4, 7-6 (1) on Monday with the help of 13 aces at the Birmingham grass-court tournament.

Vandeweghe, a 29-year-old American, reached two Grand Slam semifinals in 2017, at the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and has twice been a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon. She also won the 2018 U.S. Open doubles title with Ash Barty.

But injuries slowed her progress and forced her off tour.

Vandeweghe last won a WTA match in a tournament main draw in July 2019. Once ranked as high as No. 9, she is currently No. 203.

In other first-round results Monday, No. 3 seed Donna Vekic beat Francesca Jones 6-1, 6-3; No. 8 seed Marie Bouzkova came back to defeat Australian Open quarterfinalist Hsieh Su-wei 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Tereza Martincova eliminated 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur 6-3, 6-4; Caroline Garcia got past Harriet Dart 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; and Heather Watson beat Viktorija Golubic 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.