Gavrilova comes up trumps in Birmingham

Daria Gavrilova has prevailed in a tight encounter to open her Birmingham Classic campaign with victory over former world No.4 Dominika Cibulkova.

The world No.25's 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win sets up a clash with either British No.1 Johanna Konta - who was beaten by Ashleigh Barty in the final of the Nottingham Open on Sunday - or defending Birmingham champion Petra Kvitova.

There was little between Gavrilova and Cibulkova in the opening set, the Australian's advantage coming on the bigger points and a new-found maturity evident as she navigated a second set tiebreak to seal victory.

Both players had the chance to secure the set but it was Gavrilova who prevailed following an error from Cibulkova.

"I kept my cool - it doesn't happen too often," Gavrilova said.

"I just thought I had to keep fighting. I was not overly happy when she had set points, and I got a bit lucky when she double faulted - but I'll claim it because I felt I was making enough pressure for her to shake."

Elsewhere, third seed Karolina Pliskova was beaten by world No.19 Magdalena Rybarikova while Japan's Naomi Osaka proved too strong for Brit Katie Boulter.

Pliskova's twin sister Kristyna had no such problems, eliminating Conny Perrin of Switzerland in straight sets. There were also wins for Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic, American fourth seed Jennifer Brady and Kristina Mladenovic of France.

Barty is also in the field in Birmingham and opens her account on Tuesday against French qualifier Oceane Dodin.

Defending Wimbledon champion and top seed Garbine Muguruza faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova while world No.5 Elina Svitolina takes on Donna Vekic.