Wildcarded Brit Naomi Broady eased into the second round in Birmingham for the first time after upsetting her much higher-ranked opponent Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
Ajla Tomljanovic entered the match as the favourite; the Croat is the higher ranked player out of the two, has posted more wins on tour this year than Broady, and has more experience playing at a higher tour level. However, with the crowd firmly on her side, Broady put aside her ranking of World #224 and played her socks off.
Throughout much of the first set the two players were relatively even; both posted good numbers on serve as well as coming through some difficult moments on serve to hold. It wasn’t until World #79 Tomljanovic broke the Broady serve that the Brit started playing lights out tennis. Broady broke back and reeled off 3 games in a row to take the first set 6-3, much to the delight of the crowd.
Broady started the second set off well holding firm on serve. The Croat’s serve came under fire early on in the second set with Broady throwing the kitchen sink at her opponent. With the scoreline at 30-30 Tomljanovic double-faulted gifting her British opponent a break-point chance. Tomljanovic showed no sign of nerves and played a good point to bring the game back to deuce; should she be broken so early in the second set, she may as well start booking her flight home. Some excellent and gritty play from the Croat saw her end a lengthy game and stop the run of games against her to hold at 1-1.
With both players managing to play some great tennis it made for quite compelling viewing, with Tomljanovic showing some of the form which saw her break the Broady serve in the first set. At 3-4 down the Croat held to love, even garnering a big cheer from the some-what biased British crowd.
After holding for 5-4 Broady could smell blood, finding herself at 0-30 on Tomljanovic’s serve. Serving match-point down at 15-40 Tomljanovic played an excellent point to stave off the first match-point, however Broady was not to be denied at much -nticipated win in Birmingham, winning the match by striking a ball into the tape of the net which dutifully dribbled over, handing Broady the win.
The key to Broady’s success throughout the match was her big serve managing an impressive 12 aces and 90% of first serve points won throughout the match. When asked about her serve on court after her victory Broady joked, “I’m quite tall, so I might as well use it for something.” She then added, “If I serve well I can compete with anyone,” a bold statement she will need to back up if she is to make it into Round 3 at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.
Broady’s prize for getting through her match will be a meeting with top-seeded Simona Halep. The two are of a similar age and grew up playing in the same tournaments, however Broady will have to strike while the top seed is perhaps not at her best; Halep enters Birmingham fresh-off a first-round defeat in Roland Garros and is yet to play on Grass, whereas Broady has just come off a semifinal showing in Surbiton last week. With the crowd behind her perhaps she could pull off an unthinkable task when she plays the World #4 for a chance at the third round.
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