Dominika Cibulkova hits a return against Harriet Dart during the WTA Eastbourne International tournament yesterday. (AFP)

Agencies/Eastbourne, England

Dominika Cibulkova made a welcome - and winning - return to the tour yesterday, beating young British wildcard Harriet Dart in her first round match at the Aegon International Eastbourne.
Cibulkova struggled somewhat on her serve, getting broken three times, but her return was on fire as she broke seven times to cruise past the 18-year-old, No.358-ranked Dart in an hour and 19 minutes, 6-1, 6-3.
Having gone as high as No.10 in the world during a breakthrough 2014 season that was highlighted by her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, Cibulkova is now down at No.49 in the world after missing more than four months of action due to a left Achilles injury. She underwent surgery to repair the injury in March.
Next up for Cibulkova will be No.3 seed Lucie Safarova, who had a bye in the first round.  

Bedene reaches second round
British number two Aljaz Bedene held on to defeat Diego Schwartzman and reach the second round at the Aegon Open in Nottingham yesterday.
The 25-year-old Slovenia-born player, who was granted UK citizenship in March this year, raced into a 6-1 first-set lead but his Argentinian opponent hit back 7-6 (7/5) in the second before Bedene completed his win as he took the third 6-2.
Next up for Bedene is eighth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who received a bye in the opening round. British number three Kyle Edmund suffered a hard-fought straight-sets defeat to Malek Jaziri, who struggled with a left knee injury during round one.
The 20-year-old wildcard, who resides in Beverley, looked quite comfortable as the match got under way beneath the darkened skies on Centre Court. But after just over 12 minutes on the grass, the pair endured a rain delay lasting around 90 minutes before they could resume, with the Tunisian eventually edging a 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/5) win to reach the second round where he faces Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo held on to record a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria in the first match to be completed later following the rain interval on Court Two. Italian Simone Bolelli eased to a quick-fire 6-3, 6-2 victory over Japanese qualifier Go Soeda.

Nadal to play at Stoke Park
After suffering a first-round exit at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club, Nadal has decided he needs more match practice ahead of his title bid in SW19.
Despite having recently won the ATP tournament in Stuttgart, he has therefore decided to play at least one exhibition match at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire this week. The event starts today and runs until Saturday, although it is yet to be announced when the Spaniard will play. Nadal joins world number one Novak Djokovic as a headline name at the event.