Paszek beats Keothavong, Konta wins opener

World number 33 Paszek, who chose to play on despite obviously struggling with illness, produced a gritty performance – saving eight set points at 4-5 in the first set and another in the tie-break - to get the better of Keothavong.

The 2012 Aegon International winner and two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist battled on in the tiebreak, despite stopping with a coughing fit at one stage, before asserting herself in the second set and sealing the 7-6(6) 6-3 victory.

The Austrian moves on to play American Alison Riske on Wednesday.

“It has been a tough last couple of weeks, I’ve been struggling with my health and it is really nice to see that the hard work of the last week pay off,” Paszek said.

““I put all my heart out there I tried fighting to the end and play aggressive. My energy levels were at zero because I’ve been really sick these last couple of days.

“I didn’t have enough energy and strength to keep going for 7-6 or a third set, so I really left everything out there, played aggressive and went for my shots.”

Konta found her feet on grass quickly against Belgium’s An-Sophie Mestach, winning 6-2 6-4 to set up a meeting with fifth seed Misako Doi of Japan in the next stage on Wednesday.

The Aegon Team GB Fed Cup player was delighted to start the British grass court season and lead-up to The Championships, Wimbledon on the right foot.

“The conditions were tough out there with the wind, but I stayed solid and was glad to come out on top,” Konta said.

“I have some hours under my belt on the grass now and hope to take that into the next round – I’m happy with the start that I got.”

Elsewhere in the women’s singles draw, second seed and world number 69 Jana Cepelova crashed out against Canadian qualifier Gabriela Dabrowski, 2-6 6-4 7-6(5).

Fourth seed Eugenie Bouchard edged past Madison Brengle 6-4 2-6 7-5 to book a meeting with another American, Irina Falconi on Wednesday.

In the men’s draw British number three Alex Bogdanovic went out in straight sets to world number 137 Michael Berrer of Germany.

Despite his straight sets exit Bogdanovic was upbeat after getting a feel for grass.

“It was a tough match today, but I have to take the positive out of it as I actually played pretty well out there,” Bogdanovic said.

Berrer takes on Donald Young in the second round after the American the better of eighth seed Vasek Posposil of Canada.

Defending Aegon Trophy champion Benjamin Becker got his title defence off to a solid start, beating compatriot Matthias Bachinger 7-5 6-7(5) 6-3. He faces Steve Johnson next, with the American powering past Belgium’s Maxime Authom 6-4-6-4.

M Berrer (GER) d [WC] A Bogdanovic (GBR) 6-3 7-5

[7] B Becker (GER) d M Bachinger (GER) 7-5 6-7(5) 3-6

T Smyczek (USA) d J Duckworth (AUS)7-5 6-3

M Ebden (AUS) d T Ito (JPN) 7-5 6-2

[4]  K De Schepper (FRA) d R Williams (USA) 6-3 7-6(12)

D Young (USA) d [8] V Pospisil (CAN) 7-6(5) 7-5

S Johnson (USA) d M Authom (BEL) 6-4 6-4

[1] T Paszek (AUT) d [WC] A Keothavong (GBR) 7-6(6) 6-3

[WC]  J Konta (GBR) d A Mestach (BEL) 6-2 6-4

[4] E Bouchard (CAN) d [Q] M Brengle (USA) 6-4 2-6 7-5

M Sanchez (USA) d [5] M Doi (JPN) 6-2 6-3

S Fichman (CAN) d T Tansagugarn (THA)6-2 6-1

[3] K Pliskova (CZE) d M Larcher De Brito (POR) 7-5 7-5

[7] C Vandeweghe (USA) d S Dubois (CAN) 7-5 6-4

O Rogowska (AUS) v C Simmonds (RSA) 6-4 6-4

P Martic (CRO) v M Koehler (POR) 7-6(5) 6-1