Naiktha Bains earns statement Surbiton win as injury sends Liam Broady to Ilkley

THIRD time proved the charm for Leeds tennis standout Naiktha Bains as she took down former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Viktorija Golubic in the first round of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy.

Bains, 26, had faced the Swiss player twice before, including in Wimbledon qualifying last year, losing on both occasions.

But in front of a big crowd on Centre Court in Surbiton, she produced arguably her best performance since returning from a fractured rib, winning in straight sets 6-2 7-5.

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Having come through qualifying, it was a huge result for the British No 17, taking down the number three seed.

Naiktha Bains of Great Britain celebrates a point during her match against Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland on day two of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy (Picture: Tom Dulat/Getty Images for LTA)Naiktha Bains of Great Britain celebrates a point during her match against Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland on day two of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy (Picture: Tom Dulat/Getty Images for LTA)
Naiktha Bains of Great Britain celebrates a point during her match against Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland on day two of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy (Picture: Tom Dulat/Getty Images for LTA)

She said: “I’m definitely happy to have won my first round. I don’t think I’ve done that here to be honest. And playing against Viktorija, we’ve played three times now and I guess we can say third time lucky.

“She’s a quality player regardless of the court surface but her game really suits the grass. The last time I played her was at Wimbledon qualifying last year in the second round. She got the better of me in three sets there. So I’ve played her twice on grass. I really love playing her on grass, it’s a really fun match, both of us love it. It’s fun tennis out there.”

Bains last played on Centre Court at Surbiton in 2022, against Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in qualifying.

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This was another step up in terms of crowd size however, and having spent four months unable to do any training whatsoever as she recovered from the rib issue, she made sure to take it all in.

Liam Broady of Great Britain in action at Wimbledon last year (Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images)Liam Broady of Great Britain in action at Wimbledon last year (Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Liam Broady of Great Britain in action at Wimbledon last year (Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

She added: “I love it. I think it helps me, I loved playing out there. Any home crowd is just the best, it makes me feel better.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the main draw of one of these with my ranking dropping. Hopefully it helps me to get back to where I was before the injury.

“I’ve got to manage the injury, I don’t know if it will be a 12 month thing until we can forget about it. I’ve been clinically given the go-ahead by my physio at the beginning of the year. We might have rushed it a little bit because I didn’t take any training, I went straight back to playing. Me being my eager self, I didn’t want to spend any more time out. We managed and I’m happy to be playing the tennis I played here and have been playing.”

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Liam Broady has pulled out of next week’s Rothesay Open in Nottingham after sustaining a concussion by hitting his head on his car boot.

He could now head to the Ilkley Trophy instead, which begins on July 15.

Broady wrote on X: “Some bad news… Was on track for next week but I hit my head on my car boot on Sunday evening quite hard.

“Tried to practise yesterday and got a pretty bad migraine. Turns out I have a concussion! So won’t be ready for Nottingham. Hopefully Ilkley if all goes to plan.”

For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website

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