different story. Each team lost one service game, leading to a tie-break with the score at 6–all. After winning their first serve, and splitting the first pair of points against them, Erakovic and Watson had to watch as Babos and Mladenovic won six straight points to take the set and the match 6–4, 7–6. The grass-court season began the following week, with Erakovic choosing to play again at the Rosmalen Open. She did not defend her doubles title, however, playing only singles. In the first round she beat Carina Witthöft in straight sets. Having missed out on four break points to win the match at 5–4 in the second set, she had to wait a further 20 minutes until she won in a tie-break. In the second round she met Yaroslava Shvedova, who had beaten top-seed Eugenie Bouchard in the first round. Erakovic started badly, dropping serve in the first and fifth games before breaking Shvedova to pull back to 3–5, but both then held serve for the Kazakhstani representative to win 6–4. In the second set Erakovic was broken in her third service game and, despite surviving three match points in the final game, could not break Shvedova, the final score being 6–4, 6–4. Next stop was Erakovic's first English tournament of the year, the Premier-level Birmingham Classic, and again she competed only in the singles. Placed in the qualifying draw, she started with a 6–1, 6–2 win over Alla Kudryavtseva in just over an hour, which included three consecutive aces to win her second service game. The match could not be completed before nightfall on the first day, but Erakovic wrapped it up in just nine minutes on the second morning. Starting just two hours later, her second-round match was a titanic struggle against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens. Erakovic dropped one service game in the first set; they each dropped one in the second, forcing a tie-breaker which Erakovic won comfortably 7–1; and they both held serve through the third set until the rain came with Flipkens leading 6–5. After a break of more than an hour, the players returned to see Erakovic hold her nerve, and her serve, to set up another tie-breaker. She prevailed again, the final score being 4–6, 7–6, 7–6. Into the main draw, her first match was against Petra Cetkovská, whom she beat 6–4, 6–2, to remain unbeaten in their four meetings. Next up