Eastbourne, June 19:Martina Navratilova made a winning return to competitive singles on Tuesday when she won her first singles match since 1994. The 45-year-old reached the second round of the Britannic Asset Management Championships with a 6-1 4-6 6-2 victory over Russian Tatiana Panova.

Navratilova`s triumph over the Russian, who is 20 years her junior, was greeted rapturously by the crowd. But Navratilova insisted afterwards that this did not mean that standards in the women`s game were slipping.
"If anybody says the women aren`t good, I`ll get really upset because they are good.
"I can still play this game and I can certainly still play it on grass. Don`t look at age, look at ability."
Bureau Report