Simona Halep was on court for only nine minutes in her first competitive grass-court match of the season against Duan Ying-Ying on a rainy day in Eastbourne at the Aegon International.

Second seed Halep had just broken back to trail China's Duan 2-1 in the first set when the heavens opened and no further play was possible.

The world number two from Romania, playing her first match since losing to Jelena Ostapenko in the French Open final, will return on Thursday (AEST) hoping the weather holds as she looks to build some momentum for Wimbledon.

It was the same story in the only other second-round encounter to get under way on Wednesday, with Mona Barthel leading Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-1 after two breaks of serve.