6th Q seed Lauren Davis beat Hibi 6-1 in the decider so she plays Naiktha later today. I was quite happy it was carried over, but in hindsight, I think I'd have preferred Hibi to have served it out before play ended last night.
For what it is worth tennis abstract rates jo as likely to reach tier final and play and lose to barty.
This is not realistic, particularly in the grass court tournament which has produced the worst British results. When the clay court season started there was low expectations for Jo. After her successes on clay I think Jo's grass court season will be over burdened with expectations. Her season could finish with a virtual reverse of 2017. Then her clay court record was won 2 lost 4 and her grass court record was won 13 lost 3. This time the clay court record is won 15 lost 4, grass court ? The worst case could be win 0 and lose 3 which would exactly duplicate 2017's clay and grass court record.
Not saying Jo will reach the final but I certainly don't see it as unrealistic.
I am more interested in her form of late rather than some Birmingham hoodoo.
Will he interesting to see how she transitions to grass. But I don't see that the clay queen should be so unable to find her grass touch. And she should have confidence.
Kontaveit is only ranked 2 places below Jo, and isthe highest ranked played she could have faced being seeded.
There were other potential difficult 1st round opponents. These included Mladenovic(who she does not have a good record against) Yastremska, Martic,Venus Williams and Vekic.