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Birmingham, No. 1 Battle
No.1 Up for Grabs at Historic Staging of WTA Birmingham With the top three players in the WTA rankings tucked inside the Nature Valley Classic draw, WTA fans can get set for what should be an incredible week of grass-court tennis in Birmingham. Top-seeded and World No.1 Naomi Osaka has drawn Maria Sakkari in the first round, second-seeded and World No.2 Ashleigh Barty has drawn Donna Vekic and third-seeded and World No.3 Karolina Pliskova has drawn Mihaela Buzarnescu. Too many good first-rounders at Birmingham (Nature Valley Classic, @the_LTA), including Osaka-Sakkari and Barty-Vekic. Full draw below. According to WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen, No.1 will be up for grabs in Birmingham as Barty will enter just 252 points behind Osaka in the updated WTA rankings. It won’t be easy for Barty, who will need to win the title if Osaka wins her opening match. This year's Nature Valley Classic marks the first time in tournament history that the WTA's top three players have been in the field. In addition to the previously mentioned top three seeds, there are some excellent first-round matches on top at Birmingham. Venus Williams will take on Aliaksandra Sasnovic, Julia Goerges will face Dayana Yastremska and Aryna Sabalenka will square off with Hsieh Su-Wei.
Re: Birmingham, No. 1 BattleOsaka wins, so she remains No. 1 if Barty fails to win the title.
Re: Birmingham, No. 1 BattleNone of those girl gonna take the title from Osaka unless she gets injured and takes some time off. The girl is just too good for most of them. Only Serena can do it.
Re: Birmingham, No. 1 BattleNot gonna happen. Just watch. Re: Birmingham, No. 1 BattleJelena loses to Petra M. in 3, a match she was firmly in control of for 2 sets (up 4-0 in the lst 2 sets), but imploded in the end, eating a candy cane in the 3rd. 20 Dfs, adding to a sum total of "70" donations for the match, while Petra donated 24 points. Hopefully, one day she, as well as Sabalenka, will mature out of error mode and play precise, consistent quality tennis and not whip themselves as often as they do. Re: Birmingham, No. 1 BattleBased on this event, Barty may do an Osaka and win back-to-back slams... "Never argue with an idiot - they take you down to their level and then beat you on experience" "Don't wrestle with a pig: you both get dirty, but the pig actually likes it" Re: Birmingham, No. 1 BattleThat would be great, having a number 1 holding 2 slams and winning outside the slams on all surfaces. |