Plenty of sunshine blessed Birmingham on Thursday as yesterday’s rain was long gone for the fourth day of the 2015 AEGON Classic.
The tournament’s quarterfinals are now complete as eight players have remained in the 56-player draw, led by tournament top seed Simona Halep. The Romanian delivered yet another convincing performance on Thursday, much to the chagrin of Klara Koukalova.
The Czech WTA veteran found herself unable to handle the world #2. Koukalova lost the first set after just 18 minutes, leading to plenty of tears during the changeovers, while Halep comfortably moved on into the round of the last eight.
Also through to the next round is Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro and Angelique Kerber, the German continues to carry plenty of momentum ever since her successful clay season. Kerber faced Jelena Jankovic on Thursday, reminding everyone that she’s a very capable grass player by sending the Serbian off in two sets.
Afterwards, Sabine Lisicki backed up her record-breaking Wednesday performance with another win. The 2013 Wimbledon finalist moved past 2009 Birmingham champion Magdalena Rybarikova in what were two hotly-contested sets that both ended in the German’s favor.
Also through to the quarters is WTA rising star Karolina Pliskova, the young Czech player had her work cut out for her today, having to play one and a half matches on Thursday. First, Pliskova had to finish her match against Johanna Konta that had to be suspended due to darkness yesterday, followed by her third round encounter against Zarina Diyas.
There are four exciting quarterfinals on the agenda for tomorrow as Pliskova will be facing Carla Suarez Navarro, while top seed Simona Halep will play Kristina Mladenovic. In the afternoon, the match between Katerina Siniakova & Angelique Kerber will follow, setting us up for the duel of the two past Birmingham champions as Sabine Lisicki will face off with Daniela Hantuchova.
Keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog for all of tomorrow’s action from Birmingham!
