Main-draw action kicked off on Monday at the Nature Valley Classic and the biggest news of the day was third seed Karolina Pliskova‘s loss to Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2 6-3, although the upset is not surprising if we take into account that Rybarikova’s first WTA title was Birmingham 2009 and last year at Wimbledon she eliminated Pliskova in the second round.
Kristina Mladenovic spiced up the beginning of main-draw play by overcoming a straightforward loss of the first set to beat Katerina Siniakova 1-6 6-2 6-4 and Daria Gavrilova followed with a 6-3 7-6(6) victory over Dominika Cibulkova. Naomi Osaka needed just 53 minutes to see off Katie Boulter 6-1 6-2.
Yesterday we had a lot of photos of Genie Bouchard, so our Jimmie48 didn’t photograph her on Monday, but let me tell you that the Canadian hasn’t made it through the final round of qualifying, losing to Jennifer Brady, whose photos we do have.
Jimmie48 also covered the doubles win of Daria Kasatkina and Garbine Muguruza over Barbora Strycova and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova. When it comes to off-court activities, our Jimmie48 photographed Heather Watson and Elina Svitolina enjoying Monday morning tea and sweets at the Ivy Temple Row in Birmingham.
MORE WTA PHOTOS FROM BIRMINGHAM: