We've got three first-round picks from the Nottingham grass to get into today. Grass always throws up a few surprises early in the season and this looks like a card with at least one or two matches that could go either way. So let's see what we're working with.
WTA Lexus Nottingham Open Predictions
Zeynep Sonmez vs Leylah Annie Fernandez
Head-to-head: Sonmez 0-1 Fernandez
Fernandez is the higher-ranked player and the obvious pick on paper, but she hasn't been in great form lately and grass has never been the most comfortable surface for her. Sonmez is a solid ball-striker who can make things awkward, and on a surface that tends to reward flat, direct hitting, she's got a real shot here.
The H2H doesn't tell us much with just one meeting and this feels like one of those first-round grass matches where ranking goes out the window pretty quickly. I think Sonmez edges this one out over three sets.
Prediction: Sonmez in 3
Ann Li vs Kimberly Birrell
Head-to-head: Li 2-0 Birrell
Li leads the H2H 2-0, but Birrell is a natural grass-court player and this is about as good a surface as she could hope for. Grass tends to compress rallies and take away the kind of grinding baseline game that Li relies on, and Birrell's flat, low ball should make life difficult from the start.
Birrell in 3 to flip the head-to-head on a surface that suits her far better than it does Li.
Prediction: Birrell in 3
Caty McNally vs Antonia Ruzic
Head-to-head: First meeting
These two are ranked almost identically and have never met, so there's not a lot to go on. Ruzic has been building nicely on tour and her game translates reasonably well to faster surfaces, while McNally is the kind of player who can be streaky and inconsistent, especially in the first weeks of the grass swing. That said, first meetings on grass can be coin flips, but I feel like Ruzic is the slightly more reliable player right now, all things considered.
Prediction: Ruzic in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
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