BIRMINGHAM. Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty to fight for title and world no.1

Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty are the top seeds and the favorites to win the title in Birmingham.

Besides being the leaders of the draw, the Japanese and the Australian will also fight for the world no.1. Ashleigh can dethrone Naomi if she wins the title and Osaka doesn’t reach the final or she is the runner-up, and Naomi loses in the opening match.

Naomi Osaka

The world no.1 had a rather tough draw to face an in-form Maria Sakkari already in the 1st round. This is Naomi’s projected path:

R1  – Sakkari
R2  – Putinseva
1/4 – Goerges
1/2 – Svitolina
Fin  – Barty

Ashleigh Barty

The Australian is in fantastic form, and she is a specialist on grass. This means that soon after she won the French Open (clay used to be her least favorite surface), she will be full of confidence in Birmingham. This is Ashleigh’s projected path:

R1  – Sakkari
R2  – Putinseva
1/4 – Goerges
1/2 – Svitolina
Fin  – Barty

Projected quarters

Here are the projected quarters

Osaka – Goerges
Svitolina – Konta
Sabalenka – Pliskova
Wang – Barty

Here the draw