Naomi Osaka could be a doubt for Wimbledon after the Japanese player was forced to retire during her second-round match at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham with an abdominal injury.
The 20-year-old has had a superb year, climbing to 18 in the rankings and winning the prestigious title in Indian Wells, and will be a player to watch out for at the All England Club provided she can recover in time.
There she will play Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who again showed her grass-court pedigree in coming from a set down to defeat Kristina Mladenovic 3-6 6-2 6-1.
Second seed Elina Svitolina had only won one match in three previous appearances at Edgbaston Priory but reached the quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-4 6-2 victory over France’s Alize Cornet.
In the last eight the Ukrainian will face one of the breakthrough stars of 2018, Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu, who defeated Petra Martic 4-6 6-3 6-2. The 30-year-old was ranked outside the top 200 a year ago and failed to qualify for Wimbledon but will be seeded at the championships this time.
