Thursday 18 June 2015 20:49, UK
Kristina Mladenovic produced her second successive upset in Birmingham to set up a quarter-final clash against Simona Halep while British wildcard Johanna Konta's hopes were ended in a match suspended by bad light on Wednesday.
The cosmopolitan 22-year-old Frenchwoman with two Grand Slam doubles titles and a penchant for grass produced another nicely-judged tactical performance to beat Barbora Strycova, the 10th-seeded Czech who was last year's runner-up, by 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
It followed her even better victory on Wednesday against Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, in which Mladenovic reduced the high profile Canadian to "absolute frustration".
"I really like the grass," said Mladenovic, who lives in Switzerland and has Serbian parents. "And I am pleased with the way things have gone here but I want to keep it going. I've been able to produce three good results so far," she added, referring also to an opening day win against Alison Riske, the American who has been a semi-finalist here.
Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova finished off her win over British wildcard Konta 3-6 6-3 6-4 after leading 4-3 with a break in the final set when bad light stopped play on Wednesday night.
Halep impressive
She now has a chance of rising above her career-highest world No 36 ranking, particularly if she can manage a quarter-final upset against the top-seeded Halep.
The 23-year-old Romanian was fluent and impressively dominant in a high-speed 6-1 6-3 win over Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic, finishing off the job in only 50 minutes.
Halep has now won 12 matches out of 12 in tournaments where she has been No 1 seed this year, and looks to be adapting well to grass, a surface for which she has the game, but not necessarily yet the experience, to beat anyone.
Meanwhile two well-known names went out. With nine of the 16 seeds prematurely shown the exit as they try to adapt from slow clay to the tour's quickest and sometimes most uncertain surface, Jelena Jankovic, a former world No 1, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, twice a Grand Slam champion, departed as well.
Jankovic was beaten 6-4 6-2 by Angelique Kerber, the fourth-seeded German, and Kuznetsova 6-3 6-4 by Carla Suarez Navarro, the third-seeded Spaniard.
Kerber had to save four break points in the sixth game against the extrovert Serbian, but thereafter was too consistent and mobile, earning herself a quarter-final with Katerina Siniakova, a surprise survivor from the Czech Republic.
Suarez, who has more wins on the WTA Tour than anyone this year, scored her 35th with some of the improvisation and adaptability she may need to make the difficult transition from a good clay-court player to an effective grass-court exponent.
She will have a quarter-final with Pliskova, the tall and dangerously steep serving sixth-seeded Czech, who pulled double duty, finishing off her win over Konta before beating Zarina Diyas to make the last eight.
Daniela Hantuchova ousted Ivanovic's conqueror, Michelle Larcher de Brito, and Katarina Siniakova saw off Christina McHale.
