Radwanska surprised by run
One way of measuring a player's pre-tournament expectations is to know how many dresses she packed for the trip. While preparing for this week's Eastbourne event, and her first competitive tennis for two months, Agnieszka Radwanska imagined she would only play two or three matches.
Given the Pole had been out for some time with hip and back injuries, and was unseeded, she thought three dresses should see her through. The way her week has turned out, Radwanska must have either been reliant on the fast turnaround of the hotel laundry or she has been emergency shopping. The grass of Devonshire Park has seen a fast return to prominence for the 2012 Wimbledon finalist.
Radwanska has already played three matches in Eastbourne, the last of which was Thursday's 6-2, 7-5 victory over Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, which means she will have another on Friday when she meets Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the semi-finals. "I took only three dresses with me - I thought that was enough for sure," Radwanska said. Radwanska benefitted from Petra Kvitova's withdrawal from their mooted third round match on Wednesday, so would normally have had to play four times already to run this deep into the draw.
Defending champion toppled
Also unseeded, Sabalenka advanced with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5) victory over the defending champion, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. In the top half of the draw, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki defeated Australia's Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-3, with the Australian Open champion going through to play Germany's Angelique Kerber who beat Russia's Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-7(3), 7-6(3).
Edmund on his way
A round after defeating Andy Murray for the first time Kyle Edmund is himself out of Eastbourne, after Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin won their quarter-final 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. In Friday's semi-finals, Kukushkin will play Germany's Mischa Zverev who bumped Canada's Denis Shapovalov off the grass with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Slovakian Lukas Lacko defeated Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 to progress into the semi-finals, where he will play Italian Marco Cecchinato who beat Australian John Millman 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
All-British men's doubles final
This week has already seen two all-British men's singles matches at Eastbourne - in addition to Edmund beating Murray, Norrie eliminated Jay Clarke - and now the men's doubles final will only feature 'home' players. Luke Bambridge and Jonny O'Mara made the final by beating Sweden's Robert Lindstedt and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 6-3, while brothers Ken and Neal Skupski defeated the all-American pairing of Ryan Harrison and Nicholas Monroe 6-3, 6-3.
I took only three dresses with me - I thought that was enough for sure