While Roland Garros holds the spotlight, the grass season has quietly opened, and the Lexus Birmingham Open is one of its first stops. The WTA 125 has drawn a field thin on big names - only two of the eight quarterfinalists are ranked inside the top 100 - and it has already shed most of its seeds, with six of the eight gone before the last eight. What remains is a draw open to qualifiers, first-time grass winners, and a 17-year-old home wildcard. Two stories sit at its edges: top seed Alexandra Eala, the world No. 37, anchors one half, while 17-year-old Briton Mika Stojsavljevic, the lowest-ranked player left, carries the other. They can meet only in Sunday's final.
Eala rolls into the last eight without facing a test
Eala has not been pushed once. She beat Priscilla Hon 6-0 6-2 in the opener, then handled qualifier Alina Charaeva 6-2 7-5, facing just four break points across the two matches and saving two of them. The Filipina is not a server - under one ace per match this season - so her week has been built on the other half of the court, where she has won 24 of 47 return pressure points. Grass is familiar ground: last year she ran from qualifying all the way to the final at the WTA 500 in Eastbourne, one of the season's least expected deep runs. Her quarterfinal opponent is Mananchaya Sawangkaew, the No. 173 qualifier who has won the first grass-court matches of her career this week after only testing the surface in 2024. The Thai came through qualifying and then beat Linda Klimovicova and Kayla Day, though her only main-tour match this season was a first-round loss to Raducanu at the Australian Open.
17-year-old Stojsavljevic and Bartunkova anchor a generational quarterfinal
Stojsavljevic is the lowest-ranked player left at No. 288, a 17-year-old wildcard playing in front of a home crowd, and her serve has carried her. In a 6-4 6-7(2) 6-2 win over Elvina Kalieva she hit 19 aces, held every one of her service games, and won 15 of 17 serve pressure points - and she leads the remaining field in aces per match this season. She had earlier come back from a set down to beat Emerson Jones. She played one match at Wimbledon a year ago, and at the Billie Jean King Cup she beat Talia Gibson, then ranked inside the top 60. Standing across the net is Bartunkova, 20, the No. 69 and the highest seed still alive at No. 5, on grass for effectively the first time. She outlasted Harriet Dart in a 3-6 6-3 7-5 war that ran to 41 serve pressure points, saving eight of ten break points, then edged lucky loser Gabriela Knutson 6-4 7-6(4). Her season already includes wins over Madison Keys and, as a qualifier at the Australian Open, Belinda Bencic.
Masarova topples third seed Maria as Stoiana grinds out three-setters
Masarova produced the result of the week so far. The No. 132 qualifier beat third seed Tatjana Maria 6-4 6-3 in the round of 16, a match Maria left having won under a quarter of her second-serve points. The German veteran has won the WTA 500 HSBC Championships in London last year but is yet to be handed a wildcard to defend the title next week in London. Masarova had already come through qualifying before seeing off Tereza Martincova, serving heavily throughout with 12 and 13 aces in earlier rounds. Her grass record carries weight: a Bad Homburg quarterfinal in 2023, and this season a quarterfinal in Austin and a third round in Rome from qualifying. She meets Mary Stoiana, the No. 146 playing on grass for the first time, whose results have come on hard and clay, with W100 semifinals in San Diego and Bonita Springs. Stoiana has reached the last eight the hard way, winning back-to-back three-setters over Lulu Sun (4-6 7-6(8) 6-2) and Celine Naef (7-5 2-6 7-6(5)).
Krueger storms through without dropping a set
Krueger has some of the strongest credentials in the draw. The No. 120 reached a semifinal in Austin this season and beat Linette and Samsonova on her way to the Indian Wells third round, and in Birmingham she has not lost a set across qualifying and the main draw. In the round of 16 she took apart second seed Janice Tjen 6-1 6-3, facing zero break points and winning all 12 of her serve pressure points. Grass is no accident for her either - she won the Gaiba 125 title in 2023 and reached a Hertogenbosch quarterfinal that began in qualifying and included a win over Azarenka. Her opponent, Taylah Preston, makes her tour-level grass debut at 20 after building her season on other surfaces - the No. 127 took the Tokyo W100 title in April and reached a Hobart semifinal. In Birmingham she has beaten two home wildcards, Alicia Dudeney and then Katie Swan.
