Ajla Tomljanovic vs Lin Zhu Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Birmingham

Prediction published on 18/06/2024, 00:52  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 18/06/2024 at 00:55 in Tennis Predictions

World number 190 Ajla Tomljanovic will face world number 54 Zhu Lin in the second round at the Birmingham Classic on Wednesday. Ajla Tomljanovic is playing with a protected ranking as she continues to get back to full fitness after struggling with a knee injury. As she has never lost to Lin before, she will be confident of a win here. The Australian has won both times she has been paired up against Lin though their last encounter was three seasons ago. Tomljanovic has registered five of her eight wins on grass. She arrived in Birmingham after a quarter-final finish in Surbiton as a qualifier. That momentum carried on to her first-round tie against Ann Blinkova whom she eliminated in straight sets. The former world number 32 has now moved six places to 184th in the live ranking.

Zhu Lin is defending the 110 points she won here last season in her run to the semi-finals as a debutant. The Chinese number five had struggled with her form before arriving in Birmingham. She had lost seven straight fixtures and snapped this losing streak with a 2-0 win over third seed Sorana Cirstea. Returning to an event she did so well at last season could be the season turnaround the 30-year-old has been looking for. A finalist in Hua Hin earlier this year, Lin has compiled a 13-17 record. Despite her first-round victory, she has dropped six places to 60th in the live ranking. This is the third career meeting between the two and the winner here will set up a quarter-final showdown with Leylah Fernandez or Viktorija Golubic.