Thursday saw a day of mixed results for the seeds at the Nature Valley International, as top seed Caroline Wozniacki and fourth seeds Angelique Kerber and Marco Cecchinato marched on, while second seeds Karolina Pliskova and Kyle Edmund's runs came to an end.
Eastbourne champion in 2009 and runner-up in 2017, Wozniacki continued her fine run of Eastbourne form to reach the semi-finals with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over Ashleigh Barty, the champion at the Nature Valley Open at the start of the month. The 2018 Australian Open champion will take on fourth seed Kerber who defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-7(3), 7-6(3).
Unseeded Aryna Sabalenka put on a powerful display against Pliskova to dispatch the world No.7 and defending champion 6-3, 2-6,7-6(5) and earn her place in the Nature Valley International semi-finals. Sabalenka will take on 2008 champion Radwanska, who impressively defeated fifth seed Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets.
Men's fourth seed Ceccinato battled through to the final four with a three-set victory over Australia’s John Millman. He’ll take on Lukas Lacko in the penultimate round after the Slovak beat British wild card Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, unseeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan fought hard to defeat British No.1 Edmund 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. He will next face Germany's Mischa Zverev, who claimed his semi-final berth courtesy of a 6-3, 6-3 win over third seed Denis Shapovalov.
Home crowds will have plenty to cheer for on Friday as two British pairings face off in the men's doubles final for the first time since 2012. Brothers Ken and Neal Skupski will take on wild cards Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara on Court 1.
Ken Skupski will be looking to go one better in Friday’s clash having reached the doubles final at Eastbourne twice previously - in 2012 when he partnered Jamie Delgado to the runners-up trophy against compatriots Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, and in 2014 when he and Fleming were runners-up to Poland’s Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
Bambridge and O'Mara will be targeting their maiden ATP World Tour title but will have a boost of confidence following their previous encounter with the Skupskis earlier this month, which saw them triumph to lift the ATP Challenger trophy.
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