Agnieszka Radwanska headlines a new WTA International event this week which will be held in Nottingham. This event has previously been an ITF event for the last few years and the winner will receive the Elena Baltacha trophy which is a lovely touch. After a first round loss to Annika Beck at Roland Garros, Radwanska reacted by requesting a wildcard into Nottingham. Grass is arguably Radwanska’s best surface so if she’s going to snap out of her recent funk, this is where it is most likely will be. Her first match of the week will be against a qualifier. Her quarter features the likes of Ajla Tomljanovic, Daniela Hantuchova, Christina McHale and Lauren Davis. Hantuchova, who has enjoyed some good results on the grass in her career, opens against Magda Linette.

Varvara Lepchenko and Magdalena Rybarikova are the two seeds in the second quarter. Rybarikova has made a semi-final on grass in the last two years and is a former winner at Birmingham but rather curiously, has never won a main draw match at Wimbledon. She plays Brit wildcard, Johanna Konta in the first round. Lepchenko plays Monica Niculescu in the first round which should be a fun one. The player to watch out for in this section is Lucie Hradecka. At number 61 in the world rankings, Hradecka has had a superb year. The Czech player has successfully qualified for seven tournaments in 2015 and enjoyed a pair of great runs on the clay, reaching the semi-finals in Charleston and the final in Prague. Her first match of the week against Monica Puig looks straightforward on paper with Puig on a five match losing streak. I’d fancy Lucie to make at least the semis.

The third quarter is headed up by Karin Knapp and Alison Riske… I love Alison and some of you may remember that I picked Riske to beat Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon last year… Those were the days haha. Riske always peaks during the grass court season and has a stunning record at Birmingham where she has reached two semi-finals and a quarter-final. At the end of 2014, Riske won her first WTA title in Tianjin. She hasn’t really pushed on since then, winning just seven main draw matches in 2015. Grass is a perfect opportunity for her to build some momentum although there is some pressure too with some points to defend. Her first match of the week will be against Saisai Zheng and she could meet Mirjana Lucic-Baroni or Stefanie Voegele in the second round.

The draw is bookended by Zarina Diyas. The 21-year-old from Kazakhstan has gone 5-9 since Dubai and failed to win back-to-back matches since then. Diyas reached the second week of Wimbledon last year so has a sizeable chunk of points to defend. Diyas’s first match of the week will be against Francesca Schiavone. The Italian player was part of arguably the best match from the women’s Roland Garros draw, prevailing in a 10-8 third set thriller against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Before RG, Schiavone had lost seven of her last eight matches. Fran’s record on grass is better than you’d expect and she is a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist. Also of note in this section are Casey Dellacqua and Ana Konjuh. Dellacqua reached the semi-finals of Birmingham last year, but has won just five matches on tour this year. Konjuh, the 17-year-old Croatian, reached the third round of Wimbledon last year and although still in and out with results and highly erratic, is a promising talent.

I’m wary of Radwanska’s recent form but i’d still back her to win the title based on the calibre of players in the draw and the surface. Along her route through the draw, the only player I questioned beating her was Hradecka.

1st Round Predictions: Hantuchova d. Linette in 2 tight sets, Tomljanovic d. Davis in 3 sets, Lepchenko d. Niculescu in 3 sets, Hradecka d. Puig in 2 sets, Rybarikova d. Konta in 3 sets, Riske d. Zheng in 2 sets, Lucic-Baroni d. Voegele in 3 sets, Jovanovski d. Gibbs in 2 tight sets, Wickmayer d. Knapp in 3 sets, Konjuh d. Rogers in 2 sets and Diyas d. Schiavone in 2 tight sets

Final Prediction: Radwanska d. Riske