The defending champion gets into action

This match is a meeting between the defending champion, who comes in weakened, and a qualifier who has grass in her legs but a catastrophic WTA grass résumé. McCartney Kessler, right-handed, 26 years old, currently No. 44 WTA, is the defending champion in Nottingham 2025 where she dominated Haddad Maia, Boulter, Sramkova, then Yastremska 6-4 7-5 in the final. She is defending 250 points here. But 2026 has been difficult: 14–13 overall, she’s coming off Roland Garros where she lost in the first round, and especially off Queen’s Club where Plíšková beat her 6-7(1) 6-3 6-4 in the first round despite a very solid start to the match. She has only one grass match in 2026, a loss. Her 2025 grass track record was impressive, but this time she comes in with no recent wins on grass and with a generally mixed form.

Katie Volynets, right-handed, 24 years old, currently No. 95 WTA, entered the main draw through qualifying after beating Udvardy 7-5 6-2 in the first qualifying round, then Birrell 2-6 6-4 7-6(3) in a tight match in the final round of qualifying. So she already has two grass matches in her legs in Nottingham this week, which is not insignificant. Before Nottingham she played ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where she beat Zhu Lin 7-6(10) 6-4 in the first round before losing to Sönmez 3-6 6-2 3-6 in the second. So 3 recent grass matches, including two wins. Her career WTA grass record is disastrous: 2–9 (18.2%) in her career, 1–2 over the last 52 weeks. But this specific context with on-site grass preparation is real. H2H between the two: 1–0 Kessler on hard according to available data, no previous meetings on grass.

The real question here is Kessler’s level on grass in 2026 versus Volynets’ momentum, as she has played and won on this court this week. Kessler is the better player, higher ranked, with strong memories of this tournament. But she comes in with zero grass wins in 2026 and a loss at Queen’s, while Volynets is piling up matches on the same court. That’s a concrete factor on grass, where adapting to the bounce and conditions takes time.