Daria Gavrilova vs Dominika Cibulkova Tennis Prediction

Daria Gavrilova begins her grass season with the third consecutive appearance at Birmingham. Last year, she fell to Lucie Safarova in a three-hour quarterfinal, after wasting three match points (6-7 6-3 7-6). She then wrapped up the grass season by losing the first rounds of Eastbourne and Wimbledon.
Gavrilova’s season has been pretty average so far. She has won 15 matches in 2018, seven against outside top 100 players and only one top 40 win (d. #3 Muguruza at Rome). Earlier this year, she posted semifinals at Sydney (l. Barty) and Acapulco (l. Tsurenko).
Dominika Cibulkova made her main draw debut at Birmingham last year, having previously played in this tournament’s qualifying round in 2007. She also met Safarova that week in the first round, losing to the Czech in two hours and 40 minutes (5-7 7-6 7-5). Last year, she went 0-3 in WTA grass events.
Cibulkova advanced to her second final of the season at Strasbourg, losing to Pavlyuchenkova in three hours and 36 minutes after having two match points (longest non-slam match of 2018). The Slovak, whose last title was 2016 WTA Finals, had lost the Budapest final in February to Van Uytvanck.
The pair has met each other twice in the past. The first meeting was won by Cibulkova at 2016 Wimbledon (6-2 6-2), but Gavrilova returned the favor in the finals of 2017 New Haven (4-6 6-3 6-4), where the Slovak was the second seed.

Tennis Prediction: Daria Gavrilova
Odds: 1.54