Rematch Galore
Today was full of general disappointment. Jankovic and Dulgheru retired after losing their first set and Pennetta, who had been on two match winning streak against Radwanska went down 1 & 1 barely putting up a fight. Pliskova fell to Suarez Navarro in straight sets again. It just seems odd to me that Pliskova is waltzing past big players - Muguruza, Safarova, Ivanovic, Kerber - and yet she struggles with the mundanely consistent Suarez Navarro. One match did show continued glances of magic and that was Safarova's defeat of Makarova.
Focusing our energy forward, lets look at the upcoming quarterfinal matches. Three out of the four quarter-final matches are match-ups that we have already seen this year [Venus v Rawanska in the Australian 4th Rnd, Azarenka v Wozniacki in the Australian Open 2nd Rnd, & Suarez Navarro v Kvitova in Dubai 2nd Rnd]. What makes these rematches particularly juicy is that in all three of the original matches the lesser ranked opponent came out on top. I won't go as far as to say they were necessarily upsets because I would never consider a win by Venus or Azarenka to be an upset; none the less, the matches did not follow current rankings.
Let's make predictions! Also, please comment! We can see you're reading but haven't had one comment and we'd love to hear what you think about what we think!
Matches to Watch
Venus Williams [7] v. Agnieszka Radwanska [4]
Venus leads this head-to-head 6-4; however, Radwanska has won 3 of their last 4 meetings. That being said Venus won their most recent meeting at the Australian Open. I think Radwanska is playing well with a 6-4 record on the year and an impressive win over Pennetta yesterday. However, with all that has been going on it is easy to forget just how good of a year Venus is having with an incredible 14-2 on the year. What strikes me as the most important attribute that Venus has demonstrated this year is her heart. Over the past couple of years we have seen her lose so many matches in a tight third set, but this year she has shown remarkable tenacity in third sets. This was demonstrated on Monday when she fought off a match point against Zahlavova Strycova in a way that was reminiscent of young Venus. I think she came out with a great game plan against Radwanska at the Australian and we will see her do the same thing to come out on top again.
Prediction: Venus Williams defeats Radwanska in three sets
Popcorn Match
Victoria Azarenka [wc] v. Carolina Wozniacki [3]
These ladies have a head-to-head tied at 4 all. Both of these women have impeccable movement and counter-punching abilities. While Azarenka has more fire power in her arsenal she can have a Murray-like mentality where something is always hurting, nothing ever goes her way, etc. Meanwhile, Wozniacki has one of the best on court attitudes and a willingness to fight for every point that is unmatched. The thing about this match up is that after having played 8 times you would think that Wozniacki would have a solid game plan for facing Azarenka, but at the Australian she looked like she had no idea what to do. For that reason, I think Azarenka has a competitive edge.
Prediction: Azarenka defeats Wozniacki in straight sets
Other Predictions
Petkovic [6] def. Safarova in three sets
Kvitova [1] def. Suarez Navarro [9] in three sets- I am refusing to comment on this one because I feel like it should be so straight forward and never is. IF you want my thoughts go back to the post on their match up in Dubai.
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