Quick Recap of Antwerp:
The WTA rocked back into post Australian Open action this week at the BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium. One of the most exciting aspects of this tournament was that former WTA favorite and 5 time grand slam Champion Kim Clijsters was returning to tennis as the tournament director.
The week started out very rough for the seeds with the top two players, Eugenie Bouchard and Angelique Kerber, being ousted in their first round of play and third seed Andrea Petkovic having to save 8 match points to scrape past Allison Van Uytvanck [which was an absolutely incredible match]. In the end, saving those 8 match points catapulted Petkovic to her second Premier level title. The incredible thing about Petkovic's 3 hour 20 minute win was that it was her third extended match in a row having just played two marathon matches in Germany's Fed Cup win over Australia. The remarkable stat this week is that Petkovic played 5 tie breaks in 3 matches and only lost one of them! Unfortunately, the final was a walk over as Suarez Navarro had to withdraw. While this was not the ending that everyone had hoped for, in came Clijsters to save the day. With her immense class and incredible can-do attitude, Clijsters stepped in to play a last minute exhibition against Petkovic which Clijsters won 5-3 [Not sure why they stopped at 5 and not 6...alas, I did not make the rules].
Regardless of the outcome of the exhibition, Petkovic had an amazing week that saw her take home the title and return to the top 10. Hopefully she can keep that up as the season progresses.
Look at Dubai:
Dubai is once again a star packed event whose first day saw wins by Pironkova, Diyas, Stosur, Cornet [15], Pennetta [10], Kusnetsova, Bencic, Dellacqua, Lisicki, Garcia, and Jankovic [12]. The most impressive win of the day came from Pennetta who defeated an in form Goerges 26, 76(3), 64 after having been down 26, 25 and facing four match points. Perhaps saving those match points will give her the same kind of confidence that it gave Petkovic last week.
Looking at tomorrow there are a number of interesting match ups. Here are my predictions:
Top Matches to Watch:
Vera Zvonareva v. Camila Giorgi
They have never played before and both pack a lot of talent. Zvonareva is arguably the more talented and definitely the more accomplished player; however she is still finding her form after a long injury time off. Giorgi on the other hand is in great form with tons of weapons; but is a characteristically patchy player. Ironically, both players were defeated by Williams sisters at the Australian open and both players put up a good fight. While this will be a great physical match, the winner will be whoever survives the mental battle. Zvonareva's mental game has always been the weakest aspect of her game. That being said, I think Zvonareva has better movement, and better grit. Giorgi is so intent on playing her game that she does not always allow her opponents to assist her to the win.
Prediction: Zvonareva will out grit Giorgi tomorrow and take the win in three sets.
Coco Vandeweghe v. Elina Svitolina
These two up and comers have also never played each other. In this match up we have a power player in Vandeweghe against an exceptionally talented counterpuncher in Svitolina. They are both very talented in their own respects but Svitolina has the upper hand with movement and court sense.
Prediction: Svitolina in straight sets
Popcorn Match:
Muguruza v Gajdosova
This match involves the experienced Gajdosova against the exceptionally talented rising star Muguruza. What makes this match such a toss up is the incredibly good form that both players are showing. Gajdosova is 8-5 on the year with wins over Petkovic, Kerber, and Cibulkova. Muguruza is 7-2 on the year with wins over Halep, Radwanska, and Errani. To further exemplify why this is such a toss up, Gajdosova beat Kerber in Fed Cup 2 weeks ago 46,62,64 while Muguruza lost to Kerber about 4 weeks ago in Sydney 60,16,46. To flip that around, Gajdosova lost to Halep at the Australian Open 26,26 while Muguruza beat Halep during Fed Cup 64,63. At the end of the day I think that Muguruza has a slight edge with the overall size of her shots. If she performs like she did against Serena at Australian then she can go deep in to the draw.
Prediction: Muguruza defeats Gajdosova in three sets
Other Predictions:
Peng [16] defeats Vesnina in straight sets
Watson defeats Kozlova in three sets
Pliskova [17] defeats Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets
Barthel defeats Hantuchova in three sets
Venus [8] defeats Bencic in straight sets
Safarova [11] defeats Puig in straight sets.
Nara defeats Wang in straight sets
Buyukakcay defeats Dabrowski in three sets [this match is such an opportunity for both of them!]
Zahlavova Strycova defeats Beygelzimer in straight sets
Let's see how I do!
- Kevin
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