Star Studded Doha

Doha Draw

The Doha draw is strong and, as with every draw, some people have really gotten the short end of the stick. Halep has pulled out after her excellent but clearly exhausting week in Dubai. This was probably for the best but it has shuffled things around last minute. Wozniacki is now the second highest seed for the event, and Makarova will no longer have to play Muguruza in the first round [I would hate for one of them to have to lose in the first round but I was really looking forward to this match up]. There are a number of really interesting and intense first round matches and it appears as though the tournament directors wanted to feature all of the good matches on the first day.

Here is my outlook for tomorrows scheduled main draw matches.

Matches to Watch

Svetlana Kuznetsova v. Flavia Pennetta
Kuznetsova beat Pennetta the first five times that they played. However, the last time Kuznetsova beat Pennetta was in 2011. Their most recent match went the way of Pennetta at this past years US Open. Pennetta won 75, 61. While Pennetta has not had the strongest start to the year, Kuznetsova's start has been fairly dismal. Kuznetsova is a big 2-4 on the year, with one of her two wins coming from a retirement. Pennetta's results are not that much better, with a flat 3-3 on the year; however, all three of her wins came at Doha which means that they are recent and that she is rounding in to better form. The most demonstrative stat to exemplify just how they are playing is that they both played Angelique Kerber last week. Kuznetsova lost in straights while Pennetta won in three. I think this display of form will come to play and force this match-up to go against their head-to-head.
Prediction: Pennetta in straight sets.

Popcorn Match

Angelique Kerber [8] v. Victoria Azarenka [wc]
Kerber has had a tough start to the year, and her draws have not been of any help. This week she had the opportunity to get lucky by facing a wildcard in the first round. Yet her misfortune continued as that wild card turned out to be former #1 Victoria Azarenka, an opponent who she has brought to match point yet never beaten. Kerber, while not always a crowd favorite, has put together an impressive collection of wins against fellow top 10 players including Serena, Venus, Sharapova, Clijsters, Kvitova, Radwanska, Wozniacki, Bouchard, Halep, and Jankovic; however, for whatever reason Azarenka seems to be, thus far, an unconquerable task. That being said, all of their 3 meetings came in 2012 and, at the moment, Azarenka is still a shadow of her old self. Additionally, Azarenka has not played a match since her loss to Cibulkova at the Australian Open a month ago and is a measly 3-2 on the year. In fact, Azarenka has only played 7 matches since the US Open. That being said, she has a great record in Doha and is currently on a 10-match win streak at the tournament. Kerber on the hand has played many more matches this year but has put together a shaky 7-6 record. I think Kerber's match play may enable her to grit out a set, but ultimately I think Azarenka's consistency and movement frustrate Kerber too much and we will likely see history repeat itself.
Prediction: Azarenka in three sets.

Other Predictions

Safarova def. Stosur in straight sets
Venus Williams def. Dellacqua in straight sets
Zahlavova Strycova def. Lisicki in three sets.