Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Women's quarter finals day

So today is the quarter finals of the women's draws and the lineup is very different from what experts predicted a week ago. With Sharapova and Williams suffering shock losses in the second and fourth round, today is a golden opportunity for the games lower ranked players to reach a grand slam semi final and gain valuable ranking points. So the draw is the following:-

(4) radwanska vs Li Na (6)

The two highest ranked players left in the draw are against each other first on centre court. They have played each other ten times before with Li Na leading 6-4. They have played each other twice this year on hard courts with a win each. This match could be a very close one depending on how consistently they can play with both of them having up and down results in the lead up to wimbledon, My prediction is Li Na to win in three.

(8) kvitkova vs Flipkens

The only former wimbledon champions left in the draw, Kvitkova faces Belgian Kirsten Flipkens. Flipkens who a year ago was dealing with health issues such as blood clots has a 2-1 match record against Kvitkova (all played on hard courts). Watching some of kvitkovas game against Suarez Navarro she needs to cut down on the unforced errors against a inform Flipkens. Despite this, experience could prove vital and with Kvitkova being there and done that she should be able edge past this tough player (if the error count is kept down) but she will need to be at the top of her game.

(23) Lisicki vs Kanepi

Sarena Williams conquerer Sabrine Lisicki faces talented Estonian Kanepi on court one. This will be their first meet against each other (well technically second I supposed after Lisicki pulled out their first meeting in Beijing 2011). Lisickis record at wimbledon is impressive with two quarter final appearances as well as the semis in 2011. In fact Lisicki has won 17 matches at wimbledon, the combined amount of her wins at all the other three other grant slams she has played in. This should be a fairly straight forward win against Kanepi but the Estonian does have a good serve and ground strokes which could prove a challenge for Lisicki. 

(17) Stephens vs (15) Bartoli

2007 finalist Marion Bartolis match against rising tennis star Solane Stephens is a interesting one. Both players play with a double handed backhand and could be a close match. Stephens who surprised many earlier this year by reaching the semi finals of the Australian open but had also recorded some disappointing early round losses this year still  has a better win-loss year so far against Bartoli. (19-13 against Bartolis 16-12). Their only previous meet was in New Haven 2012 in which Bartoli won 6-1 0-6 6-3.  Still despite this I'm indecisive of who will win this one. 

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