WTA Doha: Quarter Final Predictions

WTA Doha: Who will win the Quarter Finals?

The Qatar Total Open, held on outdoor hard courts in Doha has reached the quarter final stages. Here are my predictions as to what will happen tomorrow.

(Rank/Seed)

(4/1) Petra Kvitova vs (14/9) Carla Suarez Navarro

Petra had a bye and then benefitted from the mid match retirement of Jelena Jankovic, due to a thigh strain in the 2nd round. Carla’s 1st round also ended in a retirement. Last week’s Dubai semi finalist, Garbine Muguruza pulled out after only 11 games due to a viral illness. This was fortunate for Carla, considering she lost last week’s quarter final clash against her doubles partner. However, there was nothing fortunate about her hard fought 76(2) 64 victory against Dubai finalist, (13/-) Karolina Pliskova in the 2nd round. Kvitova leads the head to head 5-3, but has lost their last 2, including a 63 46 63 loss in the 3rd round of Dubai last week. Kvitova will make a number of unforced errors in attempting to hit through her solid, topspinning opponent. But… I predict Kvitova will tough this one out, perhaps in 3 sets.

(10/6) Andrea Petkovic vs (15/-) Lucie Safarova

Andrea has really had to work hard to get here, coming from sets behind to beat both Kirsten Flipkens and Zarina Diyas. The 57 62 64 win over Diyas was especially good, considering she had lost to her opponent in the 2nd round of Dubai last week. Lucie has also had a tough draw, edging Sam Stosur in 2 tight sets before upsetting (9/5) Ekaterina Makarova 62 67(5) 63, hitting 14 aces en route to her 3rd win in 4 meetings against the Russian. Petkovic leads the head to head 4-2, but so many of them have been close. In a match full of flat baseline driving, I predict Safarova will win as she is in the better form and has the better serve.

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(8/4) Agnieszka Radwanska vs (17/7) Venus Williams

Radwanska had a bye and then looked surprisingly sharp against (16/-) Flavia Pennetta, beating her 61 61. I say surprisingly because her form this year has been poor and she had lost her last couple of meetings against Pennetta handily. In contrast, Venus has looked ragged so far, recovering to beat Casey Dellacqua in 3 sets before saving a match point to claw past Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 75 36 76(5)! The match was exhausting, lasting until 1 am and at the end their were a few sharp words between the two players! Very ‘un-Venus’ like! Venus leads the head to head 6-4, including a great 3 setter in the Australian Open 4th round. However, Venus needs all of her energy to hit through Radwanska’s wall-like defences and the slow court. I predict she wont have enough and Radwanska will out-steady her.

(5/3) (W/C) Caroline Wozniacki vs (WC) Victoria Azarenka

Caroline got a bye and then received a retirement (what is it with this tournament?) over qualifier, Alexandra Dulgheru who looked completely spent. Victoria started great, crushing (11/8) Angelique Kerber 60 63! What’s happened to last year’s finalist?! However, she struggled on serve against rising talent Elina Svitolina, missing a match point in the second set before pulling through 63 67(4) 61. Wozniacki edges the head to head 5-4, but Azarenka has won the last 2, including a straight sets win in the 2nd round of the Australian Open. In light of her generally positive play this week and the fact I’m not sure whether Wozniacki is at her physical best, I predict Azarenka will win.

Next: WTA Dubai: Upsets Galore in 3rd Round

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