WTA Miami: Quarter Final Predictions

WTA Miami: V. Williams vs Suarez Navarro & Petkovic vs Pliskova

The quarter finals of the bottom half of the Miami Open will be played today. At the beginning of the week, I correctly predicted that Williams and Suarez Navarro would face off and here are my predictions as to what will happen today!

(Rank/Seed)

(12/12) Carla Suarez Navarro vs (16/16) Venus Williams

Carla has been having a great year, backing up her quarter final in Indian Wells with yet another last 8 appearance. In fact, this is her 7th quarter final appearance in 8 tournaments played this year! As I predicted, she outrallied the out of form 2012 champion, (8/7) Agnieszka Radwanska in the 4th round by a strange 57 60 64 score line! In stark contrast to Carla, that marks the 5th time in 6 tournaments this year that the Pole has FAILED to reach the quarter finals! Venus continues her impressive return to form too, making her 4th quarter final appearance in 5 tournaments played this year. As I predicted, she tackled both (26/23) Samantha Stosur and (5/4) Caroline Wozniacki to get here. Both matches were made tougher than they ought to have been due to some surprising lapses by Venus, yet in the tiebreaks she got her game together to win 64 76(3) and 63 76(1) respectively, remaining undefeated against Wozniacki in the process.

More from WTA

Carla and Venus are tied at 2-2 in the head to head, Venus winning their last match in the quarter finals of Montreal last summer from a set behind. The match will hinge on whether Venus can control her unforced errors and avoid lapses against a consistent opponent who runs a lot down and will look to open up the angles with heavy topspin. Though it might well take 3 sets, I favour the former 3 times champion to win again as I feel that Suarez Navarro has a tendency to ‘go in her shell’ during big matches like this. Prediction: Venus Williams

(10/9) Andrea Petkovic vs (14/14) Karolina Pliskova

Andrea has returned to form this week after a disappointing 2nd round exit in Indian Wells. She’s been on fire, surprising me in the way she so comfortably got the better of (9/8) Ekaterina Makarova 61 75 in the 4th round. Karolina is on her way into the top 10 judging by the way she’s been playing this year. It took Simona Halep to beat her last week in the 4th round of Indian Wells, and here she took advantage of (2/2) Maria Sharapova’s stunning defeat in beating her conqueror, (97/-) Daria Gavrilova, 63 62 in the 4th round.

Andrea and Karolina are tied at 1-1 in the head to head, but Karolina won the last in straight sets in Wuhan last autumn. The match will be full of big, flat ball striking, but I think that Karolina’s far superior serve will win her cheap points and give her the edge. Prediction: Karolina Pliskova

Next: WTA Miami: Tuesday Order of Play

More from Lob and Smash

Home/WTA