WTA Miami: Semi Final Predictions

WTA Miami: S. Williams vs Halep & Petkovic vs Suarez Navarro

The semi finals of the Miami Open will played today, featuring 3 of the world’s top 10 for the first time this year! I correctly predicted the Williams vs Halep encounter, but Petkovic and Suarez Navarro surprised me in winning their quarter finals! Here are my predictions as to what will happen today.

(Rank/Seed)

(1/1) Serena Williams vs (3/3) Simona Halep

Serena is now on a 19 match winning streak, stretching back to the WTA Championships last October. She has won all 16 matches she’s played this year and claimed her 700th career victory in beating Indian Wells semi finalist, (21/27) Sabine Lisicki 76(4) 16 63 in the quarter finals. It was a fluctuating match where Serena struggled to serve effectively and Lisicki mixed up the play surprisingly well. After saving a set point in the first set, Serena was forced to raise her intensity in order to come back from a shocking second set let down and didn’t lose serve in the 3rd set.

Halep is on a 14 match winning streak, including her last 2 tournaments in Dubai and Indian Wells. In the quarter finals, Halep beat (45/-) Sloane Stephens 61 75, despite initially leading 3-0 in the 2nd set before losing 4 straight games. In the end, Halep found the balance between aggression and consistency and righted the ship.

Serena is a former 7 times Miami champion and leads the head to head with Halep 4-1, including a 63 60 hammering in the final of the WTA Championships last October. Halep will appear in her 1st Miami semi final and was the last player to beat Williams, inflicting a 60 62 defeat on Serena in the round robin stages of the aforementioned event! That was the joint worst loss Serena had ever suffered in terms of the scoreline! The two should have played at the same stage of Indian Wells a couple of weeks ago, but Serena withdrew prior to the match due to a knee injury. Providing she is healthy, Serena will be tough to beat but I don’t expect the new confident and aggressive Simona Halep to go down lightly. Prediction: Serena Williams

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(10/9) Andrea Petkovic vs (12/12) Carla Suarez Navarro

Petkovic continued her straight sets progression through the field, handling in form (14/14) Karolina Pliskova 64 62 in the quarter finals. I didn’t see that one coming, but then again the outcome of the match was decided more on the fact that Pliskova was remarkably flat and poor rather than Petkovic doing anything spectacular.

In contrast, Carla was engaged in an epic struggle with (16/16) Venus Williams, one I thought she’d lose. In a complete turnaround, Carla came back to win 06 61 75 and reach her 1st Miami semi final! In the 1st set, Venus’s power was awe inspiring, but she couldn’t keep it up. As the match progressed, Venus’s level dropped and the unforced error count rose. Carla got her forehand working the court and recovered from a break down twice in the third set, ultimately taking advantage of William’s uncharacteristically poor serving in the clutch to complete the comeback!

The head to head between Andrea and Carla is tied at 2-2, with Carla winning their last meeting 60 64 in Sofia last October. As in the other semi final, the two should have played earlier this year, in the Antwerp final where Carla withdrew prior to the match due to a neck injury. Andrea has more big match experience, having been in the semi finals here back in 2011 as well as reaching the same stage at the 2014 French Open and further in the finals of Beijing 2011. In contrast, this is the first time Carla has ever been in a semi final this big! Considering I’ve betted against her all tournament, I’m going to predict that Petkovic will continue her solid progression and muscle her way through this one too. Prediction: Andrea Petkovic

Next: WTA Miami: Quarter Final Predictions

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