WTA Stuttgart: Semi Final Predictions

WTA Stuttgart: Semi Final Predictions- Simona Halep vs Caroline Wozniacki & Angelique Kerber vs Madison Brengle

The semi finals are set at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The line up looks nothing like the one I had predicted earlier in the week but should prove attractive to the crowds, considering one features two top 5 players and the other features a home favourite. Here are my predictions as to who I think will reach the final.

(Rank/Seed)

(3/2) Simona Halep vs (5/4) Caroline Wozniacki

Simona Halep continues to impress this year and will move back to her career high of number 2 next week. However, the 3 time titlist this year has had a tough time getting here. Having received a first round bye, she had to recover from 0-2 and a point for 0-3 down in the deciding set to beat (20/-) Garbine Muguruza 36 61 63 for her first win against the Spaniard in 3 tries. She then took out (15/-) Sara Errani in the quarters 64 64, in a match where service holds were an endangered species; there were 16 breaks of serve in 20 games! Errani had earlier saved set points in the 1st set to beat (9/7) Agnieszka Radwanska 76(8) 64 in the 1st round, Radwanska’s 6th pre-quarter final defeat of the year! Needless to say, she’s ended her coaching partnership with Martina Navratilova after a mere 4 months!

Caroline Wozniacki is bouncing back from a couple of discouraging results on American hard courts and will appear in her 1st clay court semi final since Brussels 2011! It seems that the work off court with former 3 time French Open champion, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is paying dividends judging by the Dane’s play this week, beating (13/-) Lucie Safarova 76(5) 61 in the 2nd round and (10/8) Carla Suarez Navarro 60 63 in the quarters! Caroline mixed both attack and defence decisively against the newest member of the top 10. Carla struggled to find the court; perhaps she is feeling the strain of reaching her 8th quarter final this year, and we’re only in April!

Simona leads the head to head 2-1 and won their last meeting 2 months ago in the Dubai semis, 26 61 61. This is their first meeting on clay and Simona definitely has the more natural game on the surface. Though Caroline cruised against Suarez Navarro, at times she did look vulnerable when pulled out wide on her forehand. At the same time, I think Simona will have some trouble hitting through Caroline on this court and her concentration has fluctuated all week, no doubt in part due to death threats she’s received on Twitter! This one really is tough to predict, but I think that Caroline has been the more focused this week and has a slight edge. Prediction: Caroline Wozniacki

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(14/-) Angelique Kerber vs (43/-) Madison Brengle

Angelique Kerber really is the woman of the moment! After a terrible 1st 3 months of the year, which saw her drop outside of the top 10 for the 1st time since 2012, the German is now on a 9 match clay court winning streak! This streak has involved her winning Charleston and beating 2 top 10 Russians here; (2/1) Maria Sharapova 26 75 61 in the 2nd round and (8/6) Ekaterina Makarova 63 62 in the quarters. The win over Maria was phenomenal as it was Maria’s 1st defeat in Stuttgart after winning the title for the last 3 years! Unlike last year, when Maria was like a cat with 9 lives on clay, she wilted dramatically as Angelique won 9 of the last 10 games, due mainly to her fantastic defence forcing an increasingly brittle Sharapova into basic errors. It marks a 3rd straight match defeat for Maria Sharapova, who though lacking recent match play, is definitely going through a rare crisis of confidence! Against Makarova, Kerber overcame a thigh injury and a 0-3 1st set deficit to eventually cruise through, her determination only deepened by the intense crowd support.

Madison Brengle certainly has made the most of being the last direct entrant into the draw in reaching the biggest semi final of her career. Currently at a career high, the American has certainly come out of the woodwork this year, reaching the final of Hobart and the 4th round at the Australian Open. Recently, she put in respectable showings in Osprey and Charleston on the American clay and claimed her 1st top 10 win in the 2nd round here, beating (4/3) Petra Kvitova 63 76(2). Though Petra is lacking match play and isn’t at her best on clay, Madison made enough balls to force Petra into errors and only lost serve once all match. She then came back to upset (29/-) Caroline Garcia 36 63 63 in the quarters, who had saved 3 set points to stun (6/5) Ana Ivanovic 76(6) 64 in the 1st round for her 3rd win this year against the Serb. It marked a 5th time that Ivanovic had lost before the quarters this year; yet another top 10 player in the doldrums!

The pair have never met before, but Angelique has got to be considered a big favourite. She is far more experienced at this level and has been in inspirational form lately and throughout this event. The crowd will also be pulling for her and providing she is healthy, she will prove too fast and versatile for the simple, steady game that Brengle possesses. Prediction: Angelique Kerber

Next: WTA Stuttgart: Preview & Predictions

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