WTA Madrid: Semi Final Predictions

WTA Madrid: Semi Final Predictions- S. Williams vs P. Kvitova & M. Sharapova vs S. Kuznetsova

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The 2015 Mutua Madrid Open has reached the semi final stages. At the beginning of the week, I correctly predicted that Serena would reach this stage, but didn’t anticipate Sharapova, Kvitova and Kuznetsova would return to form! Believe it or not, this is the first time all year that 3 of the world’s top 4 have reached the semi finals of a WTA event!

Tournament Overview

In the 1st round, last year’s finalist, (2/2) Simona Halep, was stunned by Alize Cornet 76(6) 63. Though Cornet defended doggedly and excecuted some fine drop shots, Halep was left to rue 2 missed set points in the 1st set and an unforgivable 38 unforced errors to lose before the quarter finals for the 1st time this year! (6/6) Eugenie Bouchard’s cataclysmic loss of form continued as she allowed a 6-0 3-1 lead to slip against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, losing 06 63 63 for her 6th successive loss! (8/8) Ekaterina Makarova also headed out as I predicted at the hands of Svetlana Kuznetsova 62 61, whilst (11/12) Angelique Kerber’s 11 match winning streak and unbeaten run on clay came to an end 46 63 63 at the hands of Samantha Stosur and her 14 aces!

In the 2nd round, (10/11) Andrea Petkovic withdrew due to a gastrointestinal illness. The 3rd round saw struggling (7/7) Ana Ivanovic and (9/9) Agnieszka Radwanska both lose out before the quarter finals for a 6th time this year. Ana struggled against a niggling leg injury and an in form (12/10) Carla Suarez Navarro, losing 75 16 64, whilst Radwanska literally looked tactically lost in going out to close friend, (5/5) Caroline Wozniacki 63 62. With this defeat, Radwanska falls out of the top 10 for the 1st time since October 2011!

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Here are my predictions for the upcoming semi finals!

(1/1) Serena Williams vs (4/4) Petra Kvitova

Serena is unbeaten this year, is on a 27 match winning streak and hasn’t lost in Madrid since 2010! This all nearly came to an end as she saved 3 match points to survive former number one, Victoria Azarenka 76(5) 36 76(1) in the 3rd round! Azarenka was her own worst enemy, losing a 5-1 lead in the 1st set tiebreak and a 6-5 40-0 lead in the 3rd! From 40-30, Azarenka hit 3 inexplicable double faults as Serena reeled off 12 of the last 13 points! In the quarters, she maintained her dominant record against Suarez Navarro, hitting 43 winners to crush her 61 63. Still, yet another great week for the Spaniard, who reached her 9th quarter final of the year in 10 tournaments played!

Kvitova now looks revitalised after recent battles with exhaustion. Despite 2 early 3 set struggles against Olga Govortsova and Coco Vandeweghe, she looked much sharper in beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Irina Camelia Begu in straight sets.

Serena is unbeaten in 5 meetings against Petra, only losing the one set. The two haven’t played on clay, though they should’ve met in the quarters here last year before Williams withdrew. In a match between 2 former champions (Petra 2011, Serena 2012/13) who enjoy the quick conditions in Madrid, there will obviously be an emphasis on power, big serving and who can dictate. Petra will only stand a chance if she’s on her very best form and catches Serena on an erratic day, as Azarenka did. As the odds of this are slim, I can’t bet against the unbeaten number one! Prediction- Serena Williams

(3/3) Maria Sharapova vs (29/-) Svetlana Kuznetsova

Maria is the defending champion and looking to regain her number 2 position in the coming weeks. Despite coming into this event on a 3 match losing run, she recovered her form quickly with a convincing win against in-form Timea Bacsinszky in the 1st round. Surprisingly subtle drop shots saved her against Caroline Garcia in the 3rd round, who she edged 62 46 75 and a commitment to step up the court enabled her to hit through scrambling Caroline Wozniacki, 61 36 63 in the quarters.

Kuznetsova, as a former French Open champion, always seems to come into her own on the clay and here in Madrid has been the comeback queen. After upsetting Makarova, she narrowly edged Garbine Muguruza 63 57 75, Samantha Stosur 57 62 76(5) and then saved 2 match points to beat (14/13) Lucie Safarova 57 76(5) 76(3) in the quarters! How she keeps doing it, I don’t know, especially when you consider she’d never even reached the quarter finals here before!

Maria leads her compatriot 8-4 in the head to head, having won the last 4 matches played since 2008! However, the two have never played on clay! Maria will definitely be the aggressor in this match and Svetlana can’t afford to rely on her heavy groundstrokes and effortless movement to simply hang in points. If she is to turn around her losing streak against Maria, she must go for her shots and open up the angles as we know she can do when she’s feeling confident. Does Svetlana have the energy to spring another upset? I doubt it. Prediction- Maria Sharapova

Next: WTA Madrid: Preview & Predictions

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