WTA Eastbourne: Preview & Predictions

WTA Eastbourne: Who will beat the breeze in Eastbourne this year?

The 2015 AEGON International gets underway this week on the grass courts in Eastbourne. Having long since been the principal women’s warm up for Wimbledon, the event boasts six of the world’s top ten. This year, Eastbourne has followed the trend in making the grass court season bigger and better in increasing its draw size from twenty eight to forty eight, meaning that there is an additional third round. Who will master the notoriously breezy seaside resort this year?

Here is a preview of the draw and my predictions as to who will reach the semi finals.

(Seed)

Top Half: (5) Carla Suarez Navarro vs (3) Lucie Safarova

(1) Petra Kvitova went unbeaten in all nine matches she played on grass last year but hasn’t yet played on it this year. This could go against her should she face Camila Giorgi in the second round, who won on grass at Rosmalen a week ago. (5) Carla Suarez Navarro has beaten Kvitova three times this year and the two could well face each other in the quarters, though you’d expect Kvitova to overturn her losing streak against the Spaniard on grass. If Kvitova does go out early though, I’d expect Carla to come through this section as she’s already made the Birmingham quarters.

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(3) Lucie Safarova should have played at Birmingham but hadn’t recovered quickly enough from her run to the French Open final. The grass suits her game and I can see her reaching the quarters without too much trouble, considering she owns (16) Sam Stosur in their head to head. (8) Karolina Pliskova is in the Birmingham final as of this time of writing and could well be inside the top 10 this week if should she win that match. Though she looks very confident on the surface, she might not recover in time to have a good run here too. (9) Agnieszka Radwanska, the champion here in 2008, isn’t at her best but did reach the semis in Nottingham just over a week ago. I think she could take advantage if Pliskova is fatigued but won’t be able to handle Safarova considering their respective form and head to head.

Bottom Half: (4) Ekaterina Makarova vs (6) Angelique Kerber

(4) Ekaterina Makarova loves this event, having won her only title here in 2010 (as a qualifier) and having reached the quarters or better in six of her seven appearances. Therefore, despite having not yet played on the grass, you’d expect her to do well here. (12) Madison Keys is the defending champion and should boss her way through to the quarters as (7) Eugenie Bouchard has lost ten of her last eleven matches. If Makarova plays Keys, I really wouldn’t know who to pick, but Keys is not as reliable as Makarova.

(2) Caroline Wozniacki is also a former champion at the event (2009) and tends to do well here each year. Her first grass court appearance of the year could well end in the quarters against (6) Angelique Kerber, as it did in the semis here last year. Kerber is contesting the Birmingham final as of this time of writing and is a natural grass courter who has reached the final here in two of the past three years. When she’s confident, she can back up event after event and I don’t feel she’ll be too fatigued to back up her run in Birmingham with another good run here.

Next: WTA Birmingham: Final Prediction

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