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Wimbledon: Women’s Predictions, Day Three

By Clinton Trueman

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Jun 29, 2015; London, United Kingdom; Venus Williams (USA) waves to the crowd as she leaves the court after recording match point in her match against Madison Brengle (USA) on day one of The Championships Wimbledon at the AELTC. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Wimbledon 2015: Women’s Match Analyses and Predictions for Day Three

Round Two of Wimbledon 2015 commences today. After a first round featuring some fantastic performances (Kerber really is a competitor for the title) and some surprises (Cepelova was great but Halep should not have lost that match), the second round promises even more drama as the women vie for places in the round of 32.

Top Matches to Watch

Yulia Putintseva vs. Venus Williams [16]

Venus essentially played a perfect match in her first round meeting with Madison Brengle. Serving up a storm, she blasted a bunch of winners while keeping the unforced errors to a minimum, ultimately coming away with a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

Her opponent this time will be young Kazakh Putintseva. Putintseva doesn’t possess the large frame of many of her contemporaries, and while she can generate some pace her strengths lie in her solid defensive skills and her variety of shots. On top of that, she’s pure entertainment value. Often derided by her opponents for rude and arrogant behaviour, Putintseva fist bumps after nearly every point she wins (including double faults) and doesn’t mind making a few ill-advised comments at the net (something Coco Vandeweghe knows all too well).

If Venus plays as well as she did against Brengle this match is over. However, it will be interesting to see how Putintseva’s on court demeanour affects Venus. Anyone who watched Venus’ match again Barbora Strycova in Doha will know that she doesn’t respond well to improper sportsmanship. Regardless, Venus should easily be able to hit her way through Putintseva’s defence and find her way into the third round.

Prediction: Venus in 2.

Serena Williams [1] vs. Timea Babos

Serena had a slow start in her first round match against Gasparyan. Gifting away games with too many unforced errors, Serena went down an early break and looked in danger of dropping the first set. Luckily, she tightened up her groundstrokes and cruised through to a straight sets victory.

Her opponent in the second round is another young star of the game. An accomplished doubles player, Babos has had her greatest grand slam success at Wimbledon, having won her only grand slam singles matches here and having made the doubles final here last year. The Hungarian youngster can generate quite a bit of pace with her groundstrokes but really doesn’t have the game to threaten Serena.

If Serena has another slow start look for Babos to take this to 3. But as Serena showed so many times in Paris, regardless of her form or the score, she will win.

Prediction: Serena in 2.

Kirsten Flipkens vs. Victoria Azarenka [23]

Not much needs to be said about Azarenka’s first round performance. She played consistent and aggressive tennis to easily take out Anett Kontaveit. And although she did hit 5 double faults, she countered it with 6 aces.

The same cannot be said for her opponent. Flipkens had to dig deep in her first round match against Annika Beck after losing the first set 6-0. Although she eventually came through in three sets, it was not a performance the 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist would have been particularly proud of. It’s been a rough year for Flipkens: ever since she failed to defend her points her last year and tumbled down the rankings, she’s struggled to win matches. However, her game is perfectly suited to the grass. She frequently employs a classical serve and volley game while disrupting the rhythm of her opponents with heavy slices. When executed perfectly it’s stunning to watch on the surface; however, the lack of firepower will seriously hinder her chances of upsetting Azarenka.

Azarenka leads their head-to-head 3-0, including a straightforward match earlier this year at Indian Wells. The Belarusian has never had any issues with the Flipkens game. Look for that to continue here.

Prediction: Azarenka in 2.

Karolina Pliskova [11] vs. Coco Vandeweghe

Pliskova has been one of the surprise packages of the year. A game that was once defined by a fantastic serve has developed into a much more multidimensional package throughout 2015. She now consistently hits winners from both sides of the court with flat, hard groundstrokes. Her movement (which was one her obvious weakness) has also improved exponentially, letting her reach balls that she was once forced to watch fly by her. The Czech still seems slightly uncomfortable moving on the grass. Having said that, she sure can play on the surface, having participated in possibly the match of 2015 alongside Angelique Kerber in the Birmingham final. Her first round match was not as simple as she may have hoped, but it was still a solid performance underlined by 10 aces.

And in the second round Pliskova will be playing … the American version of Pliskova. A grass court specialist, Vandeweghe possesses a booming serve that is unplayable when it’s working. However, the issue with Vandeweghe is that the serve has not been working throughout the grass court tune-up tournaments. Throughout some early losses, her first serve percentage was just too low for a player who relies so much on the effectiveness of the first strike. However, she did give a reasonable performance in the first round against Anna Schmiedlova. Her first serve percentage was up to 60% and she delivered a barrage of aces. Given her inconsistency, it’s difficult to tell whether she can carry this into the next round.

This match really depends on who’s in form. If either player has an outstanding serving day and hits all of their spots, they’ll take the match. However, Pliskova has the better serve, the better movement and the more consistent shots. If Vandeweghe doesn’t play to her full potential, look for Pliskova to make her first ever round of 32 appearance here.

Prediction: Pliskova in 3.

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The Best of the Rest

Maria Sharapova [4] vs. Richel Hogenkamp

Despite not having played a grass court match coming into Wimbledon, Sharapova played a solid first round match. And while it’s an achievement for Hogenkamp to have won her first grand slam match, she doesn’t really have the dynamic game style to win her second. Unless she has a bad day on court, look for Sharapova to grunt her way into the third round.

Prediction: Sharapova in 2.

Mariana Duque Marino vs. Andrea Petkovic [14]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Petkovic’s performance in the first round? While Venus was the subject of a lot of media attention after taking a double bagel win, the German also took out a young American 6-0, 6-0 (and took three less minutes to do it too)! It was simply a magnificent performance from Petko who hit a flurry of winners and only TWO unforced errors. For a player as aggressive as her, thats incredible! Her serve was also on fire: she hit 5 aces and 0 double faults (which may be a record for her).

Now that the Petkovic love-fest is over, the attention now turns to her second round match. Duque Marino shouldn’t present too much of a challenge. Her first round victory was only her second win at Wimbledon and she fell in qualifying last year. Petkovic does have a tendency to play inconsistent tennis: some of her matches come across as a guide featuring every possible way that a player can hit an unforced error. However, given her performance in the first round she appears to be in magnificent form. If she plays anywhere near as well as she did on Monday, she’ll ease her way into the third round and match her result from last year.

Prediction: Petkovic in 2 (but with Petko it could be 3).

Urszula Radwanska vs. Samantha Stosur [22]

Stosur and Radwanska both had fantastic victories in the first round. Stosur seems to have formulated an effective game plan on the grass, despite her struggles on the surface in previous years. Meanwhile, it’s nice to see Radwanska back in the winner’s circle. Ever since working her way into the world’s top 30, the Pole struggled to win matches and subsequently fell out of the top 100. Both players are enigmatic and erratic so it’s difficult to predict who will take this one. I’ll take Stosur, whose experience and more consistent play should help her take out Radwanska and match her best result at Wimbledon.

Prediction: Stosur in 2.

Sloane Stephens vs. Lauren Davis

In the battle of young Americans it will be a match of pure, unadulterated power versus solid, multidimensional court work. It’s great to see both of them getting through the first round, given that their results throughout their careers don’t really mirror their potential. Stephens’ win was particularly impressive, taking out last year’s quarterfinalist Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-2. Stephens’ new coach Nick Saviano seems to be having a positive effect on her game and ability to knuckle down and focus, resulting in what is arguably a resurgence for the young American. And it’s this that will get her through to the third round. Sure, Davis is a great player, but Stephens is just playing too well at the moment to lose this one.

Prediction: Stephens in 2.

Hsieh Su-Wei vs. Lucie Safarova [6]

Safarova is lucky to still be in the tournament . Down a set and 3-5 against Alison Riske after a few too many errors, it appeared that the French Open finalist was succumbing to the pressure of being a top ten player and would shortly be packing her bags. However, she eventually made her way through in a gritty, Sharapova-esque performance. The pressure of following her final in Paris will now be somewhat relieved going into her second round match against Hsieh Su-Wei. A skilled doubles player, Hsieh has been dubbed a second-rate Agnieszka Radwanska. She is incredibly precise, has a wide array of shots and has fantastic hands around the net. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to translate this into a successful career, lacking the firepower to consistently win matches. Ultimately, this match will come down to how Safarova performs. If she’s in top form, it’s an easy win. If she begins to spray errors, the match will suddenly become a lot tougher. Expect Safarova to win, but don’t expect an attractive performance.

Prediction: Safarova in 3.

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