WTA Wuhan: Semi Final Predictions

WTA Wuhan: Will Venus avenge Serena’s defeat against Vinci?

The semi finals have been decided at the 2015 Wuhan Open in China.

Roberta Vinci will play Venus Williams and Garbine Muguruza will play Angelique Kerber! Did I predict this? Find out here!

Here are my predictions as to who will reach the final.

(Rank/Seed)

(18/15) Roberta Vinci vs (24/-) Venus Williams

Vinci continues her incredible recent form, winning 10 of her last 11 matches including her run to the US Open final. The Italian lost in the 1st round here a year ago but has drastically improved on that this week, dropping just 1 set in 4 matches. The 32 year old defeated last week’s Seoul champion, Irina Camelia Begu in the 2nd round before taking out the defending champion, (4/3) Petra Kvitova 76(3) 62. In an almost identical match to that, she out steadied (12/8) Karolina Pliskova 76 (2) 63 in the quarters to reach her 3rd semi final of the year.

Williams has looked fresher than the majority of the tour this week, out powering last week’s Tokyo champion (7/10) Agnieszka Radwanska 61 76(4) and (10/7) Carla Suarez Navarro 63 64 in the 1st and 3rd rounds respectively. Few would have expected the American to struggle against Johanna Konta, the British qualifier and conqueror of (2/1) Simona Halep. However, the 35 year old was forced to recover from 3-5 down in the 3rd set to win her quarter final 64 36 75 and reach her 1st semi final since Doha in February. Like Vinci, Williams will appear in her 3rd semi final of the year and improves on a 1st round exit here last year.

Williams remains unbeaten against Vinci, winning all 3 of their previous encounters. These all came on hard courts, the last coming indoors in Luxembourg 2012, where Williams won a tight quarter final 76(2) 64.

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As has been the case for most of the week, Vinci will have to defuse a very powerful opponent with an imposing serve. Considering she famously got the better of Serena Williams in the US Open semi finals, Vinci shouldn’t be too afraid of playing her big sister. However, Williams will be out for family retribution and wont go down without a fight.

Providing Williams recovers from her quarter final, she should win this match, though I imagine Vinci making it difficult with her sliced backhands and consistent serving.

Prediction: Venus Williams

(8/5) Garbine Muguruza vs (13/6) Angelique Kerber

Muguruza is through to her 1st semi final since reaching the Wimbledon final and only her 3rd of the year. The Spaniard has been crushing her opponents thus far, beating Sloane Stephens 62 60 in the 2nd round, (9/9) Ana Ivanovic 46 61 60 in the 3rd round and Anna Schmiedlova 62 62 in the quarters. It seems the 21 year old enjoys it here, considering she beat Simona Halep en route to the 3rd round here last year and as she’s currently 11th on the Road to Singapore, stands to make a substantial advance this week.

Kerber is more experienced than the others in semi finals this year, this being her 7th. As a 4 time titlist, Kerber currently stands in 7th place on the Road to Singapore and continues to do a great job in terms of cementing her place there. Thus far, the German has battled past the likes of last week’s Guangzhou champion, Jelena Jankovic 64 26 62 in the 2nd round, as well as un-seeded Camila Giorgi and Coco Vandeweghe. By improving on her quarter final showing here last year, the 27 year old looks good to return to the top 10 next week and rightly so.

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