The womens draw in Washington has seen a string of upsets with Lucie Safarova, Sloane Stephens, Alize Cornet and Madison Keys all exiting after the first round.  Following the break after Wimbledon, it’s not hugely surprising.  The Changeover team are in DC this week and Lindsay Gibbs wrote a fantastic piece about some of the up-and-comers in Washington HERE.  I really enjoy all of Lindsay’s pieces, but this one in particular is a great read.

1. Ekaterina Makarova v Lauren Davis (WTA Washington, R2)

The number two seed, Ekaterina Makarova takes on the world number 43. Lauren Davis.  Makarova upset the defending champion, Magdalena Rybarikova in the first round with a double breadstick, 6-1 6-1 victory in just 52 minutes.  Rybarikova is on a horrid run of form having lost her last five matches and some pretty major ranking points.  Makarova should face a much more tricky match against Davis, who defeated the Nanchang champion of last week, Peng Shuai, 1-6 6-4 6-2 in the first round.  Davis has quietly crept up the rankings with some impressive performances this year.  She reached the third round of both Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and has picked up 18 main draw wins in 2014.

Makarova and Davis have never played each other before on the WTA tour.  Davis can get completely overwhelmed by big hitters.  Makarova has certainly demonstrated in the past that she can hit pockets of peak form, the kind of play that would wipe Davis off the court; however, the Russian player is also very capable of throwing in a shocker.  Sometimes steady and solid can win the day and I’m going to honour my original prediction and go with the American to bag the upset win.

Prediction: Davis d. Makarova in 3 sets

WTA Washington 2nd Round Predictions

Kirsten Flipkens d. Svetlana Kuznetsova in 3 sets

Christina McHale d. Vania King in 3 sets

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova d. Hiroko Kuwata in 2 sets

ATP Washington 3rd Round Predictions

Tomas Berdych d. Vasek Pospisil in 2 very tight sets

Santiago Giraldo d. Victor Estrella Burgos in 3 sets

Kei Nishikori d. Lukas Lacko in 2 sets

Richard Gasquet d. Tim Smyczek in 3 sets

Kevin Anderson d. Malek Jaziri in 2 sets

Denis Istomin d. Donald Young in 3 sets

Ivo Karlovic d. Steve Johnson in 3 tight sets

Lleyton Hewitt d. Milos Raonic in 2 tight sets