French Open: Quarter-Final Predictions for Day 10

/ June 4, 2012
The top 4 on Day 10

Sam Stosur

1. Sara Errani v Angelique Kerber

Angelique Kerber will continue her rise up the rankings into the top 8 virtue of her reaching her first ever quarter-final at Roland Garros.  She has done remarkably well to avoid the upset train with tough wins over Flavia Pennetta and Petra Martic in the third and fourth rounds respectively.  Her opponent in the quarters is the number 21 seed Sara Errani who has had a marvellous tournament with two of the best wins of her career over Ana Ivanovic in the third round and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.  Kerber dominated their only previous match in Hobart this year, 6-1 6-2, but Errani is much more comfortable on this surface than Kerber.  I think it will be a gruelling match with many long rallies but I give the edge to the German…
Prediction – Kerber to beat Errani in 2 tight sets

2. Sam Stosur v Dominika Cibulkova
Dominika Cibulkova showed tremendous fight to finally beat Victoria Azarenka in a storming 4th rounder, 6-2 7-6.  It looked like for the third time in a row, she might blow a hefty lead but she managed to get her nerves under control and deservedly pull off the upset win.  Cibulkova has had a great tournament so far and is reaping the benefits of working with a new coach.  Sam Stosur definitely looks the favourite to reach the final from this section now that Azarenka is out, but she showed some fragility in fending off Sloane Stephens in the 4th round, 7-5 6-4.  The American served for the first set at 5-3 and then broke Stosur when she was serving for the match before the Aussie regrouped.  Stosur leads the head-to-head over Cibulkova having won their only previous encounter in Stanford three years ago in straight sets; however Stosur showed the jitters yesterday and Cibulkova is looking in mightily good form so I am going for an upset here…
Prediction – Cibulkova to beat Stosur in 2 sets

Novak Djokovic

3. Novak Djokovic v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Novak Djokovic suffered an almighty scare in his 4th round match as he fought back from two sets down to beat Andreas Seppi, 4-6 6-7 6-3 7-5 6-3.  Djokovic was well below his best, but did well to come through an extremely testing encounter.  He now faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the French crowd in the quarter-finals.  Tsonga wobbled to a five set victory over Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4 7-6 3-6 3-6 6-4.  Wawrinka threatened to strike back from two sets down, just like he did in their third round encounter at Roland Garros last year, but Tsonga managed to bring a halt to the Swiss man’s comeback.  Djokovic and Tsonga last played in Rome where the Serb edged a tight first set before steaming to victory.  I think that struggling in his 4th round match was a wake-up call for Djokovic and he will pick up his game for this one…
Prediction – Djokovic to beat Tsonga in 3 sets

4. Roger Federer v Juan Martin Del Potro 
Roger Federer lost his third set of the tournament in a sparkling match with the young David Goffin, 5-7 7-5 6-2 6-4.  Federer has had what looked like a cakewalk of a draw to the quarter-finals, but in every match he has been challenged by spirited opponents.  He faces his biggest test in the quarter-finals against Juan Martin Del Potro, who was in excellent form to take out many peoples dark horse this year, Tomas Berdych in 4 sets.  Federer has completely owned Del Potro in their last five matches where the Swiss maestro has prevailed everytime in straight sets.  Del Potro had his biggest win over Federer in the US Open final in 2009 and pushed him hard in the semi-finals of the same year.  I cannot see Del Potro prevailing in this one although I think he could sneak a set…
Prediction – Federer to beat Del Potro in 4 sets

You can look at my original predictions that I made just over a week ago in my WTA and ATP previews for the tournaments: my men’s predictions have been very successful this week as I correctly predicted 6 of the 8 quarter-finalists, meanwhile all the shocks in the womens draw have decimated my predictions!!!

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