Is it just me or does week 2 of the new tennis season feel flat compared to the excitement of week 1? The biggest event of the week, the WTA tournament in Sydney, has seen five of the eight seeds go out including the number 1 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska, who was knocked out today in straight sets by Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-5 6-2.

Petra Kvitova v Lucie Safarova (WTA Sydney, QF)

As mentioned above, just three seeds remain in Sydney and the most convincing winner on Tuesday was Petra Kvitova, who thrashed Christina McHale, 6-1 6-0.  Kvitova won all her singles match at the Hopman Cup and has made an encouraging start to the year.  In 2013, she won just two matches in Australia so there are huge opportunities this month to improve her tally of ranking points.  Next up is a tricky match-up with fellow Czech player, Lucie Safarova, who played a fantastic match to beat Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4 7-6(7).  Safarova saved four set points in the second set tiebreak including one on an exceptional rally, which she finished with a blazing forehand.  Safarova is not known for her mental toughness, but she showed a lot of character to dig out the win in two sets.  Kvitova and Safarova have played just once on the WTA tour with Kvitova winning in straight sets on hard courts in 2012.  Safarova is a tough competitor and Kvitova will need to play a good match to make the semi-finals.

Prediction: Kvitova to beat Safarova in 3 sets

WTA Sydney Quarter-Final Predictions

Bethanie Mattek-Sands to beat Madison Keys in 3 sets *on the fence*

Angelique Kerber to beat Carla Suarez Navarro in 2 sets

Sara Errani to beat Tsvetana Pironkova in 2 sets

WTA Hobart 2nd Round Predictions

Sam Stosur to beat Kristina Mladenovic in 3 sets

Klara Zakopalova to beat Zhang Shuai in 3 sets

Monica Niculescu to beat Mona Barthel in 2 sets

Elena Vesnina to beat Estrella Cabeza Candela in 2 sets

Garbine Muguruza to beat Yanina Wickmayer in 2 sets

Kirsten Flipkens to beat Storm Sanders in 2 sets

ATP Sydney 2nd Round Predictions

Juan Martin del Potro to beat Nicolas Mahut in 2 very tight sets

Bernard Tomic to beat Blaz Kavcic in 2 sets

Marinko Matosevic to beat Andreas Seppi in 3 sets

Marin Cilic to beat Denis Istomin in 2 sets

Julien Benneteau to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2 sets

Dmitry Tursunov to beat Lukas Rosol in 3 sets

Radek Stepanek to beat Albert Ramos in 2 sets

ATP Auckland 2nd Round Predictions

Tommy Haas to beat Jack Sock in 3 sets

John Isner to beat Lukas Lacko in 2 tight sets

David Ferrer to beat Donald Young in 2 sets

Philipp Kohlschreiber to beat Horacio Zeballos in 2 sets

Benoit Paire to beat Roberto Bautista-Agut in 2 sets

Santiago Giraldo to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in 3 sets