The big surprise of this second week has been Tsvetana Pironkova, known more for her exploits on the grass, who has won six matches in Sydney to reach the semi-finals.    There are some interesting matches in both Sydney draws with my favourite matches previewed below.

1. Madison Keys v Angelique Kerber (WTA Sydney, SF)

Madison Keys

The second semi-final in the WTA Sydney draw has the potential to be a really engaging encounter between Madison Keys and Angelique Kerber.  Keys is one of the most promising teenagers on the WTA tour and it is promising indeed to see her winning matches in Sydney after losing her first match in Brisbane to Stefanie Voegele.  Keys made the quarter-finals in Sydney last year, but has gone one better in 2014 after her quarter-final opponent, Bethanie Mattek-Sands was forced to retire with a back injury.  Kerber has started the season in fine form and has already shown a great deal more aggressive intent than she did at the beginning of 2013.  Kerber defeated Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-2 6-4 in the quarter-finals.  Kerber and Keys have played once before at last year’s Australian Open where Kerber won in straight sets.  I can see Madison winning a set, but I think it’s dangerous to underestimate Kerber right now.  Keys has huge weapons when she is on song, but Kerber’s consistency and ability to attack on the right ball is likely to be the winner on the day.

Prediction: Kerber to beat Keys in 3 sets

2. Bernard Tomic v Alexandr Dolgopolov (ATP Sydney, QF)

Last year’s Sydney champion, Bernard Tomic, has made a good start to defending his title in Sydney with victories over Marcel Granollers and Blaz Kavcic.  The Australian world number 52 has attracted some pretty negative press over the last year, but he has shown his best results down under in front of a home crowd.  His next match will be a difficult one indeed against Alexandr Dolgopolov, who has started the season brightly.  He took David Ferrer to three sets in Doha and today, strolled past the returning-from-injury, Jerzy Janowicz, 6-2 6-2.  Dolgopolov leads the head-to-head by 5 wins to 1; however Tomic’s only win did come in Australia, a sensational slice-and-dice third rounder from the 2012 Australian Open. Highlights from that match are below and they are well worth a watch.  Dolgopolov has shown signs of improvement in his first few matches of 2014, but I am going to stick by my original prediction of Tomic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MciJAVSCqRk

Prediction: Tomic to beat Dolgopolov in 3 sets

WTA Sydney Semi-Final Prediction:

Petra Kvitova to beat Tsvetana Pironkova in 2 tight sets

WTA Hobart Quarter-Final Predictions:

Sam Stosur to beat Bojana Jovanovski in 2 tight sets

Klara Zakopalova to beat Alison Riske in 3 sets

Monica Niculescu to beat Estrella Cabeza Candela in 2 sets

Garbine Muguruza to beat Kirsten Flipkens in 3 sets

*In my original predictions before qualifiers were placed, I went for Flipkens as my predicted winner.  Based on performances this week, I have a sneaky feeling Muguruza could pull an upset in this one*

ATP Sydney Quarter-Final Predictions:

Juan Martin del Potro to beat Radek Stepanek in 2 tight sets

Denis Istomin to beat Dmitry Tursunov in 3 sets

Marinko Matosevic to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2 sets

ATP Auckland Quarter-Final Predictions:

David Ferrer to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in 2 sets

Steve Johnson to beat Yen-Hsun Lu in 3 sets

Philipp Kohlschreiber to beat John Isner in 3 sets

Jack Sock to beat Roberto Bautista-Agut in 2 tight sets

Although I have incorrectly predicted quite a few first and second round matches, my predicted finalists in all four tournaments are still live!  You can check out how I am doing with my original predictions by clicking on the links, “WTA Predictions Week 2” and “ATP Predictions Week 2” at the top of the page.