Four top ten players remain in Madrid after a so-so line-up of quarter-finals.  It was disappointing to see Serena Williams pull out of her quarter-final although I was pleased to see Kvitova move into the last four.  Originally, it seemed that Serena had pulled out of Rome too, but those reports appeared to be false.  Speaking of Rome, qualifying will begin on Saturday and the main draw should be announced too.  A full preview of the draw will be available on Moo’s Tennis Blog this weekend.  Predictions for Madrid have been generally shocking.  I am hoping for an improvement next week…

Polls Result: 62% correctly went for Sharapova to beat Li and only 30% went for Halep to beat Ivanovic.  A heads up to one of my readers, Murphy, who correctly called a Kvitova v Halep semi-final.

1. Petra Kvitova v Simona Halep (WTA, Semi-Final)

Petra Kvitova

I was really shocked to see the final scoreline for the quarter-final between Simona Halep and Ana Ivanovic.  After leading 2-0 in the first set, Ivanovic won just two more games in the whole match as she was comprehensively defeated by Halep, 6-2 6-2.  There were suggestions on Twitter that Ivanovic may have had an injury although others highlighted that she was simply outplayed by Halep.  Based on their respective form at this tournament, I was expecting Ivanovic to cruise it.  After watching chunks of Halep’s match with Lisicki, I thought she was below par for much of it and sloppy at times.  Halep has proven though in her form through 2013 and particularly in Doha this year that she can take her game to another level and she appeared to do that on Friday.

Petra Kvitova got a little lucky, but that’s alright.  It’s good to see Petra competing at the business end of big tournaments.  She has been erratic this week; however she has rattled off some good wins over Sorana Cirstea, Varvara Lepchenko and Lucie Safarova.  Petra is a confidence player and any win, how ugly it may be, is going to go some distance.  Halep and Kvitova have played just once on the WTA tour.  That match came in the final of New Haven when Halep won in the final, 6-2 6-2.  I am really looking forward to this match and there’s not a great deal of history between the pair, which makes it a bit more exciting.  Halep is much more effective on the clay although the altitude and conditions are good for Petra.  I am going for Halep in this semi-final…

Prediction: Halep d. Kvitova in 2 tight sets

2. Maria Sharapova v Agnieszka Radwanska (WTA, Semi-Final)

For the second consecutive tournament, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska will go head-to-head on the clay.  Sharapova enjoyed arguably her best win of the year, coming back from a set and a break down to beat Li Na, 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3.  Li won the first set with 0 winners, which is a stat I have never seen before.  It was also just the 3rd three setter the pair have played in 15 matches.

In what sounded like the best quarter-final of the day, Radwanska snapped Caroline Garcia‘s winning streak with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 victory.  Both came out of the match with a positive winner to unforced error differential and both should be proud of their efforts.  Garcia has had a wonderful run and will likely be a looming threat at Roland Garros.  Radwanska has plucked up some of her best form of the whole year to make the quarter-finals.  Aga lost the last time she played Sharapova in the Stuttgart quarter-finals, 6-4 6-3 in a match that featured 11 breaks of serve.  I don’t know why, but I think Radwanska could get a set in this one.  She’s been serving very well all week and Sharapova has been shakier than she was in Stuttgart.  Still, I favour Maria to continue her own winning streak, which currently stands at nine matches.

Prediction: Sharapova d. Radwanska in 3 sets

ATP Madrid Semi-Final Predictions

Rafael Nadal d. Roberto Bautista-Agut in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

David Ferrer d. Kei Nishikori… I would have gone Nishikori to win this but he looked to be struggling with a lower back injury in his win over Lopez.  Ferrer could wrap this up quickly if Kei’s well below 100%.  If Kei has recovered somewhat, he should push this at least to three sets.