Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova will contest a dream all-Czech match-up in the first of the 2014 Wimbledon semi-finals.  Of course, for me it’s a dream! Safarova and Kvitova are my two favourite WTA players and I am so delighted to see them both in the last four.  For Petra, this isn’t a surprise at all.  Since 2010, she has hasn’t fallen before the quarter-final stage at Wimbledon.  She reached the semi-finals in 2010, won the title in 2011 and now finds herself back in the last four.  For Lucie, this is a pleasant surprise.  Safarova had made just one Grand Slam quarter-final in her career, all the way back in 2007 at the Australian Open.  She broke new ground progressing into a first ever Grand Slam semi-final.

Kvitova has looked in tremendous form all week.  After two straightforward matches, she was pushed all the way by Venus Williams in a fabulous third round contest on Centre Court.  On several occasions, Petra was two points from defeat, but she rallied to win 5-7 7-6(2) 7-5.  You can read my recap of that match HERE.  In the quarters, she defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-1 7-5.  It was a fun match and BZS served for the second set.  I thought P3tra was going the distance, but after a shaky fifteen minutes, she regrouped to find her best form and finished the match with a crunching return winner.  She looked incredibly pumped and the Petra squawk was in full voice.  Peak Petra is without doubt, the favourite to win this title.

Safarova has yet to drop a set this week at Wimbledon.  Her best win of the week came against Dominika Cibulkova in the third round, 6-4 6-2.  Lucie has always been a nervous character on court and has come up short in so many big matches.  She had match point against eventual champion, Li Na in Australia and has twice pushed Maria Sharapova in three long sets in 2014 at Miami and Stuttgart.  This week has seen the Czech player flourish in the face of an admittedly, favourable draw.  Her victories over Tereza Smitkova (6-0 6-2) and Ekaterina Makarova (6-3 6-1) in the fourth round and quarter-finals respectively, show how far Lucie has come under the watchful gaze of her coach, Rob Steckley.  I wrote a piece about Lucie after her match with Sharapova in Miami which you can read HERE and was blown away by her great relationship with Steckley.  I urge you to watch the video below from Miami… bye bye old Lucie, hello new Lucie!

Safarova and Kvitova have played each other FOUR times this year.  Each match has had the same outcome with Kvitova winning all five of their matches.  They last played in Eastbourne where the match went to a third set tiebreak.  Lucie was up a mini-break in that TB, but her chance evaporated after a pair of poor points.  There appears to be a bit of a mental block for Lucie playing Petra.  However, she has exceeded all expectations this fortnight, played some stunning tennis and can go out and enjoy the occasion.  Of course, there will be nerves and particularly so if she gets into a winning position.  For me though, Petra is in the zone right now.  I had her to reach the final in my original prediction and with Maria and Serena gone, I think she is going all the way.

On a personal level, I don’t care who wins! I’ll be happy either way 🙂

Prediction: Kvitova d. Safarova in 3 sets