The tennis tour keeps ticking along although interest (at least on my part) will generally remain muted until the week beginning the 28th of July.  In that week, the women will be in Stanford and Washington meanwhile the men will compete in an ATP 500 in D.C.  All three draws will be strong.  This week, the women are in Bastad and Istanbul.  After its three year reign of hosting the Year-Ending-Championships, Istanbul now returns as an International event on the calendar.  Bastad had attracted Serena Williams, but she unsurprisingly, pulled out last week.

Updates to Moo’s Tennis Blog: I’ve updated a few sections of the site following Wimbledon.  The “Tournament Experiences” page has been updated with my reports from Eastbourne and Wimbledon.  The “2014 Predictions Archive” is also up-to-date and includes my Wimbledon predictions, which on the whole, were reasonably good.  I haven’t had a great year so far although I just do it for fun.  All my predictions from 2014 are available for your viewing pleasure.  As ever, your predictions are always encouraged so if you have some thoughts about the Bastad and Istanbul draws will pan out, please do leave a comment 🙂

WTA Bastad (Clay)

Bastad has seen a spate of withdrawals with Serena Williams, Flavia Pennetta, Carla Suarez Navarro, Barbora Zahlvova Strycova and Yvonne Meusburger all pulling out of the tournament in Sweden.  Serena has been replaced at the top of drawsheet by none other than Alize Cornet! The Frenchwoman’s best surface is clay, but her results this year have suggested otherwise.  Cornet won the tournament in Katowice (indoors), reached the final in Dubai (hard court) and the semi-finals of Paris (indoors).  Her year has been dominated by two victories over Serena in Dubai and at Wimbledon where she reached the last 16 for the first time in her career.  On clay, injuries and a series of tough draws saw her compile a disappointing 2-4 W-L record.  Bastad will give her the opportunity to end her season on clay with a positive result.

Cornet’s first match of the week will be against a qualifier.  In the second round, if she were to win, she would meet Jana Cepelova or Rebecca Peterson.  This is an ideal opportunity for Cepelova to snap a seven match losing streak that extends all the way back to Madrid qualifying.  Cepelova hasn’t won a WTA main draw match since her fairytale run to the final in Charleston.  Cornet’s quarter-final opponent is projected to be Polona Hercog, who has posted some good results on the clay after making her comeback from a long injury lay-off earlier this year.  Yaroslava Shvedova and Annika Beck are the two seeds in the second quarter.  The less said about this quarter, the better.

The third quarter is the strongest with Camila Giorgi, Anna Schmiedlova, Kaia Kanepi, Mona Barthel and Johanna Larsson all in attendance.  The name to watch out for in that crop of players is Kanepi, who won the ITF event in Biarritz last week.  She also ousted Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon and appears to be finding some form again after a rough run through the first five months of the season where a persistent heel injury was still bothering her.  Giorgi is playing a lot of events lately, winning plenty of matches but also throwing in a ropey performance along the way.  Giorgi could play Barthel in the second round, which would be a match where it would advisable for members of the crowd to bring helmets.

The final quarters features the number two seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.  The Russian player is a real threat on tour and has upset many top ten players.  In her last tournament but one, she knocked out the number one seed, Agnieszka Radwanska in Eastbourne.  However, up against players she is expected to beat, Pavlyuchenkova has eternally struggled.  In the first round, she will play Grace Min.  At first glance this seems like a straightforward opener, but Min had a stunning week in Bad Gastein where she reached the semi-finals and pushed eventual champion Andrea Petkovic (yay!) to three sets.  Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor is a potential quarter-final opponent for Pavs.  Julia Goerges, who plays Torro-Flor in the first round, and Silvia Soler-Espinosa both have credentials on clay so could have a run to at least the quarters.

1st Round Predictions: Cepelova d. Peterson in 3 sets, Hercog d. Pfizenmaier in 2 tight sets, Scheepers d. Duque-Marino in 2 sets, Piter d. Beck in 3 sets, Kanepi d. Larsson in 3 sets, Goerges d. Torro-Flor in 3 sets, Soler-Espinosa d. Arvidsson in 2 sets and Pavlyuchenkova d. Min in 2 tight sets

Quarter-Final Predictions: Cornet v Hercog, Shvedova v Arruabarrena, Kanepi v Giorgi and Soler-Espinosa v Pavlyuchenkova

Moo’s Final Prediction: Cornet d. Kanepi

WTA Istanbul (Hard court)

Caroline Wozniacki will be the number one seed in Istanbul, which has a brand new stadium for this International event.  It is a mightily impressive venue and reminds me very much of the Centre Court at the Rome tournament.  Of all the possible first round opponents, Wozniacki has drawn Belinda Bencic.  It will be an intriguing match, but it is a shame that they meet so early because I would have fancied Bencic to have gone deep in this draw based on the quality of the field.  This seems like a very wise move from Caroline to enter this draw.  If she plays reasonably well, she really should win this title.

Wozniacki’s projected quarter-final opponent is Karolina Pliskova.  Wozniacki leads the H2H 2-0 although both their previous matches have gone the distance including a match-up earlier this year in Monterrey.  Bojana Jovanovski and Klara Koukalova are the other seeds in the top half.  Koukalova has become very reliable this year with a title in Florianopolis and final appearances in Rio and Hobart.  For the third tournament this year, Koukalova has drawn Donna Vekic in the first round of an International event.  On both occasions, Koukalova won in straight sets.

The bottom half of the Istanbul draw is likely to turn into a mess.  The four seeds are Roberta Vinci, Kurumi Nara, Elina Svitolina and Magdalena Rybarikova.  Vinci has had a truly woeful year; however she did reach the final in Bucharest last week.  Many seem to have grouped Vinci as a clay courter, but her her game suits hard courts and also should do well on the grass because of her potent slice.  Her run in Bucharest should have given her some confidence, but she will need to transition between clay and hard court.  Nara has had some excellent results this year, winning her first title in Rio on clay and she would be my (surprising?) tip to make the final.  Svitolina has enjoyed some solid results this year, but when draws have opened up in the past, she hasn’t managed to take advantage of the opportunity.

1st Round Predictions: Wozniacki d. Bencic in 2 tight sets, Knapp d. Soylu in 3 sets, Pliskova d. Buyukakcay in 2 tight sets, Koukalova d. Vekic in 2 sets, Mladenovic d. Mayr-Achleitner in 3 sets, Schiavone d. Jaksic in 3 sets, Jovanovski d. Van Uytvanck in 3 sets, Niculescu d. Doi in 2 sets, Voegele d. Pironkova in 3 sets, Svitolina d. Kovinic in 3 sets and Vinci d. Tatishvili in 2 sets

Quarter-Final Predictions: Wozniacki v Pliskova, Koukalova v Schiavone, Niculescu v Svitolina and Nara v Vinci

Moo’s Final Prediction: Wozniacki d. Nara