I’ll be posting over at the Women’s Tennis Blog during the remainder of the US Open, so even more reason to check it out 😉  Here’s my summary of the quarter-final between Peng Shuai and Belinda Bencic.   I am still GUTTED at the crowd that was on Arthur Ashe for what was Peng’s biggest moment of her singles career.  She deserved her glory moment and didn’t get it with the handful of people in the crowd.  It was a disappointing match played in a terribly lacklustre atmosphere, but the one thing to take away was that Peng was awesome.

Poll Results: 66% correctly predicted that Azarenka would defeat Krunic, 75% correctly predicted that Pennetta would beat Dellacqua, 75% correctly predicted that Serena would beat Kanepi and Makarova v Bouchard was  50/50, the second one in two days!

1. Victoria Azarenka v Ekaterina Makarova (WTA US Open, QF)

Ekaterina Makarova defended her US Open quarter-final  points from last year with a superb 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over Eugenie Bouchard.  It was a hot and humid day, and Bouchard looked very pale and ill towards the end of the match.  There were many people congratulating Bouchard about carrying on… but Makarova was in exactly the same position and just because she didn’t take a MTO, doesn’t mean she wasn’t struggling too.  In my opinion, Makarova deserved many more plaudits than she received for putting away Bouchard, who fought remarkably well to make this match as close as it was. It was an intense encounter, much of it featuring high quality hitting (based on the circumstances) but Makarova’s serving and in particular, her forehand were pretty lethal.  In both sets, Bouchard threatened to come back, but Makarova showed a surprising and unnerving edge as she closed both sets out convincingly.

Makarova takes on Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, who needed three sets to defeat the magical run from Aleksandra Krunic.  It sounded like a brilliant match.  Azarenka’s draw has opened up for her, but i’m still surprised to see her get this far.  It is her spirit and competitive fire that has got her into the quarter-finals and now seems to be a pretty good time to say that the WTA is a much more exciting place with a healthy Vika.  Azarenka leads the head-to-head with Makarova, 3-2.  The Russian player has had some success over Vika although she has lost their only two matches on hard courts.

I’m completely torn with this match.  I say this every time, but COMPLETELY TORN.  Makarova has been very consistent of late and dominant through her first four matches.  In my opinion, Makarova remains one of the most underrated players on tour.  She’s been pretty solid this year, but has the repertoire to knock off a big player at a big tournament.  Makarova has reached five Grand Slam quarter-finals, but lost all five and only won one set, that coming in her quarter-final loss to Li Na at last year’s US Open.  There is no doubt that Makarova is playing the cleaner tennis, but Azarenka’s fighting spirit should never be discounted.  Makarova took care of Bouchard and heyyy, may-be this is her time… but then again, may-be it isn’t.  I’m feeling the Makarova love so i’m going for the upset.

Prediction: Makarova d. Azarenka  in 3 sets

2. Serena Williams v Flavia Pennetta (WTA US Open, QF)

Serena Williams reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final of 2014 with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Kaia Kanepi.  Serena managed to hit one of the most hilariously dreadful overheads during the second set, but was comfortable in victory over the dangerous Estonian.  She takes on Flavia Pennetta in the quarter-finals.  This has been a dream of a draw for Serena, who saw two potential opponents in her quarter of the draw, Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic, go out before the third round.

Pennetta is likely to be the most challenging opponent so far for Serena.  The Italian player has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open on  five occasions.  Her draw has been a cakewalk this year, but she always manages to raise her level at Flushing Meadows.  She defeated Casey Dellacqua in two sets, 7-5 6-2 in the fourth round.  Pennetta was defending semi-final points and has done a great job at defending a pretty sizeable chunk.  Serena and Flavia last played in Cincy where Serena won, 6-2 6-2.  I expect this match to be a little closer, but if Serena serves as well as she has done this fortnight then…

Prediction: S.Williams d. Pennetta in 2 sets