The first round in Wuhan wrapped up with Ana Ivanovic, Dominika Cibulkova, Lucie Safarova and Flavia Pennetta all going out. The Tokyo champion, Ivanovic retired at 5-7 5-6 down to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Safarova went out in three sets to Sabine Lisicki, meanwhile Pennetta was knocked out by the soaring, Jarmila Gajdosova. The biggest surprise of the day came from one of two second round matches as Caroline Garcia produced another huge performance to take out Agnieszka Radwanska.
1. Simona Halep v Garbine Muguruza (Wuhan, R2)
Simona Halep makes her first appearance on the tour since a surprising third round loss at the US Open to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. First up for Halep in Wuhan is Garbine Muguruza who needed three sets to get past Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor. Muguruza often struggles against players you would expect her to beat; however against the best players on tour, she is always a consistent threat. After an excellent week in Tokyo, there’s a chance Muguruza will be fatigued. On the other hand, Halep will be vulnerable having not played since the US. Muguruza is such a dangerous opponent so I really wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if she wins this. I’m sticking safe and going for Simona.
Prediction: Halep d. Muguruza in 3 sets
2. Serena Williams v Alize Cornet (Wuhan, R2)
For the third time this year, Serena Williams and Alize Cornet will play each other. Rather significantly, Alize has won both of those matches and will be going for the hat-trick of wins on Wednesday. There was a rumour that Cornet had pulled out (note the person who circulated this rumour always makes things up on Twitter), but I was still very surprised to see her cruise past Romina Oprandi in the first round, 6-1 6-2. Cornet had a punishing schedule in Guangzhou where she struggled with the heat so it was an impressive turnaround having played the final in singles and doubles on Saturday. Cornet has the advantage of a match on these courts, but i’d be stunned if she had anything left in the tank to challenge Serena.
Prediction: S.Williams d. Cornet in 2 sets
WTA Wuhan 2nd Round Predictions
Jarmila Gajdosova d. Kirsten Flipkens in 2 sets
Sara Errani d. Alison Riske in 2 sets
Eugenie Bouchard d. Mona Barthel in 3 sets
Ekaterina Makarova d. Timea Bacsinszky in 2 sets
Casey Dellacqua d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 3 sets
Caroline Wozniacki d. Carla Suarez Navarro in 2 sets
Jelena Jankovic d. Coco Vandeweghe in 3 sets
Andrea Petkovic d. Karolina Pliskova in 3 sets
Petra Kvitova d. Karin Knapp in 2 sets
Angelique Kerber d. Zarina Diyas in 2 very tight sets
Madison Keys d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in 3 tight sets
Sabine Lisicki d. Elina Svitolina in 3 sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
LOL at people thinking Cornet will win against Serena for the third time in a row. I don’t think ANY player has done this. Williams will be out for blood and will rip Cornet to pieces. I’m thinking a 63 62 type score.
LikeLike
I agree.
LikeLike
Maybe its a question of match-up? Serena isn’t invincible as much as she’d like the rest of the WTA to think so. Making Serena run seems the best way to beat her and Cornet has a way of drawing out the points. Just one long rally at an odd moment where Serena overcommitts and she’s gased for the next 5 games. Thats why she usually prefers to quicken the points when losing with an unforced error. And after that fllows all that ‘its all about me Serena’ drama.
LikeLike
When Serena is ON that doesn’t happen. Hence why Cornet had only taken one set off her before this year. When she’s on she dictates so that you CAN’T put balls back into play. Radwanska, Halep, Wozniacki…they are the best in the bizz at doing this and they still don’t match up when she’s close to being in form.
I think she should have pushed herself to carry on today because she was still ahead even despite clearing not being present. Cornet can lose steam even quicker than Williams and I don’t think she had much left. Losing the set would have finished her off…
LikeLike
So you’re saying that Serena would beat Cornet in a 1 mile Marathon? lol. If that were the defining factor Serena wouldn’t be in the top 100.
Serena isn’t as dominant as you’d think. She’s a counterpuncher and feeds off agressive players which is a good spot for her cuz most of the WTA is overly agressive. Cornet doesn’t give Serena the balls from which she can generate power from so she has to work harder by herself. Cornet also hits to Serena’s flawed backhand side and plays the side to side game which also contributes greatly to Serena’s fatigue.
If you’re still not convinced that Serena isn’t invincible I suggest you watch her Wimbledon match vs Kvitova a couple years back. Yes she won but somewhere in the 1st half of the 2nd set she had 1 long rally which caused her to huff and puff for the rest of the set eventually losing it. She was in danger of giving up the 3rd set as well but the in-between sets break saved her in that match. I can’t imagine that she would improve much on this but she has done an excellent job of hiding her weaknesses from the other WTA players like yourself who commonly believe the only way to beat her is to ‘dominate’. But there are other profiles which can give Serena trouble as well and Cornet is just one. Wozniacki,Radwanska and Halep are all very poor examples of matching up against Serena-down there with CSN. Unless Wozniacki improves her tactical ball placemement now that she’s turned more agressive.
Younger players haven’t really learned from the veterans on how to play Serena instead looking to her more immediate rivals in Sharapova and Azarenka and not everyone is an Azarenka or Sharapova.
No, sorry-Serena is not the ultimate women’s tennis specimen as much as she’s had you fooled. Far from it.
LikeLike
Another stunning victory for Caroline Garcia! It’s quite something to take out Venus and Radwanska out in a 3STB and in two days! She basically went missing after the clay season and I have missed this kind of play from her since. I just enjoy her game so much. Let’s hope there’s still more to come.
LikeLike
I think Garcia will be one to watch in 2015. I hope she gets some good matches in for this year and I know she’ll work HARD in the off season. I think she’ll be a seeded player by Roland Garros.
LikeLike
Remember when people said that about Kvitova a few years ago? 😄
LikeLike
You mean before she went on to win Wimbledon and the WTA Championships?
LikeLike
Moo, stop making tennis predictions of matches, your record is atrocious, give somebody elst a go
LikeLike
Why don’t you run your own site/blog then, jackass.
LikeLike