The first of the semi-finals will feature BFFs, Caroline Wozniacki and Serena Williams, who will meet for the fourth time on the WTA tour since August. Wozniacki topped the white group with victories over Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova. Arguably, her most impressive win of the three came against Kvitova on Friday; Wozniacki came from a break down in both sets to comfortably defeat the Wimbledon champion, 6-2 6-3. I was really disappointed for Petra, who needed to win this match to progress to the semi-finals. Personally, I really wanted to see Petra play Serena or Ana in the semi-finals but it wasn’t meant to be! Wozniacki has been owning it this week and the court surface seems to suit her game. She will be feeling very confident after the round robin group stage and despite a lengthy match with Sharapova in her first match, shouldn’t be too tired after a pretty routine match against Kvitova.
Serena had to rely on Simona Halep winning at least a set against Ana Ivanovic in the last match on Friday. It looked to be plain sailing for Simona (and Serena) as she quickly went up 5-2 with Ivanovic having some serious wobbles on serve; however the awkward situation seemed to get to Halep as Ivanovic rolled through the next four games and then edged a tight tiebreak. Halep though, maintained her focus and motivation in this match to win a nervy second set, which was enough to confirm Serena’s place in the semi-finals. Sandwiched between two straight set wins over Ana Ivanovic (6-4 6-4) and Eugenie Bouchard (6-1 6-1) was a demolition job at the hands of Halep (6-0 6-2). Because of this, it’s hard to gauge what kind of performance Serena will give in this match.
As mentioned above, Serena and Caroline have played each other three times this summer; in Montreal and Cincy, Wozniacki won the first set before falling in three sets. In Montreal, the pair played a superb match with Wozniacki giving an excellent account of herself. In their most recent match in the US Open final, Serena won much more convincingly in straight sets, 6-3 6-3. It was a disappointing performance from Wozniacki, who failed to serve well and drive home her recently blooming aggressive intent.
This should be a fascinating semi-final because Wozniacki is in great form and more importantly, has bundles of confidence. Whether she can transfer that into this match-up where she has beaten Serena just once in ten previous match-ups is another question. I nearly, nearly, nearly went for Caroline, but I find myself struggling to write Serena off, despite some of her below-par performances this year. For the record, i’ll be cheering on Caroline and I have a feeling the poll will be very even…
Prediction: S.Williams d. Wozniacki in 3 sets
Photo in this post by Omar Boraby
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Caro <333
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Caro has been playing so well this week which has made me really happy! I am a diehard fan of hers but I didn’t dare to think that she would go 3-0 in RR at the WTA Finals.. Also, I read it’s the first time she’s ever beaten two Top 5 players at the same tournament and that’s a great achievement for her.
Serena will be extremely challenging opponent in the semifinals, no surprises there, but I really, really, REALLY hope that Caro will get the W over her bestie this time. All in all, these Championships have been very entertaining in many ways and the crowd has been awesome as well!
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That’s a great stat for Caro. I’d love to see her beat Serena.
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I feel like Serena has less motivation to win what with Sharapova out of the race for #1 and that MAY affect her performance. She should think about 2015 though as she’s already lost her Brisbane points since she’ll be playing in Perth instead.
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Seems like it will be a all for Caro here.
Since MaSha <333 is out, i'll hope Wozzie to win this Masters.
Serena's implication will possibly decrease since her N°1 position is no longer at stake.
By the way, Watched Goffin today, such a good player also.
Seems Coric will do his very best to be the wInner of this tournament. He his a wild card while all the other are thinking about going on holiday. He probably felt the opportunity to win a pro tournament is definitively here, and he will not spare. All for Coric, to win his first pro tournament before he's 18 !
And thank you twice, Moo. Your prédictions about him to win against Gulbis in the first round incitated me to watch his match.
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Thanks for noticing I picked Coric… Normally people only realise my bad picks 😛 Coric v Goffin should be an interesting match, planning to watch it tomorrow.
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#RenasArmy, cmon Serena!! Another finals title in sight =)
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This is impressive stuff from Caroline. This is not getting to 3 sets, she will take this in 2. Simona should have let Ana qualify, Serena switched to off season mode after the US open.
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And minutes after my post Serena breaks in the 5th game of the 2nd set.
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Well, looks like we are going all the way.
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Serena’s ability to suddenly turn it on is quite something. Writing her off is always dangerous!
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That’s why she’s been at #1 for the past 100 weeks and counting.
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