The third of the WTA tournaments this week is in Shenzhen with both Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep opting to begin their seasons in China.  It is worth noting that all three defending champions for the WTA events this week are not back to defend their titles with Li Na winning the inaugural event in Shenzhen in 2014.   Although Kvitova and Halep are both big draw names, the rest of the draw doesn’t stack up.  Let’s take a look at the draw…

Simona Halep headlines the Shenzhen draw and will play Annika Beck in the first round.  2014 was a great year for Romanian; she may have only won two titles (compared to the six she earnt in 2013), but it was her progression at the higher calibre events that proved her worth.  Simona has made some significant changes to her coaching team in 2015, which could take some time to gel.  She is no longer working with Wim Fissette and has opted for a new Romanian coach, Victor Ionita along with Thomas Hogstedt acting as a consultant.  TennisNow posted an interview with Wim, which featured some fascinating insights into working with Halep, which you can read HERE.  If Halep passes though her first challenge, she will play either Anna-Lena Friedsam or Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the second round.  If Halep is off her game, which is a possibility after such a long break from the tour, Friedsam could cause her some problems.

Petra Kvitova is the number two seed and looks to have a good draw in Shenzhen.  However good draws don’t always mean much to Petra as she does have the habit of losing to anyone on an off day.  In 2014, she won Wimbledon with one of, if not, the best individual performance of the year in the final, defeating Eugenie Bouchard, 6-3 6-0.  However, Petra also lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Luksika Kumkhum.  In her first tournament of 2015, Petra opens against Duan Ying-Ying, who has frequently been described as the Chinese Linday Davenport.  The only match I ever watched featuring Duan was her first round match with Wozniacki at the 2013 US Open where she gave the Dane a scare with her huge hitting game.  It’s unlikely to be a pretty match with both Duan and Kvitova possessing similar games, but i’d like to think / hope / pray to the gods that Petra will come through.

Petra’s quarter features some dangerous players; Bojana Jovanovski, Tereza Smitkova and Irina-Camelia Begu are all big hitters with the potential to upset Kvitova.  It’s a difficult one with Petra, but I think she will start the year well in Shenzhen where the heat won’t be so much of a problem compared to Australia.  I’m not taking any major risks with my predictions this week as there is no previous form to base judgements.  As the season gets going, my threshold lowers, my mind goes jelly-like and I start making prediction like Riske to beat Sharapova… :-S

In the middle two quarters of the draw, the one match that jumps out is the first rounder between the US Open semi-finalist, Peng Shuai and Vera Zvonareva.  Peng reached the final in Shenzhen last year and should do well in a draw like this one.  This will be Zvonareva’s first appearance in a WTA main draw since Wimbledon last year.  Zvonareva played an ITF event last week in Hong Kong, winning two rounds, but then pulling out of her quarter-final match.  This doesn’t hold out much hope for her chances in Shenzhen.  I’d fancy Peng to win the third quarter with Timea Bacsinszky also one to watch for.  In the second quarter, i’d back the two seeds, Zarina Diyas and Monica Niculescu to reach the quarter-finals.  Diyas, who takes on Donna Vekic in the first round, finished 2014 in excellent form, reaching her first WTA final in Osaka, but has yet to establish herself as a consistent player on a week-to-week basis.  Niculescu plays Polona Hercog in the first round and remains a challenging opponent for most players on tour.

1st Round Predictions: Halep d. Beck in 2 sets, Koukalova d. Schmiedlova in 2 sets, Diyas d. Vekic in 3 sets, Niculescu d. Hercog in 3 sets, Bacsinszky d. Voegele in 3 sets, Peng d. Zvonareva in 2 sets, Siniakova d. Begu in 3 tight sets and Kvitova d. Duan in 2 tight sets

Quarter-Final Predictions: Halep v Koukalova, Diyas v Niculescu, Bacsinszky v Peng and Siniakova v Kvitova

Final Prediction: Kvitova d. Halep

Photo in this post by Jimmie48 Photography

There are three ATP tournaments this week with eight of the world’s top ten in action.  I was intending to write some previews, but I just don’t have time this weekend (and i’m still gutted about DelPo) so will stick with some predictions.  This year, Moo’s Tennis Blog will be focusing more on the WTA tour and this will remain my focus going forward in 2015.