Rain affected the schedule in Sydney again on Monday, but all the matches were completed setting up a pretty special order of play for Tuesday.  I can understand the matches featuring Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic being on Ken Rosewall Aren (the top court), but then again, having the number one seed in Simona Halep on the Grandstand court is really quite something.  There are plenty of interesting matches and perhaps most exciting of all, DelPo plays his first match! He’s first up at Midnight UK time… i’m so tempted to stay up, but based on my pathetic attempts to stay up for Lucie’s match, I know i’ll be asleep.  Time is against me today as work is manic so a sweep of some of the matches is required…

1. Simona Halep v Karolina Pliskova

Simona Halep‘s first match in Sydney is a tricky one against the steadily improving, Karolina Pliskova.  In any other tournament, i’d take Halep, but I do wonder how focussed she will be on going deep in Sydney.  She’s had five matches in Shenzhen and I think Melbourne is surely the priority.  Add to this, Pliskova is becoming a really dangerous player on tour and the way she finished off her match with Victoria Azarenka in Brisbane was impressive.

Prediction: Ka.Pliskova d. Halep in 2 tight sets

2. Carla Suarez Navarro v Ekaterina Makarova

Carla Suarez Navarro and Ekaterina Makarova played at exactly the same stage of Sydney last year with Suarez Navarro winning in straight sets.  CSN leads the H2H 4-2 and has won their last two matches.  I was impressed to see Makarova defeat Elina Svitolina in her first match of the season and would back the Russian player to come through.

Prediction: Makarova d. Suarez Navarro in 2 tight sets

3. Agnieszka Radwanska v Garbine Muguruza

Garbine Muguruza seemed to have some trouble closing out her first round match against Sara Errani (based on tweets I saw), but got the job done in the end in straight sets, 6-0 7-5.  Radwanska was a comfortable winner over Alize Cornet in a match which I expected to be much closer.  Like Halep, I wonder about Aga’s desire to go deep in the draw in Sydney.  Muguruza has the ability to power Aga off the court, but in their last match at the Australian Open, Radwanska did a great job at neutralising the Spaniard’s power.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Aga lost this, but then again for some reason, I have my doubts about Muguruza winning this one.

Prediction: Radwanska d. Muguruza in 3 sets

4. Tsvetana Pironkova v Madison Keys

Another match, another one that is really tricky to call.  I wouldn’t be surprised if all these predictions turn out to be duds. Tsvetana Pironkova won the tournament last year, but still had to come through qualifying.  She defeated Flavia Pennetta in straight sets in the first round.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see her go really deep again.  She often turns it on for Wimbledon and it seems Sydney now holds a special place for her.  She plays Madison Keys, who won’t be an easy match at all.  The American player was reasonably solid in defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4 6-4 on Sunday.  Her inconsistencies are still a concern though, but like Pironkova, the surface suits her game and she made the semi-finals last year.  Totally on the fence…

Prediction: Keys d. Pironkova in 3 sets

5. Sam Stosur v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova

I was surprised to see Sam Stosur defeat Lucie Safarova in the first match on Monday.  Lucie had a dominant lead in the head-to-head and Stosur had suffered a shaky loss in Brisbane.  Full credit to Sam for a gutsy win.  She received so much unfair criticism last week and I was pleased to see her have some success (despite it being at the expense of Lucie!).  Stosur plays Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the second round after Caroline Wozniacki was forced to pull out of their first round match with a wrist injury.  It was a bit of a worry for Caro and I really hope she’ll be OK for Melbourne.  Rather curiously, Stosur has never played BZS on tour which stuns me! I think this will be a really interesting match.  BZS played some great stuff in Auckland and for some reason or another, i’m leaning towards her in this one.

Prediction: Zahlavova Strycova d. Stosur in 3 tight sets

WTA Sydney 2nd Round Predictions

Angelique Kerber d. Daria Gavrilova in 3 sets

Dominika Cibulkova d. Jarmila Gajdosova in 3 tight sets

Petra Kvitova d. Peng Shuai in 2 sets