1. Madison Keys v Jelena Jankovic (IW, R3)
Oh mannnnn. It’s been too long since i’ve had the chance to include a picture of Jelena Jankovic. And heyyyy, it’s a relevant picture! Madison Keys and Jelena Jankovic are set to play each other in the desert on Monday and I was courtside for their last match, which took place in Eastbourne. I still remember it was a painstaking choice in Eastbourne choosing between Jankovic v Keys on Court 1 and Safarova v Kvitova on Centre Court. Since i’d never seen Jelena live and it had been a DREAM, it had to be done. She didn’t disappoint as the picture shows!
Back to 2015… Jelena is not enjoying a great year so far. She needed three sets to get past Lauren Davis in the second round, 6-7(5) 6-0 6-4. It feels like she has regressed back to a couple of years ago where she was struggling for confidence on court. This probably hasn’t been helped by a serious back injury that derailed her off-season. Keys was playing her first match since reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open. For the most part, she delivered a strong performance in beating Klara Koukalova, 6-3 6-2. Granted, Koukalova didn’t offer a great deal of resistance, but Keys still had to win it. It’s still alarming to me how quickly Keys has come on. Last year, she was struggling to put wins together and it’s been such a quick turnaround to the position where beating players like Koukalova is expected and the norm.
The addition of Lindsay Davenport and her husband is proving to be invaluable for Madison. Lindsay came on court for a changeover yesterday, which was blooming marvellous. She even got cheered onto court! Lindsay killed it…
Seen on SI Tennis and YouTube video by WTA
I’m completely on board with Madison this year. However, I was and am still on the fence whether she can use the Australian Open as a launchpad or whether she will have a little stutter. This is a really good match-up for Madison and I don’t believe that Jelena is in the form to mount much of a challenge.
Prediction: Keys d. Jankovic in 2 sets
2. Caroline Wozniacki v Belinda Bencic (IW, R3)
The last time that Caroline Wozniacki and Belinda Bencic played each other, Belinda didn’t win a game! I’m sorry Belinda fans for raising that point. It was back in Istanbul last year where Wozniacki was on fire at she sauntered through in just 44 minutes. To her credit, Belinda responded to the loss in impressive fashion as she reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open just a month later. In second round action, Bencic posted just her second WTA win of the season with a victory over Bojana Jovanovski, 6-2 7-6(2).
Bencic’s start to the year hasn’t been great, but that has been accentuated by how WELL she did last year and the expectation on her shoulders. 2014 was her first proper year on tour and it wasn’t even a full year. To put it all into context, she needed a wildcard to get into Indian Wells last year and having only turned 18 less than a week ago, she is only now not restricted by her age. The hype around Bencic has already died this year (which may actually prove to be a good thing). For the record, I’m still fully behind Bencic being a big deal and a future star of women’s tennis. Sometimes players have setbacks, which is completely normal and you almost have to go back one step to move forward. The tennis world is VERY reactive so i’m sure the bandwagoners will be back soon when her results pick up 😉
Wozniacki had a really tough second round match against Ons Jabeur. She eventually pulled through in straight sets, 7-6(3) 6-4 in two hours and six minutes. Jabeur was the star of the show, demonstrating a lovely mix of power and variety to upset Wozniacki’s rhythm. She rightfully earnt a great deal of respect from the crowd and a hearty handshake from Caro.
Wozniacki is still not playing at her best in 2015. She hasn’t managed to rediscover the sparkling form that she produced in Singapore although she has been much more consistent than she was during the first half of 2014. This feels like a good match-up for Caro as Belinda does have the tendency to make errors and the Dane can rely on her rock solid defensive skills. I’m going straight sets, but i’d definitely give Belinda some games. I’m thinking a 6-3 6-3 kind of scoreline. Heads up for Belinda fans that if you’re not following @FanofBencic (#TeamBelinda), you’re doing Twitter wrong! It is one of my favourite Twitter fan accounts always providing relevant and up-to-date info around Bencic so i’d definitely recommend a follow.
Prediction: Wozniacki d. Bencic in 2 sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I’m going with Bencic to win this one. I think being the underdog will be a BIG boost for Belinda and Wozniacki is not really in form. And I think this dip in hype will do her good, as you said.
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Woz hardly lose to baseline opponent(s). Typically, Bencic can’t handle someone can hit harder on the baseline. I consider Woz baseline is one of the best on tour at this moment. She has problems dealing with Jaber in her first round because Jaber played exceptionally well with volley in which Woz is known to hate it a lot. I tend to agree with James that Woz will win this in two or three if she is not that well like you said.
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Frankly speaking, I don’t even consider Bencic is one of the rising star when we have so many better players like Pliskova, Keys, Sloan (I think she is back in play after beating Kuzy today), Muguruza and Elina Svitolina. In particular, I think Elina has the full package in her games such as powerful serve, strong ground stroke which can change direction, volley and so on. Keys and Pliskova may be too early to say but both are up and rising. Muguruza also has the full package but she has to develop her Plan B if her Plan A is not working like today. Bencic is Martina Hingis ver.2.0. She won’t survive the big hitters. I think Timea Basc is the one to watch.
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When Svitolina’s game works she plays outstanding stuff. She’s like the best of Wozniacki and the best of Zvonereva. She has a fantastic attitude and she’s not been burdoned with the hype Muguruza, Bencic, Keys or Stephens have. I see her being top five in 2016, possibly winning a Slam.
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I dunno why I started talking about Svitolina there LOL.
Bencic is a superb player. She really is like a mini Hingis, albeit far more powerful and capable of being more aggressive.
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Well, I do not know much about the traits of a mini Hingis in Bencic. I only see the updated version of Hingis in Aggy Radwanska. Aggy being more resilient and clutch. For me Serena, Sharapova, Wozniacki, Pliskova, Azarenka maybe Muguruza, and perhaps one or two others that I forgot to mention, all stand tall over the rest of the pack. I said maybe Muguruza because of a lack of what has already been mentioned about her plan B game being absent. Now the one ingredient that all these players that I have mentioned have in common, is having a plan C. The good thing about plan C is that you can even skip plan B if you so please. Plan C is about forgetting about everything else and entering pure “fight mode” (An instinctive and dogmatic determination to win) On second thoughts, I would permit Suarez Navarro and Errani who can be big match players when they want to into this group.
It is the reason why I cannot give Bencic any sort of chance against the Brick-wall Woz or why I do not yet respect Vanderweghe’s game despite the potential and skill level. The players outside the battle-hardened elite club simply do not have the endurance to be consistent with high intensity 20-21 stroke rallies in a given match. You could always sense yesterday that Pavlyuchenkova was going to fade away once Navarro turned on the burners.
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