Three second round WTA matches will be played in Rome on Tuesday.  Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams will open their campaigns at the 2015 Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Centrale, but it’s the third of the second round matches that i’m most intrigued about and features Sabine Lisicki and Timea Bacsinszky.  I had both Sabine and Timea out in round one which is a pretty solid indicator of how my first round predictions went on Monday! In first round matches that were both not streamed, Lisicki defeated Sloane Stephens, 6-4 6-1 and Bacsinszky took out the number 11 seed, Karolina Pliskova, 6-4 6-0.

Lisicki had lost her last four matches coming into Rome and things didn’t exactly start well… Lisicki won just one point in her first three service games to go down 4-1. Rather surprisingly, she completely turned it around, winning 11 of the last 12 games to secure a very respectable victory over Stephens.  Bacsinszky’s win over Pliskova also saw a very one-sided second set with the Swiss player dishing out a bagel.  It’s hard to gauge exactly what happened in that second set.  All three of Pliskova’s service games in the second set went to deuce, but Bacsinszky converted on break points in each of them.  This was a very impressive result for Bacsinszky to take out a seed.  It was much needed after she drew Maria Sharapova in the first round of Madrid.

Lisicki and Bacsinszky are tied at 1-1 in their head-to-head; Lisicki won their first encounter in Fed Cup action in 2009 (6-0 6-4) and Bacsinszky flipped the result later that year in the final of Luxembourg (6-2 7-5).  Lisicki won seven matches through Indian Wells and Miami but before Rome, had won just one match elsewhere.  There is no doubt that Lisicki will have gained confidence from her first round victory.  Bacsinszky has been very reliable this year but also, has developed a kind of fearless streak about her.  She gives of this vibe that she believes she belongs at this level.  I’d say that Sabine’s best beats Timea’s best, but you just never know when it’s going to come together for Sabine, Wimbledon aside.  This match will be fourth up on Grandstand and i’m hoping to be back home in time to watch it.  I’m going for Bacsinszky on clay, but a Lisicki win would not surprise me.

Prediction: Bacsinszky d. Lisicki in 3 sets

WTA Rome 2nd round predictions

Serena Williams d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

Maria Sharapova d. Jarmila Gajdosova in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

ATP Rome 2nd round predictions

Stan Wawrinka d. Juan Monaco in 2 tight sets

Novak Djokovic d. Nicolas Almagro in 2 sets

Tomas Berdych d. Matteo Donati in 2 sets

Phillipp Kohlschreiber d. Kevin Anderson in 3 sets