The second of the women’s semi-finals at Roland Garros on Thursday will see the world number one, Serena Williams take on the world number 24, Timea Bacsinszky. Before this week, the third round was Timea’s best showing at a Grand Slam. By virtue of reaching her first ever Grand Slam semi-final, Bacsinszky will crack the world’s top 15, which puts her in an excellent position to get a top 16 seed at Wimbledon. Bacsinszky has had a great year; highlights have included two titles in Acapulco and Monterrey, a final in Shenzhen and quarter-finals in Indian Wells. I’m chuffed to see her back all that up with such an brilliant Grand Slam run. Timea’s draw opened up having to play Alison Van Uytvanck in the quarters, but she did beat Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova back-to-back which even on clay, is still notable.
Serena played three consecutive three setters, coming from a set down to beat Anna-Lena Friedsam (5-7 6-3 6-2, R2), Victoria Azarenka (3-6 6-4 6-2, R3) and Sloane Stephens (1-6 7-5 6-3, QF). Serena was two games from the defeat against Azarenka and one game away against Stephens. Those two wins were fabulous escapes. On Thursday, Serena maintained her unbeaten record against Sara Errani with a 6-1 6-3 victory in the quarter-finals. Serena’s record against the three remaining players in the draw is a combined 18-1. In the Serena-Timea head-to-head, Serena leads 2-0. Their last match was at Indian Wells where Bacsinszky played a fine match but came up short, 7-5 6-3.
I’m going for Serena but I believe this will be a very tight match. Bacsinszky has been playing some superb tennis this fortnight. In a high quality quarter-final against Van Uytvanck, Bacsinszky hit 39 winners (to 22 unforced errors). She has the ability to go for the winners, particularly on that backhand side, but she also defends well and has the ability to mix up her game. I find her fascinating to watch and I believe she will be top ten by the end of the year. Serena hasn’t looked convincing at this tournament but here she is in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam. Now that she’s this far, it would be surprising to see her slip up where she so often turns on the style.
Prediction: S.Williams d. Bacsinszky in 2 tight sets
ATP RG Semi-Final Predictions
Novak Djokovic d. Andy Murray in 3 sets
Stan Wawrinka d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 3 sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Serena in 2 sets. No way Novak or Stan beating Murray or Tsonga in straight sets.
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Djokovic beat Nadal in straight sets. He hasn’t lost a set this all tournament. Not to mention that he owns Murray at the moment.
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Nadal played a very disappointing match. I agree he beats Murray here, but Murray could well sneak a set.
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No way he is beating Murray or Stan in 3 set. Stan can beat Novak and he is playing better than him at this tournament . Nadal played horrible like he have been playing all year.
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Nadal played better than Ferrer, who played some awful tennis at the end of the first set. Had he won the first set, I believe he’d had won the match.
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Luckily Stan is still in the tournament. When he is on fire, Novak will lose. He has the power to trouble Novak on clay. Stan for the title.
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Stan could definitely trouble Novak in the final, but for him to beat Djokovic at this point in time would be massive.
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Stan is playing like AO 2014, is ground strokes right now is the best in the tournament .
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Stan took Djokovic by surprise in Melbourne last year. And Novak is a much better player now than he was then, also. I don’t see Murray or Wawrinka taking him to five unless Djokovic chokes big time.
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Serena cried during practice. My goodness. I hope she is ready for the match. In that case, it can be a three setters.
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She was very ill through AO and we had the same comments before the semi’s then too after she had a 7min training session.
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Well done Serena,again coming back being down a set and a break in the 2nd set.
Well done to Timea who really mixed up her game and took it to Serena,she did have a break in the 2nd set,Serena lifted her game,as most champion players do and the rest is now history.Timea had a wonderful tournament she can hold her head high.
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