1. Lucie Safarova v CoCo Vandeweghe (Wimbledon, R4)

I was nervously following the Lucie-Sloane match on the scoreboards at Wimbledon on Friday. After Sloane took the first set, I was resigned to her losing… however once again, she dug out the win in three sets, 3-6 6-3 6-1. Lucie has become much more match tough at the Grand Slams in the last two years. In the last six slams, Lucie has reached the second week at five of them. In the fourth round, Lucie takes on the big serving, CoCo Vandeweghe. I was slightly baffled by the score from her third round match. Sam Stosur won the first two games but then didn’t win another game, being handed a virtual bagel in a 6-2 6-0 loss. Vandeweghe is a very dangerous player on this surface and has already knocked out Karolina Pliskova. I think this one goes three sets. I’m sticking by Lucie though as she is the world number six and she’s proving that at this tournament…

Prediction: Safarova d. Vandeweghe in 3 sets

2. Maria Sharapova v Zarina Diyas (Wimbledon, R4)

Maria Sharapova hasn’t dropped a set through her first three matches; in the third round she had a little stutter at the end before defeating Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-4 6-3. In the fourth round she will play Zarina Diyas. The 21-year-old Kazakh player has reached back-to-back second weeks at Wimbledon with impressive wins over Flavia Pennetta and Andrea Petkovic.. Since 2007, Sharapova has fallen at the fourth round stage of Wimbledon on four separate occasions including last year where she ran into an inspired, Angelique Kerber. In their only previous match-up, Sharapova defeated Diyas at the Australian Open, 6-1 6-1. This is a tough one for Diyas and I see Sharapova advancing in reasonably straightforward fashion.

Prediction: Sharapova d. Diyas in 2 sets