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
Diyas has no chance against Sharapova.
If Coco maintains her cool she may have a chance against Lucie, but Coco is not very good at maintaining her cool when she is down.
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Sharapova and Petra have easy draws. Petra messed her easy draw up and Sharapova will find a way to mess hers up. And Jelena didn’t play Petra like how Heather played Serena. Heather ran faster than Aga and Caro.
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Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
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On paper, Lucie will win this match but…be very careful which Coco will show up.
Maria should win this match but Diyas cannot be underestimated. Grass and Hard Courts are different surface. I have a feeling that Diyas will trouble Maria this time.
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Lucie has shown that she can contain power hitters and ride the storm. I agree it will depend on how intense and consistently Coco plays this. It could be a sturdy 2 sets or a hard fought 3 sets. Coco is an enigma and can play so well sometimes but I believe Lucie will fight.
Had it not been the dominance of the older players, upcomers like Diyas could be the players people watch out for. Sharapova should be able to win this. Zarina will have to be zoned through out to unsettle Maria.
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