1. Caroline Wozniacki v Garbine Muguruza (Wimbledon, R4)
Say hello to a fourth rounder on grass between Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza, which will be second up on Court No.2. Muguruza upset Angelique Kerber for the second straight Slam, coming through an INCREDIBLE first set before unleashing a treasure chest of winners in the decider to win, 7-6(12) 1-6 6-2. The first set of Muguruza-Kerber is easily the best set of women’s tennis i’ve watched this year. The pair played some magnificent rallies, one in particular to open the first set tiebreak that was the point of the tournament. Kerber had nine set points but Muguruza went for broke on many of the set points and came up trumps, finding the lines. Muguruza converted the set on her fourth set point with her 26th winner of the set.
Muguruza went away in the second set but came back in the decider where she dictated play with some brutal hitting. I put my hands up… I really thought Kerber was going to do big things at this tournament but it was not to be. Muguruza has reached the second week at all three Slams this year and gets a shot at the Dane in round four. Wozniacki defeated Camila Giorgi, 6-2 6-2. You could say Giorgi d. Giorgi… Wozniacki even said in her post-match interview that she wasn’t sure of her level because this match was all about Giorgi. Wozniacki hit 12 winners to 3 unforced errors, but the story of the match was 30 unforced errors for the Italian player.
Wozniacki and Muguruza will both be vying for a first ever quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon. Muguruza leads the head-to-head with Wozniacki, 2-1. Muguruza won their first match in Miami in straight sets and followed that up with a superb win at the Australian Open last year, 4-6 7-5 6-3. The Dane bagged a first win in Tokyo last year, 6-4 2-6 6-2 in a very entertaining match. I have to say this is the toughest match of the eight for me to make a prediction. Woz also had a 1-2 head-to-head record against Giorgi and won on Saturday. Once again, it all comes down to Garbine. She played a superb match against Kerber but doing it again won’t be easy. For this one i’m going with my instinct…
Prediction: Muguruza d. Wozniacki in 3 sets
2. Timea Bacsinszky v Monica Niculescu (Wimbledon, R4)
This is one of those matches that i’m sure WTA fans will appreciate 🙂 Monica Niculescu is having a good grass court season (after reaching the final of the International tournament in Nottingham) and she has snapped up her opportunity in this draw after Simona Halep and Svetlana Kuznetsova both lost in the first two rounds. Niculescu has beaten Monica Puig, Jana Cepelova and Kristyna Pliskova to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time in her career. It’s only the second time that Niculescu has reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam. Her game marries up well to the grass but before this year, she hadn’t won a match on this surface since 2012.
Niculescu will play Timea Bacsinszky who inflicted Sabine Lisicki her first loss before the quarter-finals since her first showing at Wimbledon in 2008. Bacsinszky played a tactically superb match as she ousted Lisicki, 6-3 6-2. Lisicki made so many errors and showed no restraint at times. Bacsinszky, solid and thoughtful in her approach, mixed up her shots, defended well but also attacked when the opportunity arose. Bacsinszky’s game looks like it can be potent on all surfaces and despite coming into Wimbledon without any grass court tournaments, she’s reached the second week. I’d go as far to say that she has been the revelation of 2015. While Pliskova and Suarez Navarro have shone this year, Timea’s proven herself at the last two Slams where it really counts.
In an intriguing head-to-head, Niculescu has beaten Bacsinszky in four of their five previus encounters. Timea’s lone win came in 2009 on clay, but Niculescu has earnt two wins on clay and two on hard. However, the most recent of those matches was at the Australian Open in 2011 where Niculescu won 6-0 6-3 at the Australian Open, As I keep repeating, Timea has improved so much in the last year. Monica is a tricky customer but with the way that Timea is playing and more importantly, the belief that she has in herself, I think she has a great shot of going deeper in this draw.
Prediction: Bacsinszky d. Niculescu in 2 sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I think Caro will beat Garbine. I am 50-50 on Monica and Timea. I agree that Timea is playing very well this year but Monica has been very focused in the grass court season. Monica’s variety is so much fun to watch, you never know what type of shot she is going to hit. The good thing is both Monica and Timea dont get down and dont seem to care who is on the other side.
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Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
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Garbine and Timea will win these matches. Nicuclescu is lucky to have an easy draw up to this stage. Her run will end in Timea’s racquet. Caro did nothing to beat Camila who just beaten herself with excessive double faults and unforced errors. Muguruza will overpower her like she did to Kerber.
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I forget Garbine is in the same half. She and Timi could be the dark horse to reach the semi or final too.
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I initially considered Timea for a dark horse, but thought Lisicki will play soo good in this tournament that she will not make it. But here we are, going for the second week, and I’m picking her, nobody else.
Garbine’s ability to fully recover from that marathon match is my only issue. Can, and will Caroline try to take advantage of this and make her play unnecessary extra balls?? With Petra gone, anyone in this section has the right to believe they can make it so Caroline will fight for this too.
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I haven’t done the math, but if Wozniacki were to make the finals, I think she’d shoot up to #3/2 in the rankings, depending how deep Sharapova goes.
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I think you’re right, i’m not down with the numbers but i’ve read that somewhere.
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I’m so annoyed at myself for not going with Timea. I’m a big believer in her game and I just got swept along with Sabine at Wimby although to be fair, she came into Wimby in arugably poorer form last year and reached the quarters. I was worried about Timea having no matches and thought Julia in R1 was a possible banana skin. I can see Timea going much further…
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I’m still not over it… haha 😛 however, I think IF garbi can recover, she will win this as I wasnt particularly impressed with Caro.
As for Timi-niculescu, I go with Niculescu although I’m not sure. could go either way.
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In the last few months, Garbine always fall after a great performance. I hope she can maintain her intensity. I would love to see her going through.
Niculescu defeated Timi prior to the first half of 2001 especially when Timi had so much troubles with her dad and she decided to quit tennis to study hotel management. I don’t think Niculescus can beat her in 2015.
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*2011
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That’s what I don’t like: falling after a great performance! So if you beat a quality player in a great performance then you should maintain your compulsure and win the next one. So Garbi better wins.
As for Timi – Niculescu you are right, I just have the feeling that Niculescu could win though. Just a strange feeling that someone TOTALLY random could make quarters let alone semis since the bottom half is wide open and basically everyone *could* be in the final of Wimbledon 😀
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Garbine won and I am so delighted. I am very if either Garbine or Timi reaches the final.
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I think if US open and Singapore Caro shows up (you never know), she has this one in the bag!!
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For me Bacsinszky is a dark horse for this year’s Championship.Rest all matches can throw surprises
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What I like about Timi is that she is very good at changing the game rhythm. Once she figured how to play with Niclescu in the 2nd set, she just dismantled her. Today is a great day for me.
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Both my fav’s Garbine and Timea won…whom i doubted won in two sets and whom i thought would thrash the defensive tactics of Niculescu got it in 3.Somehow i feel with top 10 Timea performs much better than someone below her ranks.
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