HELMETS AT THE READY… In a first career match-up, the number 24 seed, Sabine Lisicki faces Camila Giorgi in the second round of the 2015 US Open. Both players have had up-and-down kind of years which will come as no surprise based on their game styles. Lisicki looked rejuvenated in Indian Wells and Miami where she won seven matches en route to the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively. However, her momentum was quickly halted by a 6-0 6-0 loss in front of her home crowd in Stuttgart to Zarina Diyas. While she won some matches on the grass, Lisicki’s booming serve papered over the cracks. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough at Wimbledon as she was outplayed by Timea Bacsinszky in the third round, suffering her earliest exit at SW19 since 2008.

Lisicki’s form since has been a mixed bag; early losses in Stanford and Cincy were balanced out by an impressive run in Toronto where she beat Venus Williams and Barbora Strycova before coming the closest of anyone to beating the eventual champion, Belinda Bencic, holding a match point in the third set. Lisicki had a drama-free opener in her first match in New York against Aliaksandra Sasnovich where she won, 6-1 6-4 and saved all six break points that she faced.

Giorgi’s highlight of 2015 was winning her first career title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch where she played a fantastic final against Belinda Bencic to eliminate the memory of three previous losses in WTA finals. She was unable to keep up the good form, going out in a blaze of unforced errors to Caroline Wozniacki in the third round of Wimbledon. Giorgi, who was forced to pull out of Toronto, won just two matches after Wimbledon heading into the US Open. Rather surprisingly, she also had a routine opener, defeating Johanna Larsson, 6-3 6-3, a player who had beaten her in their most recent match-up. Giorgi hit just five double faults in her first round match…

Trying to pick a winner from this one is a bit of a lucky dip. Both players have reached the fourth round at the US Open on one previous occasion. Their form this year has been similar and their game styles are similar too with neither backing down or really having a Plan B in their repertoire. It will be a surprise if this isn’t a streaky match… head says Lisicki takes it.

Prediction: Lisicki d. Giorgi in 3 sets