Just some quick thoughts on the tennis and a post with some polls for day 6 to give you all the opportunity to discuss the matches 🙂
Day 5
Bacsinszky d. Bouchard, 6-4 6-4 – Timea won! I was starting to come round to Genie in this match-up but as a Timea fan, i’m chuffed that she came through. This always felt like her toughest match in her draw so I have high hopes that Timea will go deep in this draw.
Mladenovic d. Babos, 6-4 6-3 – The hotel was playing this match so I settled in! Bit disappointed they flicked right at the end… how was the handshake?! Rollercoaster first set but Mladenovic really dialled in from the end of the first set. Babos was disappointing but this match reminded me of the quality of Mlads and made me feel a little sad at what’s happened to her singles game this year. Good win though and can just give it her best shot against Serena with no pressure.
V.Williams d. Chirico, 6-2 6-1 – Wowsers, I got this one so wrong haha! Chirico has had a few thumping losses (Kvitova in Stuttgart springs to mind) but I wasn’t convinced about Venus on clay. This week i’ll be asking for your help to enlighten me as to what happened 😉
Cornet d. Maria, 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4 – OMG the drama haha!
Keys d. Duque-Mariño, 6-3 6-2 – Another straightforward win for Keys, i’m impressed…
Day 6
Radwanska-Strycova – Match of the day. Aga leads 4-0 and has never dropped more than four games in any of the sets they have played. I’ve got a weird feeling that Strycova might win this one… is it just me? Aga played great against Garcia but Bara has stepped up her game in a big way this year and got her first win vs. Kerber in Madrid with a negative H2H. I’ll go with my instinct on this one and Bara.
Safarova-Stosur – Positive vibes for Lucie but then again, I had negative vibes for R2 match and she sailed through! Not surprised it got PC. Fingers crossed for Lucie!
Halep-Osaka – Very interesting match, Osaka is the type of explosive player that *could* hit Halep off the court… i’d still fancy Simona to prevail on clay. Simona will be relieved that Osaka took out MLB in the second round.
Kuznetsova-Pavlyuchenkova – Could be a cracker, Kuznetsova leads the H2H, 4-1 but Pavs did win in Wuhan dropping just one game last year. Sveta’s looking very good but Pavs is decent on the clay. Fancy a tight match but Sveta in 3.
Beck-Begu – Both had really tough second rounders… loved the way Beck closed out her match against Bondarenko, but I think Begu wins this.
Muguruza-Wickmayer – Not feeling an upset alert with this one to be honest.
Kvitova-Rogers – Great tournament for Rogers and Kvitova is always vulnerable on clay… sticking with Petra though.
Stephens-Pironkova – A repeat R32 RG match from last year… Sloane for the win.
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I thought Babos acted very strangely in this match and I wondered if there was some bad blood but they had a half hug at the net which indicated this was not the case. Mladenovic was very Ivanovic like in the match.
Puig vs Goerges definitely the highlight today. What an incredibly high level match this one has turned out to be. Hoping Monica pulls through…
I’m the same on Babz vs Aga. My gut feeling is Strycova will lap this one up.
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I was not surprised by Timea’s win, she hits a very heavy ball and Bouchard doesnt like heavy balls, I am not aware of Timea’s health conditions right now, but if she is very healthy then she will be hard to beat!
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Radwanska had a day off, she should be fresh, I dont see any reason why she should lose to Strycova unless Strycova pulls a stunner!
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Witchy Strycova shows up, it will be tough for Aga. I want Lucie to win but Sam is looking strong so far. Halep is playing like a spring bunny, Osaka cannot pin her down. Pavs, I’ve lost my faith in her, so Svetlana should fight through this.
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I think Sloane makes the quarters at most. Everyone seems to be up for the tournament in her half.
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For Serena vs. Mladenovic, I think that should be a relative easy victory for Serena. She has averaged nine aces, two double faults, 56 winners, 22 errors, and 72% of first serves in. On the other hand, Mladenovic’s average is four aces, three double faults, 44 winners, 40 errors, and 69% of first serves in. While Mladenovic will put up a good fight, I don’t think she has enough of what it takes to win a set off of Serena. Not only that, she’s also playing doubles with her compatriot, Caroline Garcia, and she doesn’t have a day off to rest in between. Who knows? If she loses in the first round of doubles, there’s more pressure for her to do well in singles, especially on home soil. My prediction is that Serena will win this match in two sets with the scoreline either being 6-3 6-4, 6-1 6-2, 6-3 6-0, 6-3 7-5, 7-6(7-2) 6-2, 7-6(7-5) 6-2, 7-6(7-2) 6-0, or 7-6(7-5) 6-0.
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I just finished Radwanska Strycova match, it was closer than the scoreline suggests, Radwanska on one hand should have finished it in two, Strycova on the other hand could have made it a lot closer in the third. Radwanska made poor decisions in many important points in the second set, but I was impressed how aggressively she started the third!
I think Radwanska will have a comparatively easier times against Stephens than Pironkova, Pironkova is tricky and when she is on then she is very consistent.
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Well Radwanska has Pironkova, who I agree is tricky and looks to be in good form – but has lost all 4 matches the two have played on clay. Radwanska leads 9-2 in their H2H, and I think that she is hungrier than people think. Pironkova has more power – and when playing well definitely a better serve, but on this surface I am not sure that will amount to any big advantage. They both look to be in good form – could be a real treat this round of 16 encounter.
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Rogers double baggled Petra? honestly Petra……disgraceful,I know clay is not your strongest surface still.
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Petra was very tired apparently from not being able to sleep the night before. But she also said at the interview that Shelby played great tennis.
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