Thursday, July 01, 2010

WIMBLEDON 2010: Women's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2010. This Wimbledon is very special for me, because it will be one where I will finally visit the All-England Tennis Club for the first time.

I previously predicted the women's quarterfinals and was right in 2 of 4 matches.

Serena Williams USA (1) vs Petra Kvitova CZE. This match could be trickier than it looks on paper. Although I predicted this match up, not playing her best tennis and experiencing movement difficulties. The two have played once before, in the second round of this year's Australian Open, with Serena winning a straight sets match which was closer than the 6-1 6-2 scoreline. Kvitvova is a lefty, and has a good serve and powerful groundstrokes. She's also a good mover. But with Serena serving up an average of a dozen aces per match, she is practically unbeatable. This match will be closer, but the end result will be the same, with Serena Williams the overwhelming favorite to reach her third consecutive Wimbledon Ladies' final and win her fourth Wimbledon singles title. PREDICTION: Serena in 2 sets.

Venus Williams USA (2) Tsvetana Pironkova BUL vs. Vera Zvonareva RUS (21). One of the most stunning upsets in Wimbledon history occurred earlier this week when 5-time Wimbledon champion lost in straight sets to the unheralded Bulgarian. Pironkova is dangerous, with tricky spin and deceptive power, but clearly she can be overpowered. Venus hit 29 unforced errors in 17 games of tennis (but she also hit 22 winners). The problem was with her feet, which got her to balls late (or early) causing her to hit them feet out of the court. Zvonareva has long been one of my favorites (so is Kuznetsova) but there's no question that she's a headcase. Getting through a 3-set slugfest with Kim Clijsters was an excellent result for the Russian. It's possible that Venus' loss today and Clijsters' win yesterday were the bigger factors in the Belgian's defeat in the quarterfinal. The two have played once before, last year on hard courts in Moscow after Zvonareva had been out for months with a tn ankle injury and Pironkova won easily in straight sets. That will not be the case this time. Zvonareva deserves to win this match and I believe she will. PREDICTION: Zvonareva in 3 sets.

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