2019 US OPEN: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Serena Williams (USA) [8] vs Bianca Andreescu (CAN) [15]

Here are my predictions for the women's final between Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu at the 2019 U.S. Open Championships. I will also predict the men's final between Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev. This year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 1 of 2 men's semifinals,  4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 1 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. Last year I incorrectly predicted Serena Williams would defeat Naomi Osaka.

WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Bianca Andreescu (CAN) [15] d. Belinda Bencic (SUI) [13] 7-6(3) 7-5.  This was the first meeting between these two players and the score doesn't reflect the level of drama that resulted. Bencic was the better player for most of the first set; she had 6 break points to go ahead but Andreescu was able to win all of these pivotal points. Then in the tiebreak Bencic had her one double fault--a devastating mental error. However she rebounded strongly in the second set, quickly racking up a 4-1 (double break) lead. But in the very next game she inexplicably got broken at love and although she was able to break Andreescu again, the 19-year-old raised her game and from 2-5 down she was able to win 5 consecutive games (three service breaks!) to reach the US Open final in her major draw debut.

Serena Williams (USA) [8] d. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [5] 6-3 6-1. Serena continued the focused, destructive play she showed in her 6-1 6-0 quarterfinal to dismiss the World #5. The pivotal point of the match was the very beginning, when Serena fought off three break points to hold serve and then a 9-minute tussle occurred on Svitolina's serve which resulted in a 2-0 lead for Serena. Fron that point on the tension from the match was removed as Svitolina's shoulders slumped and Serena's eyes glittered with menace at the inevitable victory.

WOMEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

This is the fourth major final Serena has reached in the last 6 majors played; she has lost the 2019 Wimbledon final (lost to Simona Halep), the 2018 US Open final (lost to Naomi Osaka) and the 2018 Wimbledon final (lost to Angie Kerber). Since she returned to the tour after getting married and having her daughter Olympia Ohanian she has not won a single tournament and has been so overwhelmed by emotions she has been unable to player anyway near her best tennis in these finals and has yet to win a single set! I believe that will change today, but she it may be that for the first time in one of these finals she may be considered the underdog! That seems insane when you compare the 37-year-old 23-major champion facing a 19-year-old playing in her first major final but it is true. Bibi Andreescu has played 7 Top 10 players in her career and has won all 7 of them; Serena will be her 8th, and both will be in the Top 10 when the rankings come out on Monday. A year ago, Andreescu was not yet in the top 100 and since then she has won Indian Wells and Cincinnati. The last time she lost a completed match was in March!

All that being said, I think Serena will finally be able to play her tennis unencumbered by emotional baggage and in that scenario I still give her the edge against any active player.

MadProfessah's pick: Serena.

2019 US OPEN: Thiem, Tsitsipas, Khachanov, RBA, Stephens, Kerber Lose 1R

The first round of the U.S. Open is complete and there have been numerous shock exits on the men's side of the draw. 4 Top 10 seeds have lost: Dominic Thiem(4), Stefanos Tsitsipas(8), Karen Khachanov(9) and Roberto Bautista Agut(10) which is a lot! On the women's side of the draw the biggest names to go out are 2017 US Open champ Sloane Stephens, 2004 US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova and 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova and 2016 US Open champion Angelique Kerber. Additionally, 2-time major champ Garbine Muguruza(24) lost as well.

Of the first rounds to watch I mentioned in my 2019 US Open preview post, this is what happened:

• S. Williams (8) defeated M. Sharapova 6-1 6-1
• A. Sabalenka (9) defeated V. Azarenka
• S. Kenin (20) defeated C. Vandeweghe 
• D. Shapovalov defeated F. Auger-Aliassime (18)
• R. Opelka defeated F. Fognini (11)
• S. Tsitsipas (8) lost to A. Rublev
• N. Kyrgios (28) defeated S. Johnson

I'll be at the US Open all day this Sunday so I hope I see some good matches!

2019 WIMBLEDON: Halep Stuns Serena To Win 2nd Major Title

To the surprise of most observers, World #7 Simona Halep put on a devastating display of accurate, defensive, propulsive tennis on Wimbledon Centre Court to defeat 23-time major champion Serena Williams 6-2 6-2 in 56 minutes to win her second major title.  The loss means that Serena is still stuck at 23 major singles trophies, the most in the modern era, but still 1 behind the odious Margaret Court, who won 24 (although 11 were from her home country's tournament in Australia, at a time when it is quite difficult to really consider the Australian Open a grand slam tournament). The 6-2 6-2 drubbing she received is her worst loss in  a major final (where she is now 23-9) since she lost the 2014 French Open to Garbine Muguruza by the same score. She has now lost 3 major finals in a row, to Kerber, Naomi Osaka and Halep.

WOMEN'S FINAL REVIEW

For the second year in a row, Serena lost in the Wimbledon final after making it through the draw in dramatic fashion, but without having to play a Top 10 player before the championship match. Last year she lost to Angie Kerber in straight sets and today it was Simona Halep. In both cases the reasons for these results are complex, but I feel like in today's match too many people are chalking it up to amazing play by Halep and downplaying the weaknesses that Serena revealed. It is true Halep had a mere 3 unforced errors in 2 sets today. But Serena had double that number of unforced errors in the first two games. Her serve was NOT ready to go at the beginning of the match, and after 11 minutes she was down 0-4. Both her serve and her return, two of the best parts of her game, and probably the best in women's tennis, completely disappeared. I suppose that would be enough to rattle anyone, but there were multiple times when she was in a winning position with a ball to hit out of reach that she would overhit it, trying to bludgeon it and intimidate her opponent. Instead, she hit the ball over the line. This must have happened at least a half-dozen times. Also, Serena seemed unprepared for Halep amazing defensive skills, powered by incredible anticipation and stupendous movement. Serena would hit what she thought was a winner, Halep would get it back and Serena would hit another shot that would win the point against most players, Halep would make a ridiculous get and then Serena would hit an error. I believe these mistakes were primarily caused by her lack of match play and the fact she hadn't played a top player in the tournament up to that point and she has had almost zero match play outside of the majors since she returned to competitive tennis in May 2018. She is yet to have won a title of any kind since the January 2017 Australian Open. At age 37 (38 in September) it is becoming increasingly clear she just simply can not continue to just focus on the majors, unless she finds a way to completely overhaul her mental approach to playing  a major final, which is a very unlikely prospect. I still believe (and hope) that she will win 24 (or more!) grand slam singles titles, but even if she doesn't, there's no doubt in my mind that Serena Williams should be considered the G.O.A.T.

2019 WIMBLEDON: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Serena Williams (USA) [11] vs Simona Halep (ROU) [7]

This is my prediction post for the 2019 Wimbledon women's final. Last year I did not predict that Angie Kerber would defeat Serena Williams. This year I correctly predicted the results of  2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. 

WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Serena Williams (USA) [11] d. Barbora Strycova (CZE) 6-1 6-2.  This was a devastating performance by Serena; she had 28 winners to just 10 errors. Although there was much ink spilled about how Strycova was replacing Roberta Vinci as the oldest first-time major semifinalist and what this might portend for Serena's chances to win this match. However, by playing first-strike tennis Serena was able to rush her opponent and not give her a chance to deploy her net-based skills and tricky spins Strycova also did not player her best. She attempted multiple drop shots that failed to clear her side of the net and suffered double faults at inopportune times. For Serena it was an awe-inspiring performance.

Simona Halep (ROU) [7] d. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8] 6-1 6-3. Each of the first two games of this match were extremely high quality and were tense, 10-minute affairs that featured over 10 deuces between them, and multiple break points and game points and very long rallies. But Halep won both of these games and did not look back from there as she served out the set quickly. In the second set Svitolina put up much more fight but once the first break happened Halep took advantage and never looked back.

WOMEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

Despite now holding the record for the oldest woman to appear in a major final, Serena has to be considered the overwhelming favorite to win her 24th major title. Serena has a dominant 9-1 head-to-head record against Simona Halep. But this is the third time in a year when she had an opportunity to win her 24th major title and in the first two (2018 Wimbledon loss to Angie Kerber and 2018 US Open loss to Naomi Osaka) Serena was unable to play anywhere close to her best tennis. Most observers attributed these results to Serena's nervousness and tension caused by finally confirming her G.O.A.T status by winning her 24th title. I agree that the emotional/mental side was part of the reason she lost those matches (especially the  US Open final) but also she never looked like she was moving as well as she has in the past and her serve was not as effective as it has been in this tournament. With all that said, I think Halep has a non-trivial chance to win the match. The courts are playing more like a clay court and Halep is a better mover than Serena on clay (or slow) courts. She will get a lot of balls back in play and this may frustrate Serena if she has to hit 2 or 4 winners to win the point. But I think Serena will be mentally prepared and physically to do so. MadProfessah's pick: Serena.  

2019 WIMBLEDON: Women's Semifinals Preview (and Predictions)

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.  This year I correctly predicted the results of  4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. Last year I correctly predicted 1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals.

Serena Williams (USA) [11] vs. Johanna Konta (GBR) [19] Barbora Strycova (CZE).  This is definitely not the semifinal Britain expected (or wanted) to see. British #1 Jo Konta led 4-1 in the first set against the crafty Strycova but somehow managed to lose her lead and then a tight tiebreak (7-5). For some reason, instead of buckling down and summoning another come-from-behind victory like she had done against two major champions, Konta unravelled completely and lost in straight sets 7-6(5) 6-1. Meanwhile Serena was locked in the most exciting match of the tournament so far with fellow American Alison Riske, who had taken out the reigning World #1 in straight sets the round before and used her burgeoning confidence and grass-suitable game to go toe-to-toe with the G.O.A.T. The result was a highly entertaining (and high quality) 6-4 4-6 6-3 win for Serena. The 23-time major champion is trying to reach her 32nd major final by playing in her 37th major semifinal and become the oldest woman in the modern era to reach a major final (older than Martina Navratilova was in the 1994 Wimbledon final by 33 days!) She faces Strycova who is now the oldest player to become a first-time Grand Slam semifinalist (older than Roberta Vinci who did it at the 2015 US Open). These records are a bit ominous for Serena but the good news is that she has played 3 matches (6 sets) against her semifinal opponent and has won all of them. I expect that streak to continue on Thursday. PREDICTION: Williams.

Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8] vs. Simona Halep (ROU) [7]. Elina Svitolina and Simona Halep are beginning to develop an interesting rivalry, which Svitolina leads 4-3 (but Halep won their last meeting earlier this year in Doha). Halep is playing in her 7th major semifinal (4-2 record) while Svitolina has finally made her first one here at Wimbledo this year. Halep definitely has  experience on her side while Svitolina has current form on hers. This semifinal will probably be the more exciting of the two matches and I would be surprised if it does not go to three sets. When matches are this tight unless there is some external factor (like an overly lopsided head-to-head) I usually go with the person who I think is the better "athlete." In this case, I think that is the Romanian former #1 and major champion. PREDICTION: Halep. 

2019 WIMBLEDON: Women's Quarterfinals Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.  I have also predicted the men's quarterfinals. Last year I predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly and 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly. 

Ashleigh Barty (AUS) [8] Alison Riske (USA) vs. Serena Williams (USA) [11]. Alison Riske is one of the closest things tennis has to a grass-court specialist. Her winning percentage on grass is 20+ higher than it is on all other surfaces. She has the most grass court wins of any player (14!) on the WTA tour this year. So it was an upset but not exactly a surprise that the 29-year-old American was able to oust the #1 seed Ash Barty from the tournament today. It hasn't been easy for Riske; all 4 matches she has won have gone three sets. excellent tennis. Serena has (again!) played her way into excellent form in a major again, and her last two matches have demonstrated the qualities which always make her a threat at SW19: best serve of all time in the women's game and her overwhelming power combined with deadly accuracy. Happily for Serena she played Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in the Round of 16, a player who has lost every set the two have played, never having won more than 3 games in those sets. Serena won 6-2 6-2 this time. Riske and Serena have never played before, but the two do know each others games, somewhat, having played doubles together. I do think Serena will have much more trouble with Riske than Suarez Navarro, but I don't see her losing a set on her way to yet another major semifinal. PREDICTION: Williams.

Johanna Konta (GBR) [19] vs. Barbora Strycova (CZE).  Johanna Konta is Great Britain's great hope to win a major on the women's side. She is coming off of a semifinal run at Roland Garros, which since it is her worst surface, should provide her great confidence that she can at least reach that level here at her home major. Mental toughness is becoming a hallmark of Konta's resurgence. She has won 14 of the last 15 three-set matches she has played, including two against two major champions in Sloane Stephens in the 3rd round and Petra Kvitoba in the 4th. To reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the second time in 3 years she will need to outlast the tenacious Barbora Strycova who likes grass and has defeated Elise Mertens and Kiki Bertens, two seeds, in the last two rounds. Hometown advantage should prevail. PREDICTION: Konta.

Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [2] Karolina Muchova (CZE) vs. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8]. Elina Svitolina has reached 5 major quarterfinals but has never been able to win a match to reach a major semifinal. She will be facing a first-time major quarterfinalist in Karolina Muchova who won an epic match of the Czech Karolinas by defeating #3 seed (and 2019 Eastbourne champion) Karolina Pliskova 13-11 in the third-set. This is Svitolina's best chance to finally breakthrough at a slam, and I suspect she will make it count. PREDICTION: Svitolina. 

Simona Halep (ROU) [7] vs. Shuai Zhang (CHN). Halep finally ended the fairy tale run of 15-year-old American Coco Gauff who made the round of 16 in her major tournament debut, becoming the youngest player to reach this far in well over 20 years. Halep won relatively easily, 6-3 6-3, and is now the highest seed remaining in the draw. She earlier dismissed 2-time major champion Victoria Azarenka surprisingly easily, in a match many observers expected her to lose. Shuai Zhang has completed multiple upsets, having beaten Caroline Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia in straight sets earlier in the tournament. I doubt that she will be able to complete another one and expect Halep to reach her second semifinal at Wimbledon. PREDICTION: Halep.

2019 WIMBLEDON: Analysis of Men's and Women's Draw

The draw for 2019 Wimbledon is out! On the men's side World #1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic is seeded #1. On the women's side, the (brand new) World #1 is Ash Barty, who is also seeded #1 but the defending champion is Angie Kerber.

The projected women's quarterfinals by seedings are:

• Ashleigh Barty (AUS) [1] v Angelique Kerber (GER) [5]
• Kiki Bertens (NED) [4] v Petra Kvitova (CZE) [6]
• Naomi Osaka (JPN) [2] v Simona Halep (ROU) [7]
• Karolina Plisova (CZE) [3] v 8 Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8] 

The projected men's quarterfinals by seedings are:

• Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] v Stefanos Tsitsipas(GRE) [7]
• Kevin Anderson (RSA) [4] v Alexander Zverev (GER) [6]
• Roger Federer (SUI) [2] v Kei Nishikori (JPN) [8]
• Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] v Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5]

First Round Matches To Watch:

• Coco Gauff (USA) versus Venus Williams (USA)
• Alison Riske (USA) versus Donna Vekic (CRO) [23]
• Samantha Stosur  (AUS) versus Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) [30]
• Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5] versus Sam Querrey (USA)
• Frances Tiafoe (USA) versus Fabio Fognini (ITA)[12]
• Lucas Pouille (FRA) [27]  versus Richard Gasquet (FRA)

Serena Williams is seeded #11 on the women's side while some people are complaining that 2017 champion Roger Federer was moved up to the #2 seed, but he also drew Nadal into his semifinal bracket, while Djokovic gets last year's finalist Kevin Anderson who has been hampered with an injury all year. The last time Federer and Nadal met at Wimbledon was in the 2008 final, now called the "Greatest Match of the Century."  Can history repeat itself?

TENNIS TUESDAY: Grass Court Season Begins with Berrettini, Garcia, Riske Titles; Woz Gets Hitched; Venus Warms Up

GRASS COURT SEASON BEGINS: BERRETINI, GARCIA, RISKE WIN TITLES
Matteo Berrettini is having a sensational year. The 23-year-old Italian beat Felix Auguer-Aliassime 6-4 7-6(11) in the finals of Stuttgart to win his 3rd title in the last year. This was the 18-year-old Canadian's first grass court tournament and he reached the final. Berrettini i up to #22 in the rankings while the man he beat is at #21 despite never having completed a Grand Slam main draw match. In fact, it is looking like Auger-Aliassime's grand slam debut will  be at Wimbledon, where he will be seeded! Other grass court titlists were Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia who outlasted Donna Vekic in a 3-set thriller  2-6 7-6(4) 7-6(4) to win Nottingham and Allison Riske defeated Kiki Bertens in the Dutchwoman's home turf in even more dramatic fashion, losing a bagel set and saving 5 championship points to win 0-6 7-6(3) 7-5.

FORMER WTA WORLD #1 CAROLINE WOZNIACKI GETS MARRIED
Caroline Wozniacki got married in Tuscany,  Italy over the weekend, to David Lee. WTA players Serena Williams (bridesmaid), Angelique Kerber and both Radwanskas (Ursula and Agnieszka) were in attendance.

VENUS PLAYS RARE WARM-UP GRASS COURT TOURNAMENT
Now 39-year-old Venus Williams is still doing new things! She signed up to play doubles with 22-year-old British player Harriet Dart as a wildcard doubles pair at the Birmingham tournament. The two lost in the first round. Venus will play her first round singles match Wednesday against Alexandra Sasnovitch

2019 FRENCH OPEN: First Round Complete (Kerber, Kvitova, Wozniacki, Medvedev, Ceccinato, Shapovalov OUT!)

The first round of the 2019 French Open is complete and the upsets have been few and far between. ON the women's side 5th seed Angelique Kerber (who I predicted to get to the final--oh well!) lost in straight sets to the hard-hitting youngster Anastasia Potapova. Injured 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki also lost in the first round despite bageling her opponent Veronika Kudermetova   to begin the match. Petra Kvitova withdrew from the tournament with a forearm muscle tear a few hours before her first round match, 18 year old Felix Auger-Aliassime also withdrew while his best friend and countryman (and 20th seed) Denis Shapovalov lost to Jan-Lennard Struff. On the men's side the highest seed to lose in the first round was 14th seed Daniil Medvedev lost a 5-set thriller to Pierre-Hughes Herbert while Nicolas Mahut eliminated last year's French Open semifinalist (and 16th seed) Marco Cecchinato in another 5-setter.

Some big names had close calls: World #1 (and #1 seed) Naomi Osaka lost her first set in a bagel and was two points from defeat down a break twice in the middle set but after pulling out the tiebreaker was able to run away with the decider. #10 seed Serena Williams lost her first set 2-6 but then turned it around and was dominant in the rest of the match, losing only one game. Close calls were not limited to the women. #5 seed Sasha Zverev took over 4 hours to subdue John Millman and #4 seed Dominic Thiem was basically being outplayed for two sets but managed to dismiss American Tommy Paul in 4. Even last year's champion Simona Halep lost a set in her first round but also won relatively easily in 3.

2019 FRENCH OPEN: Draw Analysis and Predictions

The 2019 French Open in Paris starts tomorrow. A year ago I was on my vacation and attended the opening day session (and was in the 2nd row to watch Venus Williams lose to Qiang Wang and Sasha Zverev demolish ). The defending champions are Rafael Nadal (d. Dominic Thiem) and Simona Halep (d. Sloane Stephens). However, the top seeds are World #1 Novak Djokovic  and Naomi Osaka, who have both won the last two major tournaments (2019 Australian Open and 2018 U.S. Open) while Djokovic is going for his second career "Nole Slam"!

The draws have been released and these are the projected quarterfinals

MEN'S DRAW

• N. Djokovic [1] versus A. Zverev [5]
• D. Thiem [4]     versus J. Del Porto [8]
• R. Federer [3]  versus S. Tsitsipas [6]
• R. Nadal [2]     versus K. Nishikori [7]

WOMEN'S DRAW

• N. Osaka [1] versus A. Barty [8]
• K. Bertens [4] versus S. Stephens [7]
• S. Halep [3] versus P. Kvitova [6]
• Ka. Pliskova [2] versus  A. Kerber [5]

FIRST ROUNDS TO WATCH

• Aryna Sabalenka [11] versus Dominika Cibulkova
• Victoria Azarenka versus Jelena Ostapenko
• Venus Williams versus Elina Svitolina [9]
• Feliciano Lopez versus Ivo Karlovic
• Mischa Zverev versus Richard Gasquet
• Taylor Fritz versus Bernard Tomic

PREDICTIONS:

Men's Final: Djokovic d. Nadal.

Women's Final: Halep d. Kerber.

2019 MIAMI OPEN: Osaka, Zverev, Kerber, Thiem Lose; Venus, Federer Move On, Serena Withdraws

Serena Williams had a tough 3-set match in her first match at the Miami Open and then withdrew with a right knee injury before withdrawing from her second match. She joined numerous other high profile entrants in the tournament who left early, including World #1 Naomi Osaka (who lost to the incredibly frustrating Hsieh Su-Wei), Angelique Kerber (who lost to 2019 Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu for the second time in 6 days!), Elina Svitolina, Garbine Muguruza and defending champion Sloane Stephens also have been bounced from the tournament.

On the men's side Roger Federer had a scare in his first match but survived in three sets against  Radu Albot, while Indian Wells champ Dominic Thiem was not so lucky and was defeated by Hubert Hurcazc in straight sets. Similarly, Sasha Zverev continues his underwhelming season after ending 2018 on a high by losing to soon-to-be-retired David Ferrer after reaching the final in Miami last year. 2018 Miami Open champion John Isner's title defense is off to a solid start by winning his first match in straight sets.

2019 INDIAN WELLS: Andreescu and Thiem Win Their Biggest Titles In Thrilling Upset Over Major Champs

Defying the predictions of many observers (including yours truly) Bianca Andreescu and Dominc Thiem won the women's and men's championships at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Sunday. Andreescu received a wildcard into the event, becoming the first wildcard to win the title and the youngest player since Serena Williams won it at age 17 in 1999. Andreescu beat 3-time major champion Angie Kerber 4-6 6-3 6-4 in a very compelling contest which was decided by the 18-year-old Canadian's power and determination to win against her opponents guile, stamina and defense.

In the men's championship, Roger Federer won the first set and looked to be extending his streak of winning finals after having won the first set from 20 to 21 when Thiem raised his intensity and the power of his strokes to simply overpower the 100-time ATP singles champion. The 25-year-old Austrian was the tour leader in 2018 with the average speed of his groundstrokes on both wings (depsite a one-handed backhand) and in the final with Federer he exceeded his 2018 average in the match. The final score was 3-6 6-3 7-5. At 4-5 30-30 Federer came within 2 points of his 101st title when he approached the net on a good, deep cross-court approach shot only to find Thiem blasting a backhand directly at him which was too much to handle. A quick service winner later and Federer was unable to hold his serve at 5-all, getting his service broken and allowing Thim to serve out the championship with little hesitation.

Both youngsters came from behind in the match to win their biggest titles of their career. Of the two, Andreescu's was the more surprising result. Thiem has been known as a clay-court specialist, having reached (and lost) two Masters 1000 finals in Madrid and the 2018 Roland Garros final but with  a signature win over Federer (playing in his 9th Indian Wells final) on a hard court, Thiem showed he is  developing into an all-court player. Andreescu was playing in only her second WTA tour-level final and career earnings of $300,000; she earned $1.3 million on Sunday. There were echoes of last year when now World #1 Naomi Osaka was unseeded and won her first career title and then went on to win two consecutive hardcourt majors.

2019 INDIAN WELLS: Federer-Thiem and Kerber-Andreescu Finals

The finals of Indian Wells are now set. Sadly, Fedal39 ended up being a bust because Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament (and, eventually, the Miami Open) a few hours before his semifinal clash with Roger Federer. Bizarrely, after getting a walkover from Gael Monfils in the quarterfinal, Dominc Thiem defeated Milos Raonic 6-4 in the 3rd set to reach his first final in the Desert. So Federer and Thiem will compete for the first Masters series title of the year. The two have a 2-2 head-to-head record, but both of Federer's wins have occurred on hard courts. Federer is playing in his 9th final in Indian Wells, but last year he lost the final here (after having match point!) against Juan Martin del Potro. I suspect that won't happen this year. MadProfessah's prediction: Federer.

The women's side of the draw has been the more interesting tournament. After Belinda Bencic continued her incredible win streak by taking out World #1 Noami Osaka and Karolina Pliskova before falling to Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. Venus Williams had a resurgence in form, reaching the quarterfinals, winning one of the best matches of the tournament against Petra Kvitova. However, the biggest story of the tournament was the performance of 18-year-old Canadian wildcard Bianca Andreescu. She is in the final of her first WTA premier mandatory tournament on the strength of beating Garbine Muguruza 6-0 6-1 in the quarterfinals and outlasting Elina Svitolina in the semifinals (6-4 in the 3rd set). However, she will face Kerber, who has shut down the two other red-hot players in the tournament already (Venus and Bencic) and can probably do it a 3rd time. MadProfessah's pick: Kerber.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Osaka Splits From Sascha, Fed Cup Semis Set, Serena Back to WTA Top10

NAOMI OSAKA ANNOUNCES SPLIT FROM COACH SASCHA BAJIN
Wow! World #1 Naomi Osaka has announced she has ended her coaching relationship with Sascha Bajin, who was with her as she raced up the rankings from #72 a year ago to winning the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open and become the #1 ranked player in the world.  Bajin was a longtime member of Serena Williams's support staff and was named WTA Coach of the Year in 2018. This is the fourth example of a Grand Slam winner dropping a coach within a short time afterwards: Angelique Kerber split with Wim Fisette after winning 2018 Wimbledon, Simona Halep split with Darren Cahill after winning the 2018 French Open and Sloane Stephens split with Kamau Murray after winning the 2017 US Open.

FED CUP SEMIFINALS SET UP: ROMANIA V. FRANCE, AUSTRALIA V.  BELARUS
In a surprising result, Romania beat defending champs Czech Republic and Australia beat the  United States (playing without any major champions), Belarus beat Germany (without Kerber) and France beat Belgium. The Fed Cup semifinals will be played in April. Ash Barty won all 3 ties for Australia. Halep had a key win over Pliskova in the #CZEROU matchup.

SERENA WILLIAMS WILL RETURN TO TOP 10 NEXT WEEK
Amazingly, even though she has only played in 7(!) tournaments in the last year, reaching 2 major finals (2018 Wimbledon and 2018 US Open), Serena Williams will be rejoining the WTA Top 10.

TSONGA ENDS TITLE DROUGHT AT OPEN SUD DE FRANCE
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his 17th career title (his first title in more than a year). He defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final of the Open Sud de France 6-4 6-2.

2019 AUS OPEN: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Naomi Osaka (JPN) [4] vs. Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8]

This is my prediction post for the 2019 Australian Open women's final. Last year I incorrectly predicted that Simona Halep would beat Caroline Wozniacki in the 2018 Aussie Open women's final.  This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. I will also predict the winner of the 2019 Aussie Open men's final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Naomi Osaka (JPN) [4] d. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [7] 6-2 4-6 6-4. This was actually quite a good match but it was overshadowed by the dramatics of the round before, when Pliskova completed one of the all-time historic comebacks, amazingly against Serena Williams. She came back from 1-5 30-40 down in the final set and won the last 6 games of the set after Serena roller her ankle and failed to win another point on serve, despite having four match points. So, one would have thought that Pliskova would realize that she's playing with "house money" and come out blasting against Osaka but that is not what happened. It's clear now that Osaka has the game and mentality to get to the top of the women's game and she has demonstrated that repeatedly in the last 6 months.

Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8] d. Danielle Collins (USA) 7-6(2) 6-0. Although Pliskova's upset of Serena was historic, in some sense Collins 6-0 6-2 win over 3-time major champion Angie Kerber in the fourth round is even more astounding. The 25-year-old American had never won a grand slam match before and she ended up winning 5 matches in a row in Melbourne. For one set she held Kvitova to a tiebreak set, the first player in the tournament to stay even with the 2-time major champion for so long this year. Collins has a feisty personality, enjoying the competition and the fight. She is an excellent counterpuncher and handles pace quite well. Hopefully this breakthrough will give her the confidence to make a bigger splash on the women's tour.

WOMEN'S FINALS PREVIEW

Last year's final featured two players in Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki who had not won a grand slam, who were also competing for the #1 ranking in the world (although they had both held it previously). This year, the final features two players in Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova who have both won a major but who have not reached World #1. If Osaka wins she will become World #1 at age 20, the youngest since Wozniacki did it in 2011. If Kvitova wins, she will become the oldest player to reach #1 for the first time. The two are taking undefeated grand slam final records in to this match, with Osaka 1-0 (2018 US Open, d. S. Williams) and Kvitova 2-0 (2014 Wimbledon d. Bouchard; 2011 Wimbledon d. Sharapova) so someone will experience their fist major final loss today. Kvitova has an amazing 26-7 record in finals and has won her last 8 on the tour. She is contending for the #1 spot because of her all-round stellar play on the tour, including wining the Sydney warm-up tournament over Ash Barty, while Osaka is going for her second consecutive major title.  Amazingly, the two have never played on tour before, so this is their very first meeting. That will almost certainly result in a very nervous start for both players. I would be shocked if P3tra doesn't live up to her name and the match end in straight sets. (Neither player has lost a set in a major final before either.) Their games are very similar, they play big babe, first strike tennis. Kvitova has the fact that she's a lefty in her favor, but Osaka has the more consistent serve. Osaka is possibly the better athlete, but Kvitova's amazing record in finals is very convincing to me.
 MadProfessah's pick: Kvitova.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Croatia Wins (Last?) Davis Cup, Beats France 3-1; Venus Settles; Radwanska Retires; Kerber Picks Schuettler, Halep Picks No One!

CROATIA DEFEATS FRANCE 3-1 TO WIN 2018 DAVIS CUP FINAL
The 2018 Davis Cup was won by Croatia, somewhat surprisingly defeating France 3-1, who was the defending champion (beating Belgium last year). There was extra attention on this year's Davis Cup because tennis is being roiled by the changes to the format of the Davis Cup and the creation of two(!) new team competitions: the Laver Cup (an exhibition competition that happens a few weekends after the conclusion of the US Open primarily associated with Roger Federer and based on a Europe versus The World concept) and now the ATP and Tennis Australia have announced the ATP Cup which is scheduled to start in January 2020 before the Australian Open. The ATP Cup will be a 24-team competition of 6 groups of 4 played in 3 Australian cities over 10 days.
Marin Cilic was the tie's hero, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday in straight sets and followed that up with a straight sets win over Lucas Pouille on the final day to win Croatia's 3rd point after Borna Coric easly dismissed Jeremy Chardy in straight sets on the first day. It's not clear why France's other stars (Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet or Gilles Simon) did not participate in the Davis Cup Final this year. The one bright spot for France was their win in the doubles as Pierre-Hughes Hebert and Nicolas Mahut won their match.

AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA RETIRES FROM TENNIS AT AGE 29
The Polish tennis superstar Aggie Radwanska announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 29, ranked World #75. However, between 2008 and 2016 she was ranked in the Top 15 (rising as high as World #2) and won the WTA Fan Favorite award 6 years in a row. In 2012 she won the middle set against Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final but lost the match.

VENUS SETTLES WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT WHERE SHE HAD NO FAULT
Venus Williams announced that she had settled a lawsuit filed by the estate of a man who had died in a car accident in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida where Williams was an unwilling and faultless participant. The settlement terms were not disclosed.

KERBER PICKS NEW COACH RAINER SCHUETTLER, HALEP PICKS NO-ONE
The end-of-season coaching merry-go-round continues with World #1 Simona Halep deciding not pick a replacement coach for Darren Cahill who said that he has decided to reduce his travel commitments in 2019 to spend more time with his family. Despite winning Wimbledon with Wim Fisette this year, Angelique Kerber has dismissed him and hired with former ATP Top 10 player Rainer Schuettler as her new coach.

2018 WTA YEC: Draw Is Set (Halep Withdraws); Osaka, Kerber, Stephens in Same Group

The WTA Year End Championships is starting in Singapore this weekend. Participation is restricted to the Top 8 performers on the WTA tour, which usually (but not always) includes the winners of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments through out the year. This is the last year the

Last year's winner was Caroline Wozniacki who used that momentum to win her first major at this year's Australian Open. This year's French Open winner (and year-end #1) is Simona Halep but she had to withdraw, giving a chance to Kiki Bertens to become the first Dutch player in over two decades to make the Elite Eight. 2018 Wimbledon champion Angie Kerber and 2018 US Open champion Naomi Osaka round out this year's honor roll of major champions. However, there are two other major champions in the draw, Sloane Stephens, 2017 US Open champ, and Petra Kvitova, 2-time Wimbledon champion.

The final 8 are placed into 2 groups of 4 each and then play round-robin tournament to identify the top two in each group, who then play elimination semifinals against members from the other group to reach the final.Last year, Wozniacki defeated Venus Williams.

The two groups are:

• Red Group 

• [1] Angelique Kerber 

• [3] Naomi Osaka 

• [5] Sloane Stephens 

• [8] Kiki Bertens 

• White Group 

• [2] Caroline Wozniacki 

• [4] Petra Kvitova 

• [6] Elina Svitolina 

• [7] Karolina Pliskova

The Red Group in my opinion is the tougher group. Interestingly, Steohens has the head-to-head edge here, while Kvitova has the edge in the White Group (these are problematic names, by the way, why not use names of famous former champions, like the men do?).

I predict that Wozniacki and Kvitova will emerge from the White Group and Stephens and Osaka will emerge from Red Group. Singapore is a relatively slow indoor hard court, which I would give a slight edge to Kvitova overall.

2018 US OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the US Open for 2018. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals.  I also have  a prediction for the men's quarterfinals.

Serena Williams (USA) [17] Simona Halep (ROU) [1] vs. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [8]. First I would like to recognize Kaia Kanepi, the hard-hitting veteran Estonian who took out my pick for the 2018 US Open title and played a nerveless, entertaining match against Serena Williams in the 4th round on Sunday despite losing the first set 6-0 in under 19 minutes. I believe that was exactly the match Serena needed to prepare her for this showdown with Karolina Pliskova who last beat her on this court just two years ago, in the 2016 US Open semifinals, just a few rounds after beating Venus Williams. last meeting in Stuttgart this year and they also split their 2 hard court matches. I saw Pliskova overwhelm Ash Barty the round before and she actually moves better than I expected (she's no Lindsay Davenport!) But Serena hates to lose to players in consecutive matches so she will be well prepared for this match. In some sense, her tough draw may actually have helped her raise the level of her game, which is approaching the level she was at pre-pregnancy. It's somewhat surprising these two have only played twice, so Serena has not really been active on the WTA tour as Pliskova became World #1 (briefly) and remains ensconced in the Top 10. As others have noted, one blaring hole in Serena's comeback to the tour this year has been her inability to win against Top 10 players this year and Pliskova will be her first she will be facing in New York. Despite that, I think Serena will find a way to reach yet another semifinal in New York.  PREDICTION: Williams.

 Anastasja Sevastova (LAT) [16] Elina Svitolina (UKR) [4] vs. Sloane Stephens (USA) [3]. This is a rematch of last year's quarterfinal which was quite a barnburner. Stephens had to come back from 1-3 down in the final set. Sevastova clearly plays her best tennis in New York and is completely unafraid of big stages. I saw her demolish the #7 seed Elina Svitolina in the relative obscurity of the Grandstand court on Saturday (winning 6-0 in the final set). We are no longer surprised by Stephens success in big matches, as her World #3 ranking and 2 major finals in the last 12 months have demonstrated. How the defending champ takes care of someone who gave her so much trouble last year will tell us a lot about whether Stephens will be able to defend her title as she most likely will face the ultimate test in Serena Williams. I believe she will beat Sevastova, but I don't think it's going to be easy. PREDICTION: Stephens.

Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) [30] Maria Sharapova (RUS) [22] vs. Madison Keys (USA) [15].  It's a quirk  of fate that Suárez Navarro's birthday falls in early September, so she has often had to play very important matches in her career on this date. 5 years ago when she turned 25 she famously lost to Serena Williams without winning a single game. Things did not look good when she was scheduled to play Maria Sharapova at night in Arthur Ashe stadium, where the 5-time major champion was 23-0. However, Suárez Navarro  was undeterred and although it was not a pretty match (both players were serving horrendously) it was quite entertaining. The Spaniard is mostly known for her clay court prowess but she has reached multiple quarterfinals at all the slams but Wimbledon. She has a one-handed backhand and is a great mover. The result was that she was able to end Sharapova's streak and dismiss the Russian in straight sets. Her opponent will be another big hitting, big serving player who moves a bit better: Madison Keys. Keys continued her domination of Dominika Cibulkova who looked a bit tired after her upset of Angie Kerber on Saturday in three sets. The fact that Keys is undefeated against Cibulkova is mysterious; the Slovak is too good a mover to be blasted off the court, but typically this is what happens in their matches, because Cibulkova likes to do that to her opponents, and with Keys she faces someone who goes for broke even earlier than she does. Keys is 3-0 against each of the players she could face to reach her second consecutive US Open final: Suárez Navarro, Osaka or Tsurenko. Will she do better dealing with the mental expectations of success this year than last year? I hope so. PREDICTION: Keys. 

Naomi Osaka (JPN) [20] vs. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR). It looks like 2018 may finally be the year for the breakout by the biracial 20-year-old Naomi Osaka into the big leagues of women's tennis. She won Indian Wells in a battle of the youngsters by defeating Daria Kasatkina (and a bevy of Top 10 players). However the rest of her season has been pretty quiet until reaching New York where she has been making a lot of noise by cutting through the draw like a scythe, losing only 7 games in the first three rounds. In the 4th round she faced a fellow youngster, 20-year-old Aryna Sabalenka who has been the hottest player on tour for most of the American summer hard court season. The two played a see-saw match which involved multiple breaks of serve and swings of momentum in the deciding set and ended on a double fault. (Happily I was in the stands at Louis Armstrong watching with delight.) The tennis was tension-filled because both players knew that they would have to face an unseeded player in their quarterfinal to reach the 2018 US Open semifinal. It looked that opponent would be 19-year-old lefty Marketa Vondrousova from Czech Republic but somehow 30-year-old Lesia Tsurenko was able to battle back and survive the brutal sun and humidity yesterday on the Grandstand court to deny the youngster. I don't think she'll be able to do that again.  PREDICTION: Osaka.