2018 AUS OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the 2018 Australian Open. Last year I did not predict the quarterfinals. This year I have also predicted the men's quarterfinals.

Simona Halep (ROU) [1] vs. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [6]. The current World #1 appears to have recovered from her epic (15-13 in the 3rd!) win over American Lauren Davis from the 3rd round when she dispatched hard-hitting Naomi Osaka with dispatch in the 4th round.  Pliskova is a former #1 and has reached a hard court final in New York  in 2016. However she has never advanced past the quarterfinal in Melbourne, and she lost in this round against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at this stage last year. Although Pliskova can pummel the ball, she is very limited in her movement, which is Halep's great strength. This has been the case in their first 6 matches, 5 of which have been handily won by Halep. I don't think this match will deviate very much from this trend. PREDICTION: Halep.

Angelique Kerber [21] (GER) Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [3] vs. Madison Keys (USA) [17] Caroline Garcia (FRA) [8]. Although technically the expected match-up in this quarter was a showdown between the #3 and #8 seeds, no one is that surprised to see the 2016 Australian Open champion and the 2017 US Open finalist fighting each other for this semifinal slot. Muguruza was dispatched by the amazing Su-Wei Hsieh who also eliminated Aggie Radwanska and came within a handful of points at eliminating Kerber in the last round. Keys has been bludgeoning her way through the draw, and has not even come very close to losing a set (after being down 3-5 in her first round match Keys closed out that match by winning the final 4 games). The head-to-head between Keys and Kerber is not good for the young American, with the German former World #1 leading 6-1. Kerber is an expert at blunting power and Keys has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to switch to another game plan when her power hitting game fails to blast through her opponent. Will 2018 be the year Keys figures out how to win matches against the world's best counterpunchers? I don't think she's there yet.  PREDICTION: Kerber.

Elin Mertens (BEL) [16] Venus Williams (USA) [5] vs. Elina Svitolina (UKR) [4].  Svitolina is one of the most winningest players on the women's tour but she is yet to match her ranking at a major. (You could call her the Sascha Zverev of the women's tour!) Despite being World #4, Svitolina has only reached the quarterfinals twice in her career, both times at Roland Garros on clay. This is very strange, because she is a hard-hitting player who moves well and is very consistent. That being said, I believe she will finally reach her first major semifinal by winning this match against her talented (but overmatched) opponent. PREDICTION: Svitolina. 

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [2] vs. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) [7]. Wozniacki is living on borrowed time after she came back from an astonishing 1-5 down in the 2nd round, saving multiple match points along the way. Since that freeing escape Caroline has not even come close to losing a set in the tournament and after winning her biggest title of her career by beating Venus in the WTA Year-End Championship in Singapore I believe she has the confidence to go all the way and finally end her reputation as "the best player to be ranked #1 and never win a slam." Suarez Navarro is a tricky player, but she is exactly the kind of player that Wozniacki has to be able to get past in order to reach her goal of becoming a major champion.  PREDICTION: Wozniacki. 

2017 WIMBLEDON: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2017. Last year I correctly predicted 1 of 2 men's semifinals and correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's quarterfinals. This year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 this year's women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. 

Andy Murray (GBR) [1] Sam Querrey (USA) [24] vs Marin Cilic (CRO) [7].  For the second year in a row, American Sam Querrey pulled off the biggest upset of his career on tennis' grandest stage, by defeating the current World #1 and defending Wimbledon champion. Last year it was Novak Djokovic and this year it was Andy Murray.  He became the first America male player to reach a major semifinal since Andy Roddick did it here in 2009 when he lost an epic final to Federer. Querrey can now make a claim to being the most successful American male player of his generation. He will face Marin Cilic, who took 5 sets to eliminate Gilles Muller, the lefty serve-and-volleyer who had cracked open the draw with a 15-13 5th set win over Rafael Nadal on Monday.Cilic is a dangerous grass court player and although he owns an undefeated 4-0 head-to-head lead over Querrey, the two played the second longest men's match in Wimbledon history 5 years ago when Cilic prevailed 17-15 in the fifth. Despite never having beaten Cilic, Querrey has a reasonable chance to cause the upset. No one expects him to win, so he really should be able to play the tension-free tennis which saw him beat two World #1's at Wimbledon in two years (altough to be fairthere is no question that Murray was literally hobbled by a hip injury which reduced his mobility and service power). Querrey's matches with Cilic have actually been rather closely fought affairs, and although Cilic has been playing well, so has Sam, and he's got the firepower to defeat the Croat, who realizes this is an amazing opportunity for him to reach a second major final and perhaps "pull a Stan Wawrinka" and sneak another major title. PREDICTION: Cilic.

Roger Federer (SUI) [3] vs. Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1]Tomas Berdych (CZE) [11]. This is quite an unlikely match-up since basically everyone had pencilled in a Djokovic-Federer clash in this semifinal when the draw came out, an expected reprise of the 2014 and 2015 Wimbledon finals. But after going down a set and a break, Djokovic retired with an arm injury, giving Berdych his 3rd win in 28 matched played against the Serb. Berdych also has a pretty horrible head-to-head record with Federer too (6W-18L) but he does have a win over Federer at Wimbledon (in 2010) and has beaten Federer in majors at important moments. But Federer beat Berdych in Australia (in the 3rd round) and the ease with which he did that was the signal to his myriad fans that  he was not going to take long to resume his place at the top of men's tennis after his 6-month sabbatical. I would be shocked if this semifinal is the more interesting of the two. Federer has yet to drop a set in this year's tournament, but that is primarily because he has had a lot of extraordinarily god luck in tiebreakers. Almost certainly Federer will be making records again, reaching his 11th final at Wimbledon (7-3) and 29th overall (18-10) record. He is playing in his 42nd major semifinal (and has a 28-13 record).  PREDICTION: Federer.

GAME OF THRONES: Season 7 Full Trailer Released #GOTS7

The trailer for Season 7 of HBO's Game of Thrones has been released; new shows begin airing on July 16. It has already been announced that the final two seasons will have fewer than the 10 episodes the first six had, with Season 7 coming in at seven episodes and Season 8 will have just 6 episodes.

2016 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Andy Murray (GBR) [2]

This is my prediction post for the men's final at the 2016 French Open. Last year I did not predict that Stan Wawrinka would defeat Novak Djokovic to win his 2nd major title. This year I have correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. (This year also I incorrectly predicted that Serena Williams would beat Garbine Muguruza in the women's final.

In this post I will review the mens semifinals and preview the men's final.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] d. Dominic Thiem (AUT) [13] 6-2 6-1 6-4. The 22-year-old Thiem has just broken into the elite of men's tennis by reaching his first major semifinal and is now a bonafide Top 10 player. However,  the World #1 gave him a stern lesson on the distance the Austrian needs to travel if he wants to challenge the man at the top of the rankings.  The result was basically never in doubt, despite Thiem playing quite well Djokovic just demonstrated just how much better he is than the entire rest of the field.

Andy Murray (GBR) [2] d. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [3] 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2. Murray had the much more difficult task, drawn in the same half as the defending champion Stan Wawrinka. Despite only having a slight 8-7 edge over the hard-hitting Swiss champion and having lost the last three meetings (including no wins on clay) I predicted that Murray would win this match. From watching the clay court season it was clear to me that Murray is now (at least) the second best clay-court player in the world, and he demonstrated that with his 4-set dismissal of Wawrinka. Murray becomes the 10th player to reach the finals of all four majors tournaments and becomes the first male British player since Fred Perry in 1938 to play in the final of Roland Garros.

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Andy Murray (GBR) [2]. We have seen this match-up many times before. In fact, the Djokovic-Murray rivalry now includes 7 meetings in major finals, which is just one ahead of the all-time record of the eight Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal meetings in finals (Rafa leads 6-2). Djokovic leads their major finals (4-2) and their overall career head-to-head 23-10 and 3-1 on clay. It should be noted that these two met last year in the French Open semifinals and Djokovic won 6-1 in the fifth. In fact, in their recent history their matches have been long but the final set is often a blowout in favor of Djokovic.

Mentally, all the pressure should be on Djokovic. Not only is he trying to finally complete the career grand slam so that he can bolster his claim to the Greatest of all time title in the future, he is also trying to do something which has not been done since Rod Laver did it in1969: be the defending champion in all four majors simultaneously, i.e. complete the Nole slam. Last year, Serena completed her second Serena slam and it should be noted that Djokovic was one win away from completing a calendar slam. If he wins he will also move to 4th on the all-time list with 12, only behind  Federer's 17 and 2 behind Nadal and Laver's 14.

Murray would love to win a 3rd major title and I think it is definitely possible that he could do that. Can he somehow come out and play a mentally tough and tactically fearless match tomorrow and blow Djokovic off the court like Wawrinka did last year? Yes, it's possible but also unlikely. Instead I think that it is Djokovic's moment and he will deliver a win to take his place in the pantheon of the greats.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

2016 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinal matches at the 2016 French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. I have also done a preview of the women's semifinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Dominic Thiem (AUT) [13]. The 22-year-old Thiem finally has his first major result of his young career. By coming back from a set and a break down (after leading 4-2 in the first set and then dropping six consecutive games) against his good friend David Goffin, Thiem demonstrated why many think he is fast rising to the top of the #NextGen players. In fact. Thiem is guaranteed to be ranked as high as #7 regardless of what happens in this semifinal. With that being said, Djokovic is trying to reach his sixth consecutive major final. The obstacle in his way is a player over whom he has a  2-0 career head-to-head lead. If (when) he gets past him then he will either face the man who beat him in last year's final or the man whom he has beaten in the last two Australian Open finals. With Nadal withdrawing and his combined record of 46-14 against the remaining semifinalists. This is Djokovic's chance to make history, and join the pantheon of the all-time truly great players. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Andy Murray (GBR) [2] vs. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [3]. Murray has a slight head-to-head lead of 8-7 over Wawrinka but has lost the last three matches they have played in the last three years and Wawrinka is 2-0 in their clay court matches. Regardless of that, I believe that the 29-year-old Brit is ready to do what it takes to eliminate the 31-year-old defending Roland Garros champion and break through to reach the final of the one major that has so far eluded him. Murray has been making steady progress on clay and has been demonstrating that he is one of the best clay court players in the world. Last year, Wawrinka stunned Djokovic and amazed the world  against the World #1 (and presumptive world's best clay court player) with his play in the Roland Garros final. This year the big question is can Stan replicate his 2015 performance? I suspect the answer is no. Mad Professah's pick: Murray.

2016 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinal matches at the 2016 French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. I will also do a preview of the men's semifinals.

Serena Williams [1] vs Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) [8] Kiki Bertens (NED).  Can anyone stop Kiki? The 24-year-old Dutch phenom had never made it into the second week of a slam and is now just one match away from playing for a Grand Slam title! It's shocking to think that Kiki Bertens has been more impressive en route to the semifinal then the World #1, but in some sense that is true. Bertens beat Angelique Kerber in the first round but also has taken several other prominent scalps along the way: #15 Madison Keys, #29 Daria Kasatkina and #8 Timea Bacsinszky. In comparison, Serena has only played two seeded players #26 Kiki Mladenovic and #18 Elina Svitolina. On the other hand, Serena leads their brief head-to-head 1-0, having won a surprisingly close encounter at the 2015 US Open. Presumably Serena will take this match seriously since she sees the good players that Bertens has dismissed. Even so, I will still be astonished if Serena does not reach her 4th French Open final (she is 3-1 in Roland Garros semifinals and 3-0 in Roland Garros finals). I'm sure Serena is quite happy that  she's playing Kiki Bertens instead of her sister Venus (as the draw had initially indicated). Mad Professah's Pick: S. Williams.

Samantha Stosur (AUS) [21] vs Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [4] . These two have only played once before, but it was on clay (in Madrid), and Stosur won that match 6-1 in the third. Muguruza's ascension to the #3 ranking in the World after her dreamlike run to the Wimbledon final was not unexpected, but it was surprising that it happened on grass and not a hard court. But the Venezuelan-born 22-year-old who plays for Spain and has trained on clay in her formative years was always expected to be competing for majors and the #1 ranking at some point and it looks like those days have arrived. The 32-year-old Australian has had excellent success in Paris, having reached the semifinals four times in her career (1-2 record) but there is a reason why Muguruza is seeded #4 compared to Stosur's #21 at this year's tournament. Even though Stosur is a 2-time major finalist, she is not as mentally tough as her opponent, as their different WTA tour final records (Stosur is 8W-15L while Muguruza is 2W-3L) reflect. I believe that will be the difference that leads the young Spaniard to her second major final in as many years. MadProfessah's prediction: Muguruza.

2016 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals (and R16) Preview, Part 1

Here are my predictions for the 2016 women's quarterfinals and remaining Round of 16 matches at the French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I have predicted the men's quarterfinals (and remaining Round of 16 matches) in a separate post.

QUARTERFINAL MATCHES

Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) Agnieska Radwanska (POL) [2] vs Samantha Stosur (AUS) [21] Simona Halep (ROU) [6]. This was supposed to be a blockbuster quarterfinal of two major finalists and two former World #2 players) but instead they were both upset in matches where they blew commanding leads. Halep lead the first set 5-3 but ended up losing the first set in a tiebreak while Pironkova got blown out in the first set but ended up winning the last two sets despite barely ever holding serve. Stosur is a major champion and has been to a final on clay, despite appearances, her game is actually well suited to the slow clay surface, and her athleticism should make her too much for the talented (but results-starved) Bulgarian to handle. MadProfessah's prediction: Stosur.

Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [4] vs Shelby Rogers (USA) Petra Kvitova (CZE) [10].  Muguruza has looked very strong and is in her 3rd consecutive Roland Garros quarterfinal, playing against the unheralded Shelby Rogers who is playing the tournament of her life. The American's paycheck for reaching the quarterfinal here will be a significant fraction of her entire career earnings to date. She has had to beat THREE seeded players to reach this point, 2-time major champion #10 Petra Kvitova (whom she beat by one of the most remarkable scores of the entire tournament: 6-0 6-7(3) 6-0), #17 Karolina Pliskova and #25 Irinia-Camelia Begu.  The womens tour has been going through a period of  topsy turvy upsets this year, but Shelby Rogers beating Muguruza to reach the French Open semifinals would just about cement concerns that things have gotten out of control. I don't think that's going to happen. MadProfessah's prediction: Muguruza.

ROUND OF 16 MATCHES

Serena Williams [1] vs Elina Svitolina (UKR) [18].  Due to the inclement weather, the top part of the draw, which includes the #1 seed and both Williams sisters is a round behind from where it typically is. However, I think this will only delay not derail, Serena's defense of her French Open crown. That being said, Svitolina is a good young player who has shown herself to be fearless against Serena before. But Serena should be ready for her, and once Serena gets to the business end of a tournament she is tough to beat. That being said, playing one match a day for the next four days in order to win the tournament will be an interesting test of stamina for the G.O.A.T Mad Professah's Pick: S. Williams.

Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) [12] vs Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [5]. Speaking of fearless competitors, Putintseva is another pint-sized powerhouse in the mode of Dominika Cibulkova without her movement or consistency yet. CSN has far too much game to her 3rd quarterfinal at her most successful major. Mad Professah's pick: Suarez Navarro.

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) [8] vs Venus Williams (USA) [9]. The one person who was probably not sad about Monday's complete washout of play was 35-year-old Venus Williams. She probably needed the time to recover from having to play two doubles matches on Sunday. However, it's not clear if Venus still has enough game to defeat the wily Swiss player, who last year made the semifinals here and took a set off Serena in that match. If the Venus Williams circa 2003 shows up then it is very possible she could produce yet another all-Williams match-up at a major, (if she wins her quarterfinal match) but oftentimes one of the siblings blinks when this possibility is on the table, and Serena ain't blinking for anybody right now. There's a reason why Bacsinsky is actually higher seeded than Venus, so the American winning would actually be the upset. Mad Professah's pick: Bacsinszky.

Madison Keys (USA) [15] vs Kiki Bertens (NED) Angelique Kerber (GER) [3]. Kiki Bertens is having the tournament of her life, and by reaching the fourth round she clinched her berth on the Dutch Olympic team (she was also one half of the team that eliminated the Williams sisters in doubles). Keys has been having good results on clay, which bodes well for later in the year where the faster surfaces should make her powerful game even more effective. The fact that Bertens took out the reigning Australian Open champion who is also a classic European dirtballer should not be sneezed at, but I think Keys is ready to join the elite at the top of women's tennis, and making a deep run here, at her worst surface, would herald that. Mad Professah's pick: Keys.

GAME OF THRONES: Season 6 Trailer!

Somehow I missed this weeks debut of the new trailer for Season 6 of Game of Thrones, which will air its first new episodes on HBO on April 24, 2016!

Are you excited? I am!

2015 WIMBLEDON: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [20]

This is my preview post for the women's final at the Wimbledon Championships for 2015. Last year I correctly predicted that Petra Kvitova would defeat Eugenie Bouchard. This year I correctly predicted correctly 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 2 of 2 men's semifinals.

Below is my review of women's semifinals and a preview and prediction of the women's final at this year's Wimbledon Championships.

Women's Semifinals: Reviews

Serena Williams (USA) [1] d. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [4] 6-2 6-4. For the seventeenth        time after losing two consecutive matches in 2004 to her, Serena  beat "rival" Maria Sharapova. This time it was in the semifinals of Wimbledon, but most of their matches in the last ten years have been important occasions, since both players have been at the top of women's tennis for this period. However, when their trajectories intersect at the business end of a tournament, Serena has basically always come out on top. This is primarily because she has the most dangerous weapon in women's tennis: her serve. Especially considering that ever since Sharapova's shoulder surgery in 2009 she has had been plagued with issues with her toss, leading to double faults at inopportune moments. This was clear in the very first game of this match where she double-faulted 3 times (25% first serves in) and went down a break despite Serena gifting three unforced errors in that very first game. A few minutes later Serena held serve with little difficulty and all the scoreboard pressure was on Sharapova from the very beginning and it basically never went away. The second set was closer but again Serena was able to get a break and whenever Sharapova even sniffed an opportunity Serena was able to serve away the potential danger. The final game also was a microcosm of the match by demonstrating the result was on Serena's racquet not Sharapova's. Although Serena began with a double fault, she basically hit unreturned and unreturnable serves four times in a row to close out the match and reach her 8th Wimbledon final (5-2 so far).

Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [20] d. Agnieska Radwanska (POL) [13] 6-2 3-6 6-3. As I suspected beforehand, this was by far the more suspenseful semifinal this year. Some people thought that Muguruza's win here was an upset but as the 21-year-old Spaniard demonstrated for the first set and a half when she raced to a 6-2 3-1 lead, she has a powerful game well-suited to grass-court tennis. However once she could see the finish line she got nervous and Radwanska was able to use her brilliant court sense and tennis wiles to make things even more difficult for the youngster. This led to a string of seven games in a row for the Polish tennis shotmaker. However, despite being up an early break in the third set I never felt like Radwanska was in control of the match. This was borne out immediately because Muguruza resumed cracking the ball and broke her opponents serve twice by winning 50% of return points and approaching the net to put away floaters. This aggressive play was what allowed her to overwhelm her opponent in the deciding set in order to reach her first Wimbledon final.

Women's Final: A Preview and Prediction
Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [20]. This is a huge match for both players, of course, it's a Wimbledon final for goodness sake! For Serena Williams this is her 25th major final (an incredible 20-4 record) and if she wins she will be three fourths of the way to the calendar Grand Slam, and will have won 28 Grand Slam matches in a row, her second "Serena slam."
For Garbiñe Muguruza this is her very first major final. In fact, for the last six years there has been a first-time finalist in the Wimbledon final with only Petra Kvitova coming through that experience with a win in 2011. Muguruza is good, but is she Kvitova-on-grass good? The way Kvitova played both her 2011 and 2014 finals she probably would have beaten any opponent (even one named Williams!) As Luci Safarova showed just a month ago in Paris, if you can keep the score close, Serena may get nervous and let you into the match. However, after dispatching 7-time major champion Venus Williams, 2-time major champion Victoria Azarenka and 5-time major champion Maria Sharapova I find it hard to believe that Serena will allow a newcomer to surprise her, especially one who has previously shocked her in a Grand Slam match. Serena will be wary, ready and deadly. MadProfessah's pick: Serena

The Walking Dead Season 5 Finale Tonight!

The fifth season of AMC's The Walking Dead comes to an end today at 9pm with a 90-minute finale. The television series about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse  based on Robert Kirkman's long-running graphic novel series is cable television's highest rated show. I'm still verklempt that they killed off Noah (the young Black guy) who they had barely introduced earlier this season! Combined with the departure of Tyrese and Bob and the mental breakdown of Sasha the zombie apocalypse appears to be rough on Black people. Well at least we still have Michonne. If Michonne goes, I stop watching the show immediately. There are rumors that there will be some castmembers being killed off in the Season 5 finale;  this would not be surprising because the cast of characters has become almost unwieldy in its size.

There are some "show-enders" for me, starting with Michonne. I would probably still watch the show without Carol or Rick. I'm not sure I would watch the show without Darryl or Glenn in it. I hope I don't have to find out!

Here's a sneak peek of tonight's episode:


What do you think will happen?

2015 AUS OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

The women's quarterfinals are now set at the 2015 Australian Open. Last year, I predicted 1 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 1 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. I will also preview the 2015 Australian Open men's quarterfinals.

Serena Williams (USA) [1]  vs Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) [11].mSerena Williams got revenge on Gabine Muguruza in a hard-fought 2-6 6-3 6-2 win that was a lot closer than the score indicates. Cibulkova, last year's surprise finalist here, played what most observers are calling the best match of the tournament to date in her win over 2-time Australian Open champion Vika Azarenka, coming down from a break in the final set to prevail, 6-2 3-6 6-3. Interestingly, it was Cibulkova who took more risks and went for more when the stakes were raised in that contest, which served her well when her main weapon, the forehand down the line, spanking the line. . Serena has never lost to the hard-hitting pint-sized dynamo, and after being forced to raise her game against Muguruza, I'm confident she will be ready to dispatch the Slovak. Mad Professah's Pick: Williams in 2 sets.

Venus Williams (USA) [18] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [6] vs Madison Keys (USA) Petra Kvitova (CZE) [4]. Venus Williams has made a believer out of a lot of observers who have been quietly (and some not so quietly) calling for her retirement. She not only survived a near death experience when Camila Giorgi served for the match in the 3rd round, against Radwanska, Venus was boken in the ver first game of the third set. However both final sets ended with the same dominating score: 6-1. This demonstrates that the 34-year-old American still has what it takes to close out a hard-fought match deep in to a major tournament. Madison Keys is finally having the breakthrough that her athletic prowess has been indicating that she should have been having. She dismissed current Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the third round, outhitting one of the top Big Babes of Tennis. Can Madison really dispatch someone she has looked up to and idolized since she was 4-years-old and is the reason she is a professional tennis player? She can, but somehow I don't think she will, at least not this time. Besides, I think Venus will use her superior movement to exploit Madison's deficiency in this area, something she often did to Madison's coach, Lindsey Davenport.Mad Professah's pick: Williams in 3 sets.

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [10] vs Simona Halep (ROU) [3]. Makarova always playes her best tennis in Ausatralia, having earned a lot of big scalps down under (as both Williams sisters know).In the last year, Makarova has been starting to make her presence felt at the other majors as well, with a semifinal berth at the 2014 US Open. Her lefty spin and excellent movement can be a devastating combination, now that she has the belief that she can hang out there with the elite of the game. Her mental toughness will be tested in the extreme against the resiliency of Simona Halep, however, who generally wins the matches she is supposed to win and rarely loses to people lower ranked than she is. Mad Professah's pick: Halep in 3 sets.

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) [7] vs Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2].  Again, this match-up between the two closest ranked opponents in the Final 8 should make for the most compelling tennis but when you look at their head-to-head record Sharapova has won all three meetings, although their semifinal match at the 2014 French Open was one that really could have gone either way, and Bouchard is well aware of that. Sharapova knows that she is playing with house money having survived 2 match points in the 2nd round against unheralded Russian Alexandra Panova while Bouchard has let the pressure of expectations lead to complications when she was closing out huge leads against players she would be expected to beat. Mad Professah's pick: Sharapova in 3 sets.

FRENCH OPEN 2010: Women's Final Preview

Francesca Schiavone ITA (17) vs.

Samantha Stosur AUS (7)

One of the most surprising grand slam tournaments in recent tennis history is coming to a conclusion with a final where for the first time in 6 years neither of the combatants has been in a a major final previously. World #7 Samantha Stosur has reached this point by beating a series of excellent clay court players, one after another starting with a tight dismissal of Justine Henin, followed by outlasting Serena Williams and ending with a 2-set blowout of Jelena Jankovic. On the other hand, Francesca Schiavone has had the best luck of anyone in the tournament, having won every set she has played except for the very first, all the while facing a significantly lower level of competition. In her last match, her opponent Elena Dementieva retired after losing a close tie-break set!

In 2009 Schiavone and Stosur met in the first round of Roland Garros and the Australian won easily 6-4 6-2. Head-to-head Schiavone won the first match the two played in 2005 and has not won in 4 attempts, with two of these matches occurring on clay.

Although Schiavone is a big match player and will probably handle the pressure of playing in her first major final than Stosur, the Australian has so much more power in her game that even with a slump she should still win her first major singles title relatively easily.

MadProfessah's pick: Stosur in 2 sets.

US OPEN 2008: Women's Semifinals Preview

The 2008 US Open Women's semifinals are now set. Mad Professah correctly predicted 3 of the 4 women's quarterfinal match results.

Elena Dementieva RUS (5) vs. Jelena Jankovic SRB (2). Dementieva has always had her best Grand Slam sucess at the US Open, having reached the finals once (2004) and the semifinals four times (2000, 2004, 2005 and 2008). Jankovic was the #1 player in the World for one week during the Beijing Olympics while Dementieva was winning her second Olympic singles medal, a Gold eight years after winning the Silver in Sydney. The two have played each other seven times, with Jankovic holding the edge 4-3 overall, and 3-2 on hardcourts. They have split the matches they played this year, with Dementieva retiring hurt in Miami and Jankovic losing on her best surface of clay in Berlin. Dementieva's problematic serve has been surprisingly solid, and is currently a more effective weapon than Jankovic's. She has long had some of the best groundstrokes of any woman on the tour AND she moves well--her central weakness had been mental fortitude and a cringe-inducing service toss and motion. Jankovic is incredibly consistent and probably a slightly better mover, but I believe that Dementieva is on a roll that will get her to her third Grand Slam final, where, if she wins she will become the second Russian player to reach the top of the WTA rankings. PREDICTION: Dementieva in 3 sets.

Dinara Safina RUS (6) vs. Serena Williams USA (4). Although many people feel that Wednesday night's amazing quarterfinal match between Venus and Serena was the deciding showdown for who would win the 2008 US Open title, there are at least two other people who will try their best to not let that happen. The hottest player on tour, Dinara Safina, has made it to the final of the 6 of the last 7 tournaments she entered. Safina easily won the USTA's gimmicky US Open series of warm-up tournaments to the year's final major tournament in New York for the chance to win an extra $1 million dollars if she wins this title. In addition, if the Russian will become the #1 player in the world if she wins the 2008 US Open title. Unfortunately, she is playing 8-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who is playing some of her best tennis and is in better shape than she has been in nearly 5 years when she dominated women's tennis completely. Head-to-head Safina has only beaten Serena once in four tries, but that victory came from the last time they played, on clay in Berlin in May. There Safina had an amazing run of beating World #1 Justine Henin in her final professional match, Serena in a 3rd set tiebreak, and then Elena Dementieva to win her first Tier 1 title. In fact, Safina is the first player to beat three WTA Tour #1 players in one calendar year (Henin in Berlin, Sharapova in Paris and Jankovic in Beijing) this summer.

Although prior to the start of the tournament I predicted Venus Williams would be in this semifinal and lose to Safina who would then defeat Dementieva for the title, after Wednesday's match I can not see how any of the three players remaining in the tournament can deny Serena Williams her 9th Grand Slam title. If anyone can do it, it will be Safina playing at her best, and it will be because Serena has a letdown after beating her sister, but I believe that Serena will try and honor her sister by finding a way to get to the final, where she will be the heavy favorite against Dementieva or Jankovic.

PREDICTION: Williams in 3 sets.

PREVIEW: Elizabeth The Golden Age

I am so looking forward to this movie!