Tag Archives: Maria Sharapova

Masters Madrid Semifinal Predictions May 11, 2013

10 May

Predicted Winners in BOLD

Semifinals

5 Rafael Nadal vs. Pablo Andujar – If Andujar is ever going to win against Rafa, this is his chance.  Nadal played 2 tough sets and a 3rd set versus Ferrer.  Nadal is also seemingly a little rusty.  The altitude in Madrid has never been to Rafa’s liking.  Still, I don’t think anyone sanely picks an upset here.

6 Tomas Berdych vs. 15 Stanislas Wawrinka – Berdych to this point inb 2013 has outplayed Roger Federer and looks like a top 5 player.  Wawrinka is on a serious roll.  This is close to a 50-50 match, but I think Warinka is currently playing the best tennis of his career.  

Semifinals

1 Serena Williams vs. 7 Sara Errani - Serena seems ripe for an upset, and Errani could do it based upon her runner-up finish at Roland Garros in 2012.  Recent form seems to have little impact on how Serena will play in a given situation.  I think Williams is close enough to the finish line in Madrid to win this semifinal.

2 Maria Sharapova vs. 16 Ana Ivanovic - Ivanovic has put together some decent results at different times since her brief stint at number one.  I hope she gets back to the top five, but I am not going to bank on such a rebound at this stage of her career.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Masters Miami Predictions 27 March 2013

27 Mar

Predicted Winners in BOLD

Quarterfinals
David Ferrer (3) vs. Jurgen Melzer - Jurgen could win, but Ferrer is a guy who tends to win the matches he is supposed to win.

Gilles Simon (11) vs. Tommy Haas (15) – Simon is the player who may be fatigued.  Haas beat Federer at Halle last year and Nole in Miami this year.  Not bad for a guy in my age range.  Still, I think Gilles will grind out a 3 set win.

Quarterfinals

Maria Sharapova (3) vs. Sara Errani (8) – A rematch of the 2012 French Open final will likely produce the same result.

Roberta Vinci (15) vs. Jelena Jankovic (22) – JJ is just not someone I will pick very often in later rounds at this stage of her career.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Indian Wells 2013 Championship Predictions

17 Mar

Predicted Winners in BOLD

Final

Rafael Nadal (5) vs. Juan Martin del Potro (7)

I think Nadal completes a remarkable comeback by defeating a player who has given him some trouble.  Delpo is obviously on a roll beating Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in succession.  For JMDP to win he will need to serve big so that he holds routinely.  That would give JMDP the opportunity to take big swings and pressure Rafa’s serve.  I don’t think that happens.  Rafa is showing just why he is one of the greatest ever.  He was dominating last Spring and early Summer.  He gets hurt and misses 7 months.  He comes back and is winning at a high rate again.

Final

Maria Sharapova (2) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (8)

Wozniacki is making a move back toward the top 5.  That is a great story, but it is hard for me to pick a player who lives and dies on her opponent’s mistakes.  Sharapova may lose, but her play is going to determine who wins.  I’ll take the agressor to take the title.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

March 15, 2013: Indian Wells Match Predictions or Et tu Tsonga?

15 Mar

Beware the Ides of March

Predicted Winners in BOLD

Quarterfinal Round

Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (8) – Et tu Tsonga?  Doubtful.  Nole advances to the semis.

Andy Murray (3) vs. Juan Martin del Potro (7) – If Murray is still nuring his Australian Open loss, Delpo has a great chance at an upset.  My guess is Murray is slowly moving toward the Wimbledon-US Open stretch with hopes of a decent run on clay.  Therefore, an unburdened Murray advances.

Semifinal Round

Maria Sharapova (2) vs. Maria Kirilenko (13) – Kirilenko could win, but the odds are heavily in favor of Sharapova advancing.

Angelique Kerber (4) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (8) – I see Caro building on her win over Azarenka with a win here.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Australian Open Women’s Semifinal Picks

23 Jan

Predicted Winners in BOLD

Women’s Singles – Semifinals

Na Li (CHN) [6]
v
Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2]

Na Li did defeat Maria Sharapova in the 2011 French Open semifinal en route to her lone Grand Slam title.  Sharapova has since captured the French Open title and is destroying her 2013 competition.  Na Li could win especially if she can find a way to pressure Sharapova’s serve.  Also, if she can make Sharapova move, her chances of victory rise.  The reality I see is that Maria Sharapova will advance as she is in the zone.  If Na Li can’t find a way to make Sharapova uncomfortable, this could be pretty one-sided.

Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [1]
v
Sloane Stephens (USA) [29]

Stephens pulled the upset of the tournament.  Not having a day of rest will likely help keep her from freezing under a the weight of the situation.  Still, I think Vika is likely to win even if Stephens is playing quite well.  Vika has a chance to win this event, help cement her #1 status and move back into the center of the tennis world.  She has a lot of opportunities to play for something rather than just defend points given that she is #1 and the defending champion.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Australian Open Day 9 Women’s Picks

21 Jan

Predicted Winners in BOLD

Quarterfinal Round

Na Li (CHN) [6] vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [4] – This all comes down to who is in form.  If Na Li is playing at her 2011 level, she will advance.  If Radwanska and Li play at their 2012 levels, Radwanska wins.  I’ll go with more recent history and pick Radwanska to win (see 2013 video clip for very recent history).

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [19] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [2] – Makarova has played well to beat Kerber and reach the quarterfinal round.  Sharapova is crushing everyone she plays.  For Makarova to win, she will need to return well, extend points and force Sharapova to hit on the run.  I don’t see the Sharapova train slowing down enough to lose here.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Yahoo Tennis Dropping the Ball

20 Jan

The 2013 Australian Open has been a disaster for Yahoo Tennis.

  • Photographs tied to stories feature different players than those found in stories.   This is common for Yahoo Tennis but when Na Li is pictured as a European player it is beyond sloppy.
  • Maria Sharapova was referred to as the reigning champion despite being waxed in last year’s final.
  • The scoreboard features an incomplete list of any given day’s matches mixed together with matches from the previous day.

 

Tags: , , , ,

Australian Open Day 7 Women’s Picks

19 Jan

The WTA has a nice breakdown right here.  My predicted winners are in BOLD.

[4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4) vs. [13] Ana Ivanovic (SRB #13) – I think Radwanska wins in straight sets, but Ivanovic has had a nice event.

[2] Maria Sharapova (RUS #2) vs. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL #43) – Sharapova is on a roll and I don’t see that ending here.

[5] Angelique Kerber (GER #5) vs. [19] Ekaterina Makarova (RUS #19) – I’ll take Makarova in a mild upset.

Tags: , , ,

2013 Australian Open Day 1 Picks

13 Jan

Predicted Winner in BOLD – Some of these matches are sheer guesses on my part

First Round
Venus Williams (25) vs. Galina Voskoboeva - Venus’ singles successes have slowed, but maybe she can have a deep run here.

Nicolas Almagro (10) vs. Steve Johnson - I always like Almagro’s shot making; I just hope he plays well under pressure.

Tamira Paszek (30) vs. Stefanie Voegele

Maria Sharapova (2) vs. Olga Puchkova - Sugarpova rolls

Klara Zakopalova (23) vs. Chanelle Scheepers

Edouard Roger-Vasselin vs. Ruben Bemelmans

Fernando Verdasco (22) vs. David Goffin - Mild upset

Marion Bartoli (11) vs. Anabel Medina Garrigues

Adrian Ungur vs. Evgeny Donskoy

Dominika Cibulkova (15) vs. Ashleigh Barty

Carlos Berlocq vs. Maxime Authom - Berlocq is always entertaining

Lukasz Kubot vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Ivo Karlovic vs. Tim Smyczek - Ivo has lost some steam recently, but he is still a tough out.

Jie Zheng vs. Yuxuan Zhang

Bjorn Phau vs. Somdev Devvarman

Jurgen Melzer (26) vs. Mikhail Kukushkin - This is a 50-50 type match in my mind.

Camila Giorgi vs. Stephanie Foretz Gacon

Sorana Cirstea (27) vs. Coco Vandeweghe - Mild upset

Vesna Dolonts vs. Olivia Rogowska

Karin Knapp vs. Maria Joao Koehler

Nina Bratchikova vs. Kirsten Flipkens - Flipkens has some history of doing well in Oz.

Agnieszka Radwanska (4) vs. Bojana Bobusic - Radwanska is a contender.

Heather Watson vs. Alexandra Cadantu

Lucie Hradecka vs. Kiki Bertens

Guillaume Rufin vs. Julian Reister

Alize Cornet vs. Marina Erakovic

Ryan Harrison vs. Santiago Giraldo - This is not going to be a good event for men from the US.

Na Li (6) vs. Sesil Karatantcheva - Can she get back to her 2011 form?

Tobias Kamke vs. Flavio Cipolla - Another 50-50 match

Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu - Nole roles

Ekaterina Makarova (19) vs. Michelle Larcher de Brito - De Brito shrieks through.

Tomas Berdych (5) vs. Michael Russell - I’d love to see Russell pull this off, but Berdych is in the mix to go deep.

Kei Nishikori (16) vs. Victor Hanescu

Stanislas Wawrinka (15) vs. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe - Stan the man advances.

Arantxa Rus vs. Irina-Camelia Begu ???

Brian Baker vs. Alex Bogomolov Jr.

Kristyna Pliskova vs. Sacha Jones

Jelena Jankovic (22) vs. Johanna Larsson - Possible upset

Petra Martic vs. Misaki Doi

Samantha Stosur (9) vs. Kai-Chen Chang - 2011 US Open form has gone AWOL for Sam – possible upset

Julia Goerges (18) vs. Vera Dushevina

Julien Benneteau (32) vs. Grigor Dimitrov - Both men are dark horses for the second week.  It is a shame they meet in the first round.

Angelique Kerber (5) vs. Elina Svitolina

Feliciano Lopez vs. Arnau Brugues-Davi - Possible upset as FLO has not played all that well as of late.

Tsvetana Pironkova vs. Romina Oprandi

Mikhail Youzhny (23) vs. Matthew Ebden - I love Youzhny, but I think Ebden pulls the upset.

Olga Govortsova vs. Pauline Parmentier

Xavier Malisse vs. Pablo Andujar - Another 50-50 match

Tags: , , , , ,

Who Will Win the 2013 Women’s Australian Open? POLL

12 Jan

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 899 other followers