It has been incredibly hard to get up the fight to do a picks and results thread today. Seeing Venus losing so miserably against Sharapova made my blood boil. I was even angrier at the post match celebration of Sharapova. As someone said, clearly she mistook beating Venus for beating Serena. Onwards.
Of the 8 matches played yesterday, Spin had a win rate of 75%. Bartoli served to stay in the match in the third set but got broken and Zheng, channelling her inner Stosur, served for the match at 5-4, got broken and would not win another game, losing 7-5 in the third.
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PLAYER A
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PLAYER B
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SPIN’S PICKS
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RESULTS
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Na Li
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Sorana Cirstea
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Na Li – too much
firepower from Li. Cirstea, if she plays well and cuts down on the UFEs could
take a set, but I doubt it
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Li
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Julia Georges
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Jie Zheng
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Giant killer Zheng up
against one of the most inconsistent players on Tour. I take Zheng in 3.
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Georges
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Ana Ivanovic
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Jelena Jankovic
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Battle of the
Serbians. If this is not a pick em I
don’t know what is. Neither player is
consistent. Both ladies have struggled
during this tournie. I am going with
Ivanovic, if only because she will have more crowd support
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Ivanovic
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Heather Watson
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Agnieszka Radwanska
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Radwanska – the 4th
seed will have too much tricks in her arsenal to be swayed by Watson, who is
coming off a brutal 3 setter
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Radwanska
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Angelique Kerber
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Madison Keys
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Kerber – this is
where the journey ends for the young American. While she has served and played well
through her opening rounds, Kerber’s get the next ball back will prove to be
too much for her to handle.
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Kerber
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Ekaterina Makarova
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Marion Bartoli
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This should be a very
fun match to watch, if only to see Bartoli jumping around during Makarova’s
serve. Bartoli in straights
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Makarova
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Valeria Savinykh
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Kirsten Flipkens
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Flipkens – if only
because Savinykh has to face reality.
She has played a lot of matches this AO, having qualified into the
main draw. The journey ends here.
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Flipkens
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Venus Williams
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Maria Sharapova
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While this blog
will sentimentally pick Williams to win this one, on form alone, I think
Sharapova will win this one. The
Russian is on a no games lost win streak for 2013, but look for Williams to
at least win a game each set.
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Sharapova
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Today’s picks are below. Have fun
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PLAYER A
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PLAYER B
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SPIN’S PICKS
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RESULTS
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Victoria Azarenka
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Jamie Hampton
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Azarenka – the World’s No. 1 will be too
consistent for the youngster
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Elena Vesnina
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Roberta Vinci
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Vesnina – I believe the euphoria of
winning her first title will end here as the Italian veteran will work over
Vesnina to frustration
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Caroline Wozniacki
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Lesia Tsurenko
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Wozniacki – a pick em if I ever saw
one. Is Wozniacki on her way back or
is she just reaping the fruits of her lucky escape from Lisicki?
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Svetlana Kuznetsova
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Carla Suarez Navarro
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Navarro – Navarro will frustrate
Kuznetsova into errors if Sveta cannot find a way to hit through her
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Serena Williams
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Ayumi Morita
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Williams – a red flag has been
raised. Unless Williams has done
something new to herself on her day off, I see this one being a beatdown
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Yanina Wickmayer
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Maria Kirilenko
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Kirilenko – the consistent Kirilenko will
frustrate Wickmayer. The 2 have never played before, which I find surprising.
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Kimiko Date-Krumm
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Bojana Jovanovski
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Krumm – the veteran will give the
youngster all she can handle.
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Sloane Stephens
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Laura Robson
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The battle of the young ones. The 2 played a reasonably good match in
Hobart with Stephens coming in straight sets.
Whether Robson has recovered from her long 3 set match against Kvitova
will play a role. Stephens has sailed
through her first 2 rounds here. Look
for Stephens to continue her march to
the second week
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