by Karen
I don't know but the longer the Australian Open rolls along the more I tend to lose track of which day I am writing about. This morning I had no idea what day we were on or even what day it was in my own time zone. Thank goodness I did not have to go to work today.
Today's Day 9 sees the first of the ladies quarterfinal and this is from the bottom half of the draw. For all the dull matches leading up to this point, I have to say that the matches on paper are intriguing so it will be good to see how they play out.
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| Simona Halep |
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| Ekaterina Makarova |
First up is Simona Halep going up against Ekaterina Makarova. They have played one match against each other which was won by Halep in pretty convincing fashion in New Haven on a court similar to that of the Australian Open. Halep looked convincing in her match against Wickmayer against whom she had never won a set. Makarova on the other hand struggled mightily against Julia Georges despite the scoreline. To compound this, Makarova has her right upper leg heavily strapped, which could affect her movement. Look for Halep to make the semifinals of the Australian Open in convincing fashion.
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| Maria Sharapova |
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| Eugenie Bouchard |
The next match pits last year's semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard against 2008 champion, Maria Sharapova. The head to head is 3-0 in Sharapova's favour. Their last match at the 2014 French Open was one of the best matches of 2014. Sharapova had to bring out all of her fighting qualities to win that match. Almost a year later, Bouchard has improved but I doubt if she has improved enough to take out Sharapova. This will put Bouchard's return game up against Sharapova's. Both women will be looking to be aggressive and in this area of the game, Sharapova with the more lethal and powerful groundstrokes should come out on top. Bouchard however is on a mission to put her name on a Grand Slam trophy and so this will not be an easy match. Sharapova in 3.
1 comment:
Makarova is sure of getting at least 1 upset at a major. She has not yet knocked out a higher seed so I know Halep might be in trouble. When Makarova is in the swing of things, that lefty swing especially forehand down the line be looking more Nadalesque than anything else. I think it might be 3 sets. Halep has no real challenge thus far but herself.
Bouchie v Sharapova. I am not sure. Bouchard has been relatively clean throughout and Martha as always "messy" but you are right, in terms of firepower, Shriekapova got it. However, she has to hope she hits more than she misses. Bouchard would be looking to construct points to Shriekapova's disadvantage be the patient of the two. But Martha has won 3-0 so it might be a 4-0 in the end. But it will be a 3 setter unless one of them could out hot and the other flat.
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