Saturday 23 February 2013

WTA Dubai, Memphis: Final Predictions

Petra Kvitova
Petra Kvitova v Sara Errani (Dubai, F)
The story of the week in Dubai has been the improvment of Petra Kvitova, who has taken full advantage of the withdrawals of Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.  She takes on Sara Errani in the final, who came through her semi-final against BFF, Roberta Vinci in straight sets. Errani is actually having a pretty good year and is still racking up the points for her ranking; it is not until the Spring when she will have to start defending all her points on the clay.  Kvitova leads the head-to-head 3-0 and this final promises to be little of a contest.  Kvitova has eased past Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki, and Errani is the ultimate counter-puncher producing little to no winners.  Congratulations Petra, it is great to see you back in winning form :-)

Prediction - Kvitova to beat Errani in 2 sets

Sabine Lisicki v Marina Erakovic (Memphis, F)
Sabine Lisicki has made her second consecutive final on the WTA tour as she recovered from deficits in both sets of her semi-final with Magdalena Rybarikova to win 7-5 7-5.  She takes on Marina Erakovic, who eased past Stephanie Voegele in straight sets.  Lisicki appears to be reaping the benefits of her new coach, Ricardo Sanchez, who certainly divides opinions, but gets the results.  I also like her scheduling this year, playing the lower ranked tournaments and building her confidence with wins, which I think is crucial to her progress.  Lisicki and Erakovic met in Pattaya a few weeks ago and Lisicki came through in 3 sets.  I predict another tight match, but Lisicki to grab her first title of 2013.

Prediction - Lisicki to beat Erakovic in 3 sets

ATP Marseille Predictions:
Tomas Berdych to beat Dmitry Tursunov in 2 sets
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat Gilles Simon in 3 sets

ATP Memphis Predictions:
Kei Nishikori to beat Marinko Matosevic in 2 tight sets
Denis Istomin to beat Feliciano Lopez in 2 sets

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