WTA Istanbul - Baltacha shocks Schiavone

Elena Baltacha pulled of one of the biggest wins of her career by knocking out French Open champion and number 1 seed, Francesca Schiavone in Istanbul. Overall, its been a fantastic year for Baltacha who picked up her first win earlier this year over a top 10 player when she defeated Na Li at Indian Wells. This comfortable 6-4 6-2 win over Schiavone was her third victory over a top 10 player . Since winning the French Open, Schiavone has won only one match and it must be argued whether Schiavone still has the motivation to compete after winning an unlikely first grand slam. Baltacha will now play Andrea Petkovic in the next round.

This week has also seen a resurgence by Elena Vesnina who had previously lost her last six matches. Straight set wins against Jovanovski and Voegele have put her in a great position to go far in this tournament on what is her best surface. She will be a big threat and i predict she will go on to reach the final. Sorana Cirstea has also had a good week knocking out the talented Johanna Larsson. Cirstea has spent the last few weeks in Las Vegas including a practice with her idol Steffi Graf, which appears to have given her a big boost this week. She will now face off against Pavlyuchenkova in what should be an enticing QF clash and one i think Cirstea could edge.

Petra Kvitova was once again knocked out in the 1st round and has been unable to back up her impressive SF performance at Wimbledon. Kvitova definitely has talent to succeed however it looks like consistency may her downfall. Jarka Groth will battle it out with defending champion, Vera Dushevina for a place in the SF in the final quarter. Groth has been one of the form players on tour with 4R showings at both the French Open and Wimbledon. I expect her to continue this form and knock out the defending champion.

WTA Stanford - Ivanovic in, Safina out

The first round saw some interesting results most noticeably with Ana Ivanovic pulling off a comfortable victory over nemesis Alisa Kleybanova. Ivanovic has struggled for form over the past 18 months but a good victory here has set her up a 2R clash with Marion Bartoli, which looks to be a winnable match on paper with a 3-0 head to head record. Currently sitting at number 63 in the ranking, Ivanovic will look to improve this ranking over the next month which shouldn't be too much of a challenge as she is defending very few points from last year. Dinara Safina had a disappointing comeback as she was once again beaten in 3 sets by Kimiko Date Krumm and failed to hold any of her service games in the final set as she lost 6-4 6-7 2-6. Safina has struggled this year with a back injury however mentally she has looked extremely fragile with continuing problems with her serve. It is hard to see Dinara getting back to the top of her game unless she can mentally strengthen her game.

We also saw two superb fightbacks from both Shahar Peer and Melanie Oudin in their 1st round matches. Peer managed to overcome a first set bagel to defeat Daniela Hanutchova, 0-6 6-4 6-3. Peer has had an excellent year and has been consistently beating strong opposition with Svetlana Kuznetsova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Na Li to name a few. She will look to secure another QF appearance for this year when she takes on Maria Kirilenko later today. Melanie Oudin also produced a stunning comeback on Monday night to defeat Aleksandra Wozniak after coming back from 7-6 5-1 down (and a MP) to pull off a sensational 6-7 7-5 6-3 victory. Oudin has struggled to build on her QF appearance at the US Open however no one can deny her fighting spirit which remains one of her greatest attributes. In the next round later today, she will play Victoria Azarenka who looked on top form in R1 against Ayumi Morita.

Maria Sharapova will also play today after producing a solid performance in the 1st round to overcome Jie Zheng, 6-4 7-5. She will look to confirm a QF match with Elena Dementieva who was successful in her comeback from injury by defeating Kimiko Date Krumm in 3 sets. I think it was good for her to be pushed to 3 sets to get some match experience under her belt. I do not expect her to beat Sharapova in the QF if Sharapova does win tonight, however i anticipate that with some good results over the next month, she will be a contender for the US Open.

ATP Los Angeles preview

Andy Murray is the first of the Big 4 to return to action this week in Los Angeles along with the likes of Sam Querrey and Marcos Baghdatis.

Quarter 1 - Murray (1) v Gulbis (5)
Murray receives a bye into R2 and will then face Gabashvilli or a Qualifier so I expect Murray to reach the QF without too many problems. Gulbis returns from injury this week however I predict he will face some opposition from Lukas Lacko.
Prediction = Murray v Lacko

Quarter 2 - Lopez (4) v Fish (8)
Lopez receives a bye into the R2 where he will likely face Xavier Malisse who has hit a rich vein form of recently. Mardy Fish based on his recent form should overcome the likes of James Blake and Leonardo Mayer to reach the QF.
Prediction = Malisse v Fish

Quarter 3 - Tipsarevic (6) v Baghdatis (3)
Tipsarevic has struggled of recent however he is likely to meet a qualifier if he progresses to R2 so will go for Tipsy to reach the QF. Marcos Baghdatis should be his opponent.
Prediction = Tipsarevic v Baghdatis

Quarter 4 - Zeballos (7) v Querrey (2)
Zeballos zoomed up the rankings last year but has struggled in recent months for consistency. I'm predicting for Robby Ginepri to have a run to the QF in LA. Sam Querrey is a talented player but is often prone to an upset in the early rounds of tournaments. Kevin Anderson performed well at Atlanta and i'll go for him to do well again.
Prediction = Ginepri v Anderson

I'm predicting Murray will come of form and halt Mardy Fish's sensational form of recent weeks to play surprise finalist in Kevin Anderson with Andy Murray winning in the final.