WTA Katowice Semi-Final Predictions: Vinci-Beck and Kvitova-Cadantu

1. Roberta Vinci v Annika Beck

Roberta Vinci

For the second time this week, Roberta Vinci made mincemeat of my predictions as she produced an excellent display to crush Karolina Pliskova in the quarter-finals, 6-1 6-0.  Vinci faces another up-and-comer in the semi-finals, Annika Beck.  Beck produced a very impressive fightback from 1-5 down in the first set to win 11 of the next 12 games for a 7-6(1) 6-0 win over Maria Elena Camerin.  Beck has struggled for form in recent months, but she has flourished this week in progressing to her first WTA tour semi-final.  This will be a first match-up between the pair; having gone against Vinci in the last two matches, I don't think I will predicting against her again! Vinci has already shown her class to defeat two of the younger players on tour and her varied game is likely to be too much for Beck.

Prediction - Vinci to beat Beck in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

2. Petra Kvitova v Alexandra Cadantu

Petra Kvitova played her best match of the week with a 6-3 6-2 win over Petra Martic in the quarter-finals.  Kvitova was not broken once and looked in decent form as she wrapped up her third win of the week for the loss of no sets.  Her opponent in the semi-finals will be Alexandra Cadantu who edged past Shahar Peer in a characteristic slugfest that began with five straight breaks of serve, 5-7 6-3 6-3.  Cadantu was on a rough run of form having lost all her matches on hard court this year; however she did make the quarter-finals in Bogota on clay and now finds herself in the semi-finals in Katowice.  It has certainly been a battling week from the out-of-form Romanian and wins over Sabine Lisicki and Irina-Camelia Begu were both extremely respectable.  However, I would be stunned if Cadantu can offer any resistance against Kvitova.

Prediction - Kvitova to beat Cadantu in 2 easy sets