Three tournaments this week to keep an eye on and all British hope has been erased already in Osaka as both Laura Robson and Heather Watson went out early. I really hope both can turn it around in 2014, particularly Watson, who needs wins fast as she will fall out of the top 100 and will currently not gain direct entry for the Australian Open. Shanghai has been heavily rain affected this week because of a typhoon, which resulted in matches being player indoors. Let's take a look at tomorrow's best matches...
1. Vasek Pospisil v Gael Monfils (Shanghai, R2)
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| Vasek Pospisil |
Shanghai's schedule for Wednesday features a lot of matches that at least on paper look to be quite predictable. Therefore I have plumped for a less obvious match to preview between Gael Monfils and Vasek Pospisil, which is second up on Union Pay Court 3. Pospisil hadn't done a great deal since making the semi-finals of Montreal other than losing matches he should have won; however he changed that with a very big win over O2 contender, Richard Gasquet. He came through 6-3 6-4 in 69 convincing minutes and now plays Monfils, who won an equally one-sided first round contest against Tatsuma Ito, 6-3 6-2. Monfils has had a very stop-start kind of season, but shown good form in pulses throughout the year. An opening in the draw offers up a big chance for both, but I think it will be Monfils who snaps it up.
Prediction - Monfils to beat Pospisil in 3 sets
2. Sam Stosur v Belinda Bencic (Osaka, R2)
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| Sam Stosur |
The French Open and Wimbledon Juniors Champion, Belinda Bencic has already had a stunning week as she qualified for the Osaka main draw with two qualifying wins (including one via a shameful retirement by Anastasia Rodionova) and then took out Lauren Davis, 6-3 7-5 in her openinng round match. Bencic has made an extremely promising start on the WTA tour as she won her first ever main draw match against Daria Gavrilova in just her second tour level event in Tokyo and then pushed Petra Kvitova hard in a tight two setter. The Swiss youngster has already shown a lot of promise at such an early stage of her career and Sam Stosur will no doubt be tested. The Aussie came through against Johanna Larsson in the first round, 6-4 6-2 with a solid serving performance where she was not broken. I expect Bencic to put up a really admirable fight, but ultimately Stosur should come through.
Prediction - Stosur to beat Bencic in 2 tight sets
3. Ana Ivanovic v Francesca Schiavone (Linz, R2)
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| Francesca Schiavone |
Second round action begins in Linz tomorrow with Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone squaring off into an enticing match for the punters between past French Open champions. There have been rumours that Schaivone was going to hang up her tennis shoes this year, but after a dodgy first half to the season, she has secured some solid wins along the way and defeated Karolina Pliskova in the first round, 7-5 6-2. Ivanovic voiced her disapproval at the Linz draw drama, but she was comfortable in her opener against Yanina Wickmayer, 6-2 6-4. On the indoor courts of Linz and with a 4-0 head-to-head lead, the odds are heavily stacked in Ivanovic's favours to come through this one.
Prediction - Ivanovic to beat Schiavone in 2 tight sets
Best of the rest: ATP Shanghai 2nd Round Predictions
Juan Martin del Potro to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2 tight sets
Novak Djokovic to beat Marcel Granollers in 2 sets
Roger Federer to beat Andreas Seppi in 2 sets
Rafael Nadal to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat Pablo Andujar in 2 sets
Tomas Berdych to beat Feliciano Lopez in 2 tight sets
Stanislas Wawrinka to beat Kevin Anderson in 2 sets
David Ferrer to beat Lukas Rosol in 3 sets
Fabio Fognini to beat Tommy Robredo in 3 sets
Milos Raonic to beat Fernando Verdasco in 2 tight sets
Nicolas Almagro to beat Jeremy Chardy in 2 sets
John Isner to beat Carlos Berlocq in 2 sets
Tommy Haas to beat Daniel Brands in 2 tight sets
Florian Mayer to beat Benoit Paire in 3 sets
Best of the rest: WTA Osaka 2nd Round Predictions
Eugenie Bouchard to beat Luksika Kumkhum in 2 sets
Monica Puig to beat Kurumi Nara in 3 sets
Vania King to beat Barbara Zahlavova Strycova in 3 sets
Best of the rest: WTA Linz 2nd Round Predictions
Carla Suarez Navarro to beat Elina Svitolina in 3 sets
Camilla Giorgi to beat Kirsten Flipkens in 2 tight sets
I think games with Fognini and Paire are very difficult to predict ;-)
ReplyDeletePaire-if steady looks could kill he'd be the no 1 assassin for hire metphorically speaking. Fognini isn't that bad. If he goes down he'd rather do it dramatically. Usually he's the first to know or decide...just my 2 cents. I think its more important to try and judge from their own view of how their game is going. esp in the 1st set or 2. Yep difficult to predict before the match starts. Diffcult anyways. Against the very best players Fognini is usually at his best?
ReplyDeletenice prediction for sanghai
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