WTA Estoril semi-final predictions

Kaia Kanepi

WTA Estoril

Day 4 round-up - Roberta Vinci and Kaia Kanepi both overcame tough opponents to set up an interesting semi-final encounter.  Vinci recovered from a 0-3 third set deficit against the wandering Nadia Petrova, meanwhile Kanepi beat Petra Cetkovska, 6-3 3-6 6-3.   Suarez Navarro won an all Spaniard quarter-final with Silvia Soler Espinosa and Karin Knapp backed up her win over Maria Kirilenko with another impressive win, this time against Galina Voskoboeva.

SF Predictions:

Kaia Kanepi to beat Roberta Vinci in 3 sets

Carla Suarez Navarro to beat Karin Knapp in 2 sets

WTA Budapest

Day 4 round-up - Sara Errani continued her sparkling run of form on the clay with a straight set win over Alberta Brianti.  She plays Anna Tatishvili who won a typically dramatic WTA match with Aleksandra Wozniak, 5-7 7-6 6-4.  Elena Vesnina kept her quest for a first title alive with an excellent win over Petra Martic and will play Marina Erakovic in the semi-finals.

SF Predictions:

Sara Errani to beat Anna Tatishvili in 2 sets

Elena Vesnina to beat Marina Erakovic in 3 sets

Juan Martin Del Potro

ATP Estoril

Day 4 round-up - Juan Martin Del Potro started his clay court season in sensational fashion with a 6-1 6-0 over Rui Machado.  Denis Istomin was the only seed to fall in today's action.

QF Predictions:

Juan Martin Del Potro to beat Albert Montanes in 2 tight sets

Stan Wawrinka to beat Robin Haase in 3 sets

Albert Ramos to beat Joao Sousa in 2 sets

Richard Gasquet to beat Daniel Munoz De La Nava in 2 sets

ATP Munich

Day 4 round-up - All three seeds (Feliciano Lopez, Bernard Tomic and Philipp Kohlschreiber) in action today progressed into the quarter-finals.

QF Predictions:

Tommy Haas to beat Marcos Baghdatis in 3 sets

Marin Cilic to beat Mikhail Youzhny in 3 sets

Philipp Kohlschreiber to beat Marinko Matosevic in 2 sets

Feliciano Lopez to beat Bernard Tomic in 2 sets

You can view all my original predictions by clicking on the links for each tournament above.

WTA Estoril quarter-final predictions

WTA Estoril QF:

Day 3 round-up: My tip for the title, Anabel Medina Garrigues wasted a match point in a second round loss to Silvia Soler Espinosa.  Maria Kirilenko threw away a 5-1 third set lead to Karin Knapp and was joined on the loser's bench by Zheng Jie and Polona Hercog.

QF Predictions:

Roberta Vinci to beat Nadia Petrova in 3 sets

Kaia Kanepi to beat Petra Cetkovska in 2 tight sets

Carla Suarez Navarro to beat Silvia Soler Espinosa in 3 sets

Galina Voskoboeva to beat Karin Knapp in 2 sets

WTA Budapest QF:

Day 3 round-up: Two seeds were knocked out with Ksenia Pervak and Klara Zakopalova both beaten in straight sets by inspired opponents.  Errani surprisingly lost a set on clay to Melinda Czink, as did Aleksandra Wozniak who won in the most baffling of scorelines, 6-7 6-0 6-0 against Alexandra Cadantu.

QF Predictions:

Sara Errani to beat Alberta Brianti in 2 sets

Aleksandra Wozniak to beat Anna Tatishvili in 2 sets

Barbara Zahlavova Strycova to beat Marina Erakovic in 3 sets

Petra Martic to bea Elena Vesnina in 2 tight sets

In the ATP tournaments, the biggest surprise came in Munich where Tommy Haas shocked the number one seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-1 6-4.  I predicted he would go out in the quarter-finals, but I am still see surprised to see the nature of this loss.

You can view all my original predictions for the tournaments in Estoril (WTA), Estoril (ATP), Budapest and Munich.

Most players are now flocking to the blue clay courts of Madrid.  The women's draw is released on Friday and will be followed by my preview for the tournament on Saturday!

Heather Watson beats Lucie Hradecka in Estoril

Heather Watson

The first round of the Estoril Open has wrapped up with all eight seeds progressing safely to the second round.  Kaia Kanepi produced the most impressive scoreline on day 2 as she defeated the promising American youngster Sloane Stephens, 6-1 6-0 in just 47 minutes.  Polona Hercog also scored a bagel in a one sided victory against the out-of-form Tamira Paszek, 6-3 6-0.  Anabel Medina Garrigues, Zheng Jie, Petra Cetkovska, Maria Kirilenko and Jarmila Gajdosova all progressed in straight sets.  Zheng won a surprisingly straightforward encounter with the in-form Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3 6-1, meanwhile Kirilenko was forced to save 4 set points in the first set to get past Elena Baltacha, 7-6 6-1.  

There was some joy for the Brits though as Heather Watson enjoyed an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over the dangerous, Lucie Hradecka.  This was her fourth win on the clay having come through qualifying and she will now play Petra Cetkovska in the second round.  Watson struggled for form in the early part of 2012, but two excellent wins over Sorana Cirstea and Lucie Safarova in Miami appear to have reignited her season.

Round-up from other tournaments:

WTA Budapest - Three seeds (Tsvetana Pironkova, Shahar Peer and Irina-Camelia Begu) have already departed the competition in Hungary along with the promising youngster, Timea Babos.

ATP Estoril - The top four seeds all received byes in the first round so the schedule so far has been dominated by Portugese players today.

ATP Munich - Nikolay Davydenko was the only seed to fall on day two as Marcos Baghdatis, Mikhail Youzhny and Ernests Gulbis all reached the second round.