Preview of US Open women’s quarterfinal matches, Serena still on top

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Wilson Blade 9

Dear readers, Florian Meier from OnlineTennisInstruction.com is back to preview the US Open quarterfinals. One of his and actually the world’s biggest favorites Maria Sharapova was eliminated early, but Serena Williams is still doing strong. Let’s see what Florian’s predictions look like now.

US Open quarterfinals preview: Serena still the tournament favorite

We are now at the quarterfinals stage of the tournament and Serena looks almost unbeatable to me at this point (join our poll to vote who has the best chance of shaking Serena’s dominance this US Open). Let’s have a closer look at the upcoming quarterfinal match-ups.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI versus ANDREA PETKOVIC

Wozniacki has had a really good draw so far in this tournament and to me she was not all that convincing in her victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova. I am not sure how strong her form actually is. She was down 4-1 in the second set against Kuznetsova who is also not in her best form at the moment.

Andrea Petkovic looked convincing in her last two matches but she has not faced any really strong players so far in this tournament. Petkovic is also playing with an injured knee but it seems to be holding up fine so far in the tournament. Wozniacki and Petkovic are 1-1 in their career matches. Petkovic won this year on a hard court in Miami and Wozniacki won on an indoor clay court in Stuttgart.
In order to beat Wozniacki you have to be able to get by her with some firepower and be patient enough to work the point a few times. I believe Petkovic has these capabilities. Andrea is fired up like I have never seen her before and I think she is also mentally ready to beat someone like Wozniacki in a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Assuming that Petkovic’s knee holds up, I pick her as my favorite in a very close match.


SERENA WILLIAMS versus ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHEKOVA

Pavlyuchenkova is a former junior world number 1 and she is getting better and better recently. Her game can be dangerous and she beat two strong players, Jelena Jankovic and Francesca Schiavone, in the last two rounds.

Serena has only been tested for one set in this tournament, which was against Victoria Azarenka. Other than that she has been cruising and to me she looks almost unbeatable at this point. It seems like she is in that kind of form where she always has another gear ready if she needs it.

I believe Serena is too strong and will win this match and most likely go on to win the tournament.

ANGELIQUE KERBER versus FLAVIA PENNETTA

Pennetta was not very successful in the US Open series but seems to be getting better and better in this tournament. She beat Maria Sharapova in a tough three setter and in the last round she had a straight sets win over 13th seed Shaui Peng.

Angelique Kerber from Germany is a surprise quarterfinalist. She will play her first Grand Slam quarterfinal match against Pennetta and before the tournament she was ranked number 92 in the world. Kerber is a lefty that hits a pretty flat ball from the baseline, well-suited to the US Open court surface.

Kerber is certainly in good form and dangerous on this court surface. Nevertheless, I think Pennetta will be too strong in this Grand Slam quarterfinal match.

SAMANTHA STOSUR versus VERA ZVONAREVA

Stosur leads the head-to-head in this match-up by 7-2. I think she has had great success against Zvonareva by hitting balls with a lot of spin that bounce high and get outside of Zvonareva’s comfort zone. Zvonareva prefers to play a flatter game where the balls are fast and relatively low.

One thing to keep in mind is that Zvonareva showed some impressive form in her straight sets win over Sabine Lisicki in the last round and Stosur has had two tough three setters in the previous two rounds. Also the ball does not bounce very high at the US Open, which is the main reason I think Zvonareva plays so well at this tournament.

This is another really close match but I pick Vera Zvonareva to win this one with good chances to go on the finals afterwards.

So much for my quarterfinal picks. Hopefully we get to see some great matches and let me know what you guys think in the comments section.

Florian Meier is a professional tennis instructor from Germany. He specializes in improving players through the use of Tennis Video Instruction. He wants to reach tennis players from all over the world with his website Online Tennis Instruction. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

11 COMMENTS

  1. You know this guy isn’t going to pick Carolyn even if Andrea has to use crutches to play the match. Out of his 7 original picks, three were already eliminated. Petkovic is my favorite player remaining in the tournament, but I must pick Carolyn. From what I have seen on the practice courts – Wozniacki, Petkovic and Zvonareva work hardest and longest. They didn’t make the quaters by accident.

  2. Jacob, I was about to say the same thing 😛

    Serena just looks like she is in unstoppable form… and she still is only going to better. Her serve is only going to get better. Her ground strokes are only going to get better. I said on a previous thread that only Stosur could challenge her (and that’s is she was playing Serena in the QF or SF) in a slam final Stosur wont have the mental ability.

    I also agree with your QF tips, and I think Serena will beat Vera in the final.

  3. You’re all wrong! Caro will win US open this year. Here is why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_o3Ok1RdDU

    She is showing her confidence and this is what she does when she is invincible. Take a look at the kangaroo story at AUO (almost invincible there, just one point…). She didn’t do any joke at FO or WO.

    Let’s see on Saturday – well, taking into account the weather, next week is probably a better estimate!

  4. Georgie, at Wimbledon (R4 loss) she tried to be funny during Novak’s presser by pretending to be from the french press…she once again failed to amuse like she failed to do so this time as well.

  5. Yes, I meant Caroline, sorry.
    Brenda, Serena is obviosly the favorite now that Maria has been eliminated, but the poll shows that over twice as many fans think she can be beat. My comment had nothing to do with Serena. It was about a quarter final match – I’m picking Wozniacki over Petkovic even though Andrea is my favorite player of the 8 players remaining in the draw.

  6. Mathematically, one could randomly pick winners out of four chances and be right 2 times. Florian – you only had 1(Serena Williams)out of 4 correct in your picks for the quarters. Random did better. You can’t let your dislike of a player, Wozniacki, to cloud your judgement. Stick to analysis of a player’s game and whatever you do – never bet on your picks!

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