Saturday, June 20, 2009

Wimbledon: Women's Preview


Seeded second and third, previous Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Venus Williams are on opposite side of the draws setting up for a potential championship fight. Between the two of them they have 7 Wimbledon titles.

Defending champion Venus is in the same side of the draw as first seed Dinara Safina who is still on her quest for her maiden Slam title after losing in the finals at this year's first two Slam tournaments, one of them to Serena. Safina's grass-court history leaves much to be desired, but if she makes a deep run she could face Agnes Szavay in the third round and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth. Looming in the quarterfinals so Safina is a rematch of the French Open final with eventual winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Venus seems to have an easier route with surprise French Open semifinalist Samantha Stosur or ailing French Open champion Ana Ivanovic to meet her in the fourth round. Then it will be 6th seed Jelena Jankovic, Agnieska Radwanska, or Na Li in the quarters.

Serena in the meantime also has a relatively easy route through the early rounds. In the fourth round, she could meet Jie Zheng or Patty Schnyder or unseeded players Ai Sugiyama and Daniela Hantuchova. The quarterfinals should bring quality players such as Victoria Azarenka, Nadia Petrova, and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova. Sharapova is still recovering from a shoulder injry that put her out of the our for 10 months. She made a strong run at the French and was able to move up from her sub-100 ranking to now being seeded here.

The other quarter belongs to 4th seed Elena Dementieva in which she is slated to play Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals. Before that can happen, both will have to get through players such as Vera Zvonareva, French Open semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova, and Alize Cornet.

Semifinals:
Venus Williams d. Svetlana Kuznetsova
Serena Williams d. Vera Zvonareva

Finals:
Venus Williams d. Serena Williams

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading. Feel free to drop me a line. Instead of being Anonymous though, pick a name. Any name would do. Thanks again!