Wednesday 19 September 2012

Guangzhou & Seoul: Battle of the Carolines

Seoul:

Caroline Wozniacki vs. Caroline Garcia
Tamira Paszek vs. Lee So-Ra
Nadia Petrova vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Klara Zakopalova
Varvara Lepchenko vs. Anabel Medina Garrigues
Jamie Hampton vs. Ekaterina Makarova

Guangzhou:

Urszula Radwanska vs. Chanelle Scheepers
Alizé Cornet vs. Sorana Cirstea
Peng Shuai vs. Laura Robson
Hsieh Su-Wei vs. Mathilde Johansson

Caroline Wozniacki vs. Caroline Garcia


2 Carolines on tour will battle it out for the first time in this 2nd round match. Wozniacki seems to be back on track with her demolition of Rus; but will she be able to handle the talented Garcia? Garcia has been dubbed by many to be the future of tennis, but has so far failed to make an impression on the main draws. However, the French girl is slowly gaining experience and seemed to be picking up form again. It will be no secret how Garcia will play Wozniacki: blast her off the court. The younger Caroline needs to take the initiative and take away the Dane's time by timely ventures to the net. However, I am not fully convinced that Garcia has the mental toughness to finish the match.

Pick: Wozniacki in 3 sets

Nadia Petrova vs. María José Martínez Sánchez


Despite being at the twilight of her career, Nadia Petrova showed us that she is not done yet. In the US Open, she pushed Sharapova to the brink but was interrupted the rain delay. The Russian will take on defending champion, Martinez Sanchez. Interesting to note that Maria Jose won their only encounter in 2009 Rome, where she had a miraculous run to the title. Despite that, the Spaniard has only won 6 matches this year and that works heavily in Petrova's favour. Nadia just needs to be patient and wait for the right ball to attack.

Pick: Petrova in 2 sets

Alizé Cornet vs. Sorana Cirstea


Crazy ball basher Sorana will meet scrambler, Alize Cornet in this quarter-final. If there is a style which Sorana hates most, it will probably be Alize's game. Cornet gives high looping balls on her forehand which I'm sure Cirstea will be super tempted to kill it. The problem is she is going to miss 6 out of 10 times. Even when facing 2 local players in her first two round. Cirstea had a close set against eash of them. Shows how easy it is to read the Romanian's game. Anyway, I don't expect a good match from any match that has Cirstea in it.

Pick: Cornet in 2 sets

Peng Shuai vs. Laura Robson 


British starlet, Laura Robson, will take on another Chinese to reach her second semi-finals of her short career. Peng enjoys home crowd advantage, but I doubt that is going to bother Laura much. Game-wise, Laura does everything better than Peng, so I don't see any surprise in the results. Also, there is an injury cloud over Peng as her knee is not fully recovered. I'm afraid that the Chinese will be disappointed again.

Pick: Robson in 2 sets

Sure win bets: Tamira Pazsek, Ekaterina Makarova
Upset alert: Peng Shuai, Sorana Cirstea

No comments:

Post a Comment