Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Eastbourne & Dan Bosch: Road gets tougher for Caroline

Dan Bosch:

Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Tsvetana Pironkova
Urszula Radwanska vs. Kirsten Flipkens
Garbine Muguruza vs. Dominika Cibulkova
Simona Halep vs. Lesia Tsurenko

Eastbourne:

Li Na vs. Elena Vesnina
Ekaterina Makarova vs. Caroline Wozniacki
Jamie Hampton vs. Lucie Safarova
Maria Kirilenko vs. Yanina Wickmayer

Match focus:

Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Tsvetana Pironkova


Carla Suarez Navarro is cruising past her first few matches on grass. Seems like she is getting to terms with the surface switch. However, her road to the title is facing an obstacle in the form of Tsvetana Pironkova. There's something about the green surface that brings out the best in the Bulgarian. Does the Spaniard have enough guile to beat the grass specialist? Carla needs to deploy her cunning slice to disrupt Tsvetana's rhythm. If she can do that, she stands a great chance of winning.

Pick: Suarez Navarro in 3 sets

Ekaterina Makarova vs. Caroline Wozniacki


Caroline Wozniacki defies all odds and reaches the quarter-finals here. Well, she has Laura Robson and Tamira Pazsek to thank as they both gifted the match to her. Robson should be careful as she's fast becoming a flash in the pan, unable to back it up when it mattered. Anyway, Caroline will face Makarova, who won this title a few years ago defeating top players easily. She will not show mercy to the Dane as she's very accustomed to the surface. So far, I've been jinxing for opponents, so maybe this time Caroline might win again?

Pick: Wozniacki in 3 sets

Jamie Hampton vs. Lucie Safarova



All the way from qualifying, Jamie looks to complete her fairytale run to the title. Lucie is not a good grass court player at all, so it's a surprise that she's in the quarter-finals. There's just something about Stosur's game that fits right into Lucie's hitting zone. Anyway, Jamie needs to junk things up to rile Lucie up. Safarova likes a high ball to strike. So if Jamie uses her deep backhand slice to great effect, Lucie will hit herself out of the court. I'm sure the American is tired, but I believe she can do it.

Pick: Hampton in 2 sets

Sure win bets: Simona Halep, Li Na, Maria Kirilenko
Upset alert: Dominka Cibulkova, Kirsten Flipkens, Lucie Safarova

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