Monday 14 February 2011

Tennis ATP & WTA Week 7 (14/02/11)

This week at the Open 13 we could potentially see Tsonga Vs Soderling again in the final, though I highly doubt it. However I honestly don't see anybody in his half of the draw that could make a substantial threat, unless Llodra, Melzer or Ljubicic make an inspired performance. I would like to see Grigor Dmitrov do well though. Tsonga's half of the draw is much more dangerous though with second seed Tomas Berdych leading the pack. Mikhail Youzhny and Ernests Gulbis finish off the seeds to make a fearsome foursome - ooh! Huge unseeded threats come in the form of Marin Cilic, Gilles Simon and Nikolay Davydenko and then you have Ilya Marchenko, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Philipp Petzschner and Arnaud Clement making this bottom section of the draw a landmine filled section.

At the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships we'll see Andy Roddick in the field. Amongst early threats are Janko Tipsaveric and Lleyton Hewitt. However the most interesting first round match must be the titanic battle between John Isner and Juan Martin Del Potro *Isner is 6''9' whilst Del Potro is 6''6'. Whilst Isner isn't at his peak at the moment beating him will still be a good victory for Del Potro's recovery into the elite of men's tennis. Sam Querrey is the defending champion though a 0-3 record this year says his chances of defending are slim. Fellow American Mardy Fish could be an early opponent. Another interesting match will be Verdasco Vs Raonic, yes they are both in the final at the SAP Open this week, consecutive matches, what will happen?

Almagro will continue into this week as the No.1 seed but this time at the Copa Claro tournament. If Roddick didn't intervene we may have seen the same No.1 seeds as last week! Competing for the title are David Nalbandian and Juan Monaco - leading the home charge, as well as Stanislas Wawrinka and Alexandr Dolgopolov - both in good form, with Robredo, Chela and Montanes finishing the Top 8, then you have the usual suspects for a tournament in South America. It's definitely difficult to predict who will win.

On the women's side I am absolutely amazed how they could schedule three tournaments in when one of them is the Dubai Duty Free Championships, it's obvious that most of the top players will go to Dubai. That's why Barbara Zahlavova Strycova and Julia Goerges lead the field in the other two tournaments!

Leading the tournament will be Wozniacki as Clijsters takes a well earned rest. Already in her first match she'll potentially have to contend with Pattaya Open Champion (last week) Daniela Hantuchova. Then she might have GDF Suez Champion (last week) Petra Kvitova in her next match. If she survives that she might have Australian Open finalist and Medibank Champion Na Li to play! Woah Wozniacki has a hell of a lot to do! However let's not forget Yanina Wickmayer is also lurking in this draw.

Samantha Stosur has a much easier route if she is to make the SFs. Sara Errani will probably be her toughest opponent as both Jie Zheng and Ana Ivanovic are not in form. However her QF match might be tougher. With Kaia Kanepi a possible opponent, of course you have Jankovic as well but she is just up and down lately - actually mostly down. Andrea Petkovic and Maria Kirilenko are silent threats.

On the other side we have Francesca Schiavone and Agnieszka Radwanska lead section 3. Other than those 2 only Bartoli or Kuznetsova look to be potential SFs. Outside threats could be Kimiko Date Krumm or Yaroslava Shvedova.

Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva lead the last section. Azarenka could face either of the in form duo of Shuai Peng or Bethanie Mattek Sands in her first match with Flavia Pennetta a potential second opponent. Whilst Zvonareva has Cibulkova, Kleybanova and Pavlyuchenkova to contend with.

At the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships we see some very low rankers as obviously most of the players are at Dubai. We see Michaella Krajicek in the draw! I haven't seen her in a main draw for a while. Anne Keothavong and Heather Watson lead the British charge in what could be a great tournament for the Brits. I think if I was to place a bet I'd consider Sofia Arvidsson for this title, though saying that the No.1 seed, Strycova, could benefit from this draw.

Goerges should be very happy with her draw as I personally think it is an even weaker field than the Regions Morgan Keegan. It is on clay though so the Spaniards will be ones to look out for.

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