Wimbledon Week 1

I've been a lazy blogger this month so I decided to make it up with this post. In general I've done quite well predicting the Week 2 contenders, though I expected (and wanted) more shocks I think the current draw looks interesting. Out of the current 16 on the men's the only guy I wouldn't have predicted was Dudi Sela, but he's got Djokovic next! The women's draw has been somewhat less predictable. Anyway lets start with the mens.

Currently the Third Round hasn't finished yet with Murray against Troicki at centre court and Gonzalez Vs. Ferrero. I cannot imagine Murray losing to Troicki; especially since he's currently leading 6-2,4-2. However Gonzalez Vs. Ferrero is less predictable; currently one set each.
Anyway back to the analysis! The first quarter was doomed to be forgotten since Nadal withdrew, even though it boasts some great grass court names in its ranks e.g. Hewitt, Roddick, Berdych and contenders like Davydenko and Stepanek.

The top seed in this draw was Del Potro, but I always knew he was going to lose early, he may be the 5th seed but he might as well be seeded 15th on grass. I knew Hewitt was going to be too strong for him and considering Nadal's withdrawal Hewitt must have had an extra lease of life as his chances of making the semis grew fivefold. Tursunov was an unexpected loser in the first round; Ok he retired but he was down 6-4,6-2,3-0! But Mischa Zverev, his conqueror, was trampled over by fellow German Philipp Petzschner. Somewhat shocking was that Roddick took 4 sets to dispatch of his French opponent Jeremy Chardy, which converted into English means 'He has even less of a chance of winning'.

All in all 4 players retired in this part of the draw (first round), which sparks the question as to why they competed in the first place!

Going into Round 2 Lleyton hewitt did beat Del Potro but the media made it sound like an utter shock - which it was not! Besides that Round 2 (for the first quarter) went smoothly. Finally Round 3 (in other words Round 32) dawned upon the first quarter. Hewitt continued to go through, in straight sets actually. Whilst a minor shock was that Berdych dispatched of Davydenko so easily (well I guess Davydenko isn't that great on grass anyway). Roddick continued his affair with 4 set matches, which does not bode well going into a match with Berdych and then possibly Hewitt.

Overall the 4 from this draw were expected, no shock in my opinion. It's going to be tough for them to be cut to two. I'm putting my money on a Hewitt Vs. Roddick Quarterfinal. I believe Hewitt has more in him whilst I think Roddick will just about beat Berdych but then run out of steam against Hewitt; just my prediction. But I must say Berdych looks in fantastic form, I wouldn't be shocked if that continued.

The second quarter hasn't been completed but currently I don't think theres been any major shocks in this section, except for Marat Safin losing in the first round.
Murray was a bit sloppy at the start, with the promise of some of the best young players in the following rounds he really needed to step up his game. However Murray had an easy draw (in general), if he failed here I'd doubt whether he was capable of winning a grand slam in the next year. Mikhail Youzhny sadly lost to Ferrero in straight sets whilst Kiefer, who was given the 33rd seed, was beaten easily by Santoro. Hanescu Vs. Navarro was probably the closest match in this section whilst Thiago Alves and Andrei Pavel's match was weird (I didn't watch it but) the scoreline was 6-3,2-6,6-1,2-6,6-1!

Similarly with the 1st quarter the 2nd round for the 2nd quarter went smoothly also. Stanislas Wawrinka and Gilles Simon have already made it to the Fourth Round, joining them will probably be Murray, whilst Gonzalez Vs. Ferrero still looks difficult to predict. But it shouldn't matter anyway as Gilles Simon is most likely going to be Murray's Quarterfinal opponent, whilst Murray is most likely going to win.

The third quarter was another easy draw in my opinion. One of my friends thought Djokovic would go out early but with such a weak draw I doubt that would happen. James Blake was the first casualty of this section but I didn't expect much from him anyway. Tommy Haas or Marin Cilic were my bets to be in the Quaters against Djokovic. Whilst Joshua Goodall thought hard against Michael Llodra (who in the next round crashed into a ballgirl and retired later on). All in all there hasn't been many shocks in the third quarter, Rainer Shuettler losing to Dudi Sela was probably the biggest (half of you probably don't even know who they are!) My prediction is Tommy Haas Vs. Novak Djokovic. Tommy Haas should have enough time to rest with the Sunday off, Igor Andreev will be a difficult opponent but by all mean defeatable.

Though I wouldn't like to admit it the fourth quarter probably had the most difficult of draws. Fernando Verdasco may not be the best grass court player but was probably the most difficult out of the 5-8 seeds. Juan Monaco Vs. Nicolas Almagro was probably the most interesting match in this sections 1st round matches, sadly Monaco lost to Almagro. Out of the 4 left the shock for me was probably Tsonga losing to Karlovic. Karlovic is a great grass court player but his recent form hasn't been great. Besides that Verdasco, Soderling and of course Federer were all predictable. I think out of all the 4th Round matches Karlovic Vs. Verdasco will probably be the most difficult to predict (right or wrong).

So My Predictions
Hewitt Vs. Stepanek (Hewitt 4 sets)
Berdych Vs. Roddick (Roddick 5 sets)
Murray Vs. Wawrinka (Murray 3 sets)
Gonzalez Vs. Simon (Simon 4 sets) therefore I'm predicting Gonzalez to beat Ferrero.
Andreev Vs. Haas (Haas 5 sets)
Sela Vs. Djokovic (Djokovic 3 sets)
Verdasco Vs. Karlovic (Karlovic 4 sets)
Soderling Vs. Federer (Federer 3 sets)

Now onto the women's draw.
Dinara Safina is still looking for her first Grand Slam but I doubt Wimbledon will be the one, her best chance is probably Roland Garros next year. Sadly Nicole Vaidisova lost in the first round, which sparked the RIP Vaidisova post. I'm getting extremely agitated for her as we all know she's capable of better but has sadly fallen drastically out of form - I hope she's able to return before she turns 21. Elena Baltacha was also part of this draw, she became the only British player on the womens draw to make the 2nd round, she actually had quite a difficult opponent but she played well enough. Mauresmo was always the question mark in this draw for me. Personally I didn't think Dinara would make it further than the quarterfinals so Amelie the perfect chance to make it through. Of course I wanted Flavia to win but that wasn't likely. Svetlana Kuznetsova the next top seed therefore had the best chance to win through (however as we all know that isn't possible anymore). Anne Keothavong in my opinion was the biggest dissapointment for Britain, she is by far capable of beating Patricia Mayr but instead she lost in straight sets. I don't really want to dwell on it though as I think Britain puts too much pressure on British players at Wimbledon.

Sabine Lisicki and Kirsten Flipkens were probably the two players I didn't expect to make it through to the 3rd round by the latter has managed to make it past the fourth, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova (the player I thought had the best chance to make it to the semis). Flavia on the other hand eventually lost to Amelie whilst besides Sabine I expected the other 3 to make the Fourth Round. This means Safina Vs. Mauresmo and Wozniacki Vs. Lisicki. I think Wozniacki will get to the quarters whilst I'm leaning towards Amelie for the other spot.

Besides Melanie Oudin's performance there hasn't been many shocks in the 2nd quarter. Katie O'Brien did Britain proud by pushing Benesova to 3 sets. Venus as always is plowing through Wimbledon whilst the others can only pray they don't lost in two easy sets! In actual fact I wasn't too sure on Venus beforehand, she's defined herself as the favourite but I personally wouldn't put my money on her winning. She is the favourite but not strong enough a favourite for me to put money on her. She does have a difficult draw though, with Ivanovic and possibly Radwanska next for her. I always knew Jankovic wasn't going to make the 2nd week, though I found it difficult to imagine that anyone besides Radwanska would beat her I had a gut feeling that Jankovic was going to be one of the big names out in Week 1. This leaves Radwanska against Oudin. Though Oudin is a tough player I doubt she's tough enough to go through Jankovic and then Radwanska. I wonder who out of Radwanska/Azarenka/Wozniacki (as I like to group them)
will make it furthest? I personally like Azarenka more than the other two, but I like all 3 anyway. I think Venus Vs. Radwanska would be a great match.

Dementieva's draw was probably the easiest, unlike the other draws Elena didn't have a difficult teen or any lurking dark horses, I thought Dementieva could have been one of the big names to go out early but with such a weak draw it would be career suicide for Dementieva to lose here. That is why I chose Aleksandra Wozniack and Alisa Kleybanova as the two who may provide the shocks but both have failed me! Out of all the sections I was least interested in the Zvonareva/Bartoli section; even though there was two British players. I was shocked that Marion Bartoli provided our first Wimbledon Double Bagle - that wasn't something I wanted to see.

Urszula Radwanska made it through to Round 2 also, I'd love if the both sisters made it to the Top 10 together. Alisa Kleybanova was probably the biggest shock for me as she lost to Regina Kulikova - someone who I've heard 3 times at most. Vera's withdrawal made this draw even weaker whilst Bartoli's loss definitely made me relax. If Dementieva doesn't win in this section it would be the biggest shock for me.

Now we go onto the 4th draw, possibly the most interesting of draws. Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams were the two top seeds but lurking beneath was Maria Sharapova and of course Jie Zheng who made the finals last year. I was also predicting Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to do well for herself, but neither of the three made it to the third round! In fact it was Daniela Hantuchova and Gisela Dulko who made themselves a name - isn't it weird that 3 of the prettiest women in the WTA draw are in the same section. Laura Robson's debut wasn't the smoothest but I never expected her to beat Daniela Hantuchova. Tamarine Tanasugarn's loss was probably the biggest upset for me in this section's first round. Victoria Azarenka (If I'm wrong please correct me) provided the second double bagle of the championships - I think it's quite rare to have two double bagles in any tournament. Whilst the 2nd round was pivotal for this section. Besides Azarenka and Serena sailing through, Dulko beat Sharapova in 3 sets, Hantuchova looked like she was back on track and Pavlyuchenkova lost to Roberta Vinci (had to add that in!)

However Gisela Dulko lost to Petrova in the third round, whilst Petrova will probably lose to Azarenka in the 4th. Hantuchova has played well but I can't see her beating Serena Williams.

My predictions...
Safina Vs. Mauresmo (A tough call, 3 set match, leaning towards Mauresmo)
Wozniacki Vs. Lisicki (Svetlana didn't play well so I'm expecting Wozniacki to overwhelm Lisicki in two easy sets)
Venus Vs. Ivanovic (Venus winning in 2 sets)
Radwanska Vs. Oudin (Possibly 3 sets but I can't see Radwanska losing)
Razzano Vs. Schiavone (the two who are always back! Maybe Schiavone will prevail in 3)
Vesnina Vs. Dementieva (Dementieva is actually playing well; 2 sets)
Azarenka Vs. Petrova (Possibly 3 sets with Azarenka the victor)
Hantuchova Vs. Serena (A good time for Hantuchova to bow out in style, two tough sets with Serena winning)