The Ladies Draw - Wimbledon

by Savannah

I am not picking either Venus Williams or Serena Williams to win. This is a nice, tricky little draw and I have to give the AELTC props this year. This draw makes up for the Sharapova seeding thingie in my mind. Of course I could be totally wrong about all my predictions and probably will be.

Top Half

Dinara Safina RUS (1) v Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP
Nicole Vaidisova CZE v Rossana De Los Rios PAR
Elena Baltacha GBR v Alona Bondarenko UKR
Kirsten Flipkens BEL v Agnes Szavay HUN (30)

Amelie Mauresmo FRA (17) v Melinda Czink HUN
Katarina Srebotnik SLO v Aiko Nakamura JPN
Vania King USA v Mariya Koryttseva UKR
Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP v Flavia Pennetta ITA (15)

How Dinara does in the early rounds will depend on which Alona Bondarenko shows up. Agnes Szavay has had a pretty good Spring and should be well rested coming into SW19. Alona vs Agnes should be a barn burner with the winner facing Dinara who faces no one she shouldn’t be able to beat.

Amelie should get past Melinda Czink. That said Melinda stands a good chance of besting the French woman. Flavia should be Nuria Llagostera Vives with should being the operative word. Flavia has been showing shaky as of late. Regarding the other two matches it’s a toss up as far as I’m concerned. If it comes down to Flavia vs Amelie I’ll take Amelie if she’s made it that far.

Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9) v Kimiko Date Krumm JPN
Petra Kvitova CZE v Maria Kirilenko RUS
Alberta Brianti ITA v Tathiana Garbin ITA
Marta Domachowska POL v Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP (20)

Anna Chakvetadze RUS (32) v Sabine Lisicki GER
Patricia Mayr AUT v Anne Keothavong GBR
Pauline Parmentier FRA v Akgul Amanmuradova UZB
Akiko Morigami JPN v Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (5)

Quite the intriguing little section here. Caroline Wozniacki surprised me by staying in and winning Eastbourne. I know she’s trying to follow the Jelena Jankovic route to the top by playing as much as she can but that does catch up with you especially at a major. She should get past Kimiko Date Krumm but Maria Kirilenko may be a trickier opponent for her. It’s a toss up between Brianti and Garbin. It’ll depend on who wants it more and stays more consistent. Domachowska is a dark horse in this section. She can play herself into facing Caroline if things fall her way.

Anna Chakvetadze is the seed but Sabine Lisicki may get past her. I’d love for Anne Keothavong to get past Mayr but see their match as a toss up. Parmentier should be able to get past Akgul and would then face Svetlana. Going out on a limb here and I’ll say it’ll be Sabine vs Sveta in that section with Sveta facing the winner of the other section.

Venus Williams USA (3) v Stefanie Voegele SUI
Anastasija Sevastova LAT v Kateryna Bondarenko UKR
Ekaterina Makarova RUS v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE
Carla Suarez Navarro ESP v Kaia Kanepi EST (25)

Samantha Stosur AUS (18) v Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA
Jelena Dokic AUS v Tatjana Malek GER
Sara Errani ITA v Stephanie Dubois CAN
Lucie Hradecka CZE v Ana Ivanovic SRB (13)

Will Venus make it past the first round? She’s playing a relative unknown in Stefanie Voegele which is always a dangerous proposition for her. Pironkova anyone? If Venus gets past Voegele she should face K-Bond, again with the emphasis on should. I’ve never seen Ms Sevastova play. Makarova vs Strycova should be fun with Strycova pulling it out. After seeing Carla collapse in France I’m taking Kanepi over her.

I wish Bethanie had not gotten shafted here. Stosur, despite changing coaches just before the start of the tournament should beat her and face Jelena Dokic. Yes I’m picking Dokic to win a round. She won’t get past Stosur though who is on a mission. Errani vs Dubois should be the most competitive match of this section of the draw with the winner facing Ana Ivanovic who has a lot to prove here. In a Stosur vs Ivanovic match I’m going to pick Stosur. She’s going to want to steamroll the slumping Ivanovic. Stosur vs Venus would be epic.

Agnieszka Radwanska POL (11) v Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP
Alexa Glatch USA v Shuai Peng CHN
Olga Govortsova BLR v Tatiana Perebiynis UKR
Galina Voskoboeva KAZ v Na Li CHN (19)

Sybille Bammer AUT (29) v Melanie Oudin USA
Monica Niculescu ROU v Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ
Katie O'Brien GBR v Iveta Benesova CZE
Julia Goerges GER v Jelena Jankovic SRB (6)

I’m going for A-Rad against Miss “it didn’t hit my arm”. Peng Shuai vs Alexa Glatch will be quite the interesting match. Peng when she’s on is good. If she wins she has the potential to beat whoever wins the A-Rad match. Li Na should beat her first round opponent and face – Peng?

Jelena Jankovic has said she may take a break after Wimbledon. I'll believe it when I see it although getting past Iveta Benesova may challenge her. I don't see her beating Li but she has a chance if Peng wins that matchup.


BOTTOM HALF

Vera Zvonareva RUS (7) v Georgie Stoop GBR
Melanie South GBR v Mathilde Johansson FRA
Jill Craybas USA v Tsvetana Pironkova BUL
Tamira Paszek AUT v Virginie Razzano FRA (26)

Aleksandra Wozniak CAN (23) v Francesca Schiavone ITA
Michelle Larcher De Brito POR v Klara Zakopalova CZE
Timea Bacsinszky SUI v Vesna Manasieva RUS
Yung-Jan Chan TPE v Marion Bartoli FRA (12)

It’ll be Vera vs Razzano in that section and Wozniak vs Bartoli in the other. If Bartoli plays that is. I mean Marion was doing a mean imitation of someone with a quad injury on Friday. If Bartoli is out that section will be wide open for Wozniak to take. LdB may be able to scream all of them off the court but I think they’ll all be ready for her antics.

Dominika Cibulkova SVK (14) v Julie Coin FRA
Masa Zec Peskiric SLO v Urszula Radwanska POL
Yanina Wickmayer BEL v Elena Vesnina RUS
Vera Dushevina RUS v Alize Cornet FRA (22)

Alisa Kleybanova RUS (27) v Sesil Karatantcheva KAZ
Karolina Sprem CRO v Regina Kulikova RUS
Aravane Rezai FRA v Ayumi Morita JPN
Alla Kudryavtseva RUS v Elena Dementieva RUS (4)

It could be Domi vs Yanina. Or Domi vs either of the Russian women. Yanina just played a final and it’ll be interesting to see how she comes out here. U-Rad won’t get past Domi. Vesnina vs Dushevina is a toss up if Dushevina comes to play.

Rezai will get past Morita and face Elena Dementieva who will easily defeat her. Who Elena will play is a toss up.

Victoria Azarenka BLR (8) v Severine Bremond Beltrame FRA
Nathalie Dechy FRA v Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU
Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER v Sania Mirza IND
Edina Gallovits ROU v Sorana Cirstea ROU (28)

Maria Sharapova RUS (24) v Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR
Gisela Dulko ARG v Stephanie Foretz FRA
Maria Elena Camerin ITA v Shahar Peer ISR
Anastasiya Yakimova BLR v Nadia Petrova RUS (10)

Azarenka will probably face Anna-Lena. Sorana looked shaky during her last match. Whether that was on purpose or not is another story. Her match against Anna-Lena will be very interesting.

Sharapova will probably win her section of the draw unless Nadia decides that Maria is not superwoman and plays her without fear. I would love Nadia to win since a match between Sharapova and Azarenka will rid SW 19 of all life, human and animal.

Jie Zheng CHN (16) v Kristina Barrois GER
Daniela Hantuchova SVK v Laura Robson GBR
Tamarine Tanasugarn THA v Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP
Ai Sugiyama JPN v Patty Schnyder SUI (21)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (31) v Petra Cetkovska CZE
Roberta Vinci ITA v Magdalena Rybarikova SVK
Lucie Safarova CZE v Jarmila Groth AUS
Neuza Silva POR v Serena Williams USA (2)

What does it mean when you think Laura Robson has a good chance of beating Daniela Hantuchova? Zheng Jie has a nice little section there. I’d like to think Ai can beat Patty on grass but one never knows.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will get a fight from either Vinci or Rybarikova. Serena is playing a relative unknown, again a danger for a Williams. Assuming she makes it past Neuza Silva she will face either Safarova, who can give her a run for her money, or the relatively inexperienced Aussie Jarmila Groth. This is a tricky section of the draw for Serena and there is no guarantee she’ll make it out.