Madrid Open – Women’s Sunday Unfolded

Here’s a preview of some of the interesting women’s matches lined up at the Madrid Open for today.

Monica Niculescu v/s Caroline Wozniacki

They have never met on clay, their H2H otherwise is 7-0 in favor of Caroline.  Caroline has been doing reasonably well this year and won 7 of her last 10 matches and should be able to win this too.

Winner:  Wozniacki in 2

Sharapova v/s Lucic-Baroni

These two have played only once in the past and the advantage there went to Sharapova who beat Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-0 at the Roland Garros back in 2011.  Marijana has been playing well this year and has reached her best WTA ranking in nearly 20 years after her strong performance at the AO.  However, Sharapova, who is known for doing whatever it takes to win, has a point to prove by winning this whole tournament and she will be tough to beat.

Winner:  Sharapova in 2

Halep v/s Kristyna Pliskova

These two have yet to play against each other, and their first meeting should be an interesting one of contrasting styles with Kristyna playing to finish while Simona running around to extend points.  This one is a tough one to call as Kristyna is just coming off a Finals showing at Prague where she lost in three hard fought sets to Mona Barthel whereas Simona had a strong semi-final showing at the Stuttgart Open and lost to the eventual winner 6-4, 7-5.

Halep was the winner here in the Caja Majica last year and her experience should allow her to eke out a win against Kristyna too.

Winner:  Halep in 3

Angelique Kerber v/s Timea Babos

Kerber goes into this match with an H2H advantage of 4-0.  Their last meeting was at the 2016 Miami Open where it went all the way into 3 sets in favor of Kerber.  Their only clay encounter on the hallowed grounds of the Roland Garros was a lopsided result of 6-0, 6-1 in favor of Kerber.

Winner:  Kerber in 2

Garbine Muguruza v/s Timea Bacsinszky

On paper their H2H is 3-0 in favor of Garbine with Garbine beating Timea on hard, grass and clay, however Timea is a quality player and having reached the semi-finals at the Roland Garros in 2015 qualifies her as a strong clay court player; whereas Garbine won the French Open last year and would like to have a strong showing at this tournament as a build up for the ultimate clay prize yet again this year.

This match is a tough one to call but Timea is probably due for a win against Garbine this time around and should score that elsusive win against Garbine here.

Winner:  Bacsinszky in 3

Carla Suarez Navarro v/s Shuai Peng

They have played thrice with a 2-1 H2H in favor of Peng.  Their last meeting however was in 2008.  This is another difficult to call match where anything can happen.  Navarro is a slightly better clay court player with two quarter-final performances at the French Open to her credit and should be able to win this one.

Winner:  Navarro in 3

Dominika Cibulkova v/s Jelena Jankovic

Jelena leads their H2H with a 3-2 advantage but four of those five meeting have been prior to 2010 and the last one in 2015 was won by Dominika on the hard courts of Beijing.  Jelena has lost in first rounds of the last two clay court tournaments that she has played this year and Dominka has yet to play on clay in 2017.  Jelena’s poor form should help Dominika win this one in 2 sets.

Winner:  Cibulkova in 2

Yarolslava Shvedova v/s Svetlana Kuznetsova

Shvedova lost to Kuznetsova in their only meeting on the clay of Roland Garros last year and based on their recent performances there is no reason why Svetlana should not win this one too.

Winner:  Kuznetsova in 3

Ana Konjuh v/s Kristina Mladenovic

Ana has won both her hard court meetings against Kristina with the most recent one at the Australian Open this year.  However Kristina has improved significantly since then and is coming off a final round showing and a win over Sharapova at Stuttgart last week and should win this one against a quality opponent.

Winner:  Mladenovic in 3

Johanna Larson v/s Francesca Schiavone

Schiavone has not only won both her matches on clay against Johanna but also won 9 out of her last ten matches played on clay this year and there is little reason to believe that she will not win this one too.

Winner:  Schiavone in 2

Barbora Strycova v/s Lucie Safarova

These two hard hitting Czhecs share a 2-2 H2H between them but the clay advantage this year so far goes to Barbara for reaching semi finals in Prague and winning 4 out of 7 matches played on clay.

Winner:  Strycova in 3

Catherine Bellis v/s Daria Gavrilova

This should be an interesting match as both these players seem to be doing well on clay this year.  Bellis has beaten Timea Bacsinszky and won 2 of her 3 clay matches so far whereas Daria has won 3 of her 5 on clay with a quarter finals showing in Marrakech this year.

Winner:  Gavrilova in 3

Anett Kontaveit v/s Coco Vandeweghe

Coco has won 3 of 4 and Anett 6 of 8 on clay this year.  Anett also has some impressive wins over Garbime Muguruza and Ana Konjuh.  The advantage with a slim margin therefore goes to Anett.

Winner:  Kontaveit in 3