WTA Eastbourne Semifinals – Women’s Friday Preview

Marion Bartoli vs. Samantha Stosur

Bartoli and Stosur are in one another's way as they collide in the Eastbourne semifinals with a spot in the tournament's final on the line.

Marion Bartoli and Sam Stosur will meet for the fourth time in their careers on Friday as the two top ten players are scheduled to face one another in the semifinals of the 2011 AEGON International.

Stosur enters the match as the favorite, partly because she leads Bartoli on head-to-heads in their careers. The 2 players have met 3 times before with the Aussie taking down two of those matches although they have yet to meet on the grass court surface.

Their last match came from Stuttgart on clay with Stosur clearly outplaying the French player 6-2, 6-1. That match did take place at a time when Stosur was playing her best tennis as a little while after the Stuttgart event the Australian made her run to the 2010 French Open final. Both players are into the semifinals following upset victories as Stosur eliminated Vera Zvonereva in a tough three set match in Eastbourne. Bartoli was leading Victoria Azarenka in their quarterfinal match before the Belarussian retired from the contest.

Bartoli could be under-rated heading into this contest as her recent run to the Roland Garros semifinals implies that she is playing at a very high level of tennis right now. She's been among the best players for years now but, like most players, her form goes through peaks and valleys.

Petra Kvitova vs. Daniela Hantuchova

Petra Kvitova and Daniela Hantuchova will meet in an Eastbourne semifinal on Friday with the Czech star looking great to make the final.

Petra Kvitova, the player seeded 8th in the upcoming Wimbledon draw, is looking like a title threat at the AEGON International as the Wimbledon semifinalist from last season is once again on sharp form on the grass court surface.

The Czech Republic's top player, Kvitova will face Daniela Hantuchova in the semifinal at Eastbourne on Friday with a chance to make the tournament's championship match on the line.

The 2 players have met just once before but it was in a pretty recent match. Kvitova defeated Hantuchova back in Fed Cup Week 1 action this season, a match that took place on the hard court surface, with the line score ending at 6-4, 6-2.

Hantuchova enters the semifinal as a hot player but really her recent results, though strong, remain double edged. The Slovak defeated Caroline Wozniacki at the French Open and then fell in the next round to Svetlana Kuznetsova. One would have thought that a win over the world number one would have implied strong enough tennis to get passed Kuznetsova as well but that was not the case.

Last week in Birmingham something similar happened as Hantuchova made the final in Birmingham through Ana Ivanovic and then lost to the unseeded and 100th ranked Sabine Lisicki.

Kvitova is definitely the better player entering the match and she promises to advance to the final where she would face the winner between Marion Bartoli and Sam Stosur.