WTA Wimbledon – Women’s Monday Preview

Caroline Wozniacki vs. Dominika Cibulkova

In an exciting pre-quarterfinal duel of the 2011 Wimbledon, top-seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark will take on World No. 24 Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

Top seeded Caroline Wozniacki takes on Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Championships at Wimbledon, season's third Grand Slam event being played here at the All England lawn tennis Club in London, England.

The Dane has been enjoying a tremendous form in this season, as she has already won 5 WTA titles in 2011 but a Grand Slam trophy is still eluding her. She reached the semi-final of the Aussie Open earlier this year, where she lost to Na Li. After that the Dane looked unstoppable, as she won three titles in Dubai, Indian Wells and Charleston. Wozniacki did really well on clay, as she finished as semi-finalist at Rome and claimed her 16th WTA title in Brussels. Well, her progress was halted by Hantuchova at Roland Garros, as Wozniacki lost in the third-round. Earlier this month, Wozniacki delighted her home fans by winning the Copenhagen title. Wozniacki’s best showing at Wimbledon is fourth round appearances in 2009 and 2010.

Wozniacki made a brilliant start to her 2011 Wimbledon campaign by beating the Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja in straight sets with a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline and then eased past Virginie Razzano and Jarmila Gajdosova to reach here.

The Slovakian has a delivered some consistent performances, but she is still chasing her maiden WTA title. Cibulkova produced some good results – early on in this season, as she reached the third round at Aussie Open and played in the fourth round at Indian Wells, but could not continue with the same form due to recurring injuries.

Both players have met eight times before and Wozniacki leads 6-2 in head to head record. Last time they met at Australian Open this year where Wozniacki won 6-4, 6-3.

Maria Sharapova vs. Shuai Peng

World No.6 Maria Sharapova takes on Shuai Peng from China for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Championships at Wimbledon, season's second Grand Slam event being played here at the All England lawn tennis Club in London, England.

Winner of three Grand slam titles, Maria Sharapova shot to super stardom right here at Wimbledon seven years ago when she claimed her maiden Grand Slam title as a 17 year old. She also claimed the WTA championships with a win over Serena Williams in the final again and claimed the WTA player of the year award as a result. The years that followed witnessed consistent performance from the Russian who claimed two more majors in New York (2006) and Melbourne (2008) before suffering an injury that changed the course of her career. After a 9 month layoff, Sharapova returned only to deal with a series of disappointing losses that eventually ended with a big triumph in Rome this year. Sharapova also made it to the semifinals of Roland Garros, her best Grand Slam performance since winning the 2008 Australian Open. Sharapova faced some struggle in her second round match against Laura Robson, but came out a winner in straight sets and then ousted Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-3 to advance into the pre-quarterfinals.

Her opponent Suai Peng is currently ranked 20 in world. She reached semi-final at Auckland this year and then followed it with a semi-final at Hobart. The Chinese then reached the quarterfinal at Pattaya City, a quarterfinal spot at Indian Wells and a semi-final entrance at Charleston. At Copenhagen she lost in final against World no 1 Caroline Wozniacki and before Wimbledon lost in semis at Birmingham to Sabine Lisicki.

Both players have met 3 times before and Sharapova leads 2-1 in head to head record. Last time they at Indian Wells this year, where Sharapova won in 3 sets 6-2,5-7, 6-3.

Serena Williams vs. Marion Bartoli

Four time champion Serena Williams takes on Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli for a place in the quarter-finals of the 2011 Championships at Wimbledon, season's second Grand Slam event being played here at the All England lawn tennis club in London, England.

Four time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams made an emotional return to the centre court at SW19 when she defeated Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in three gruelling sets.

"It definitely hit me at the end of the match. I'm not a cryer, so I don't know. I think it was something in my eyes at one point. It was so emotional for me because throughout the last 12 months I've been through a lot of things that aren't normal, things you guys don't even know about. It has just been a long, arduous road. To stand up still is pretty awesome", said Serena in her’s own words.

Serena is a fighter and has proved it on many occasions when adverse situations tried to get the better of her. After securing come-from-behind victories in the opening rounds over two tricky opponents - Aravane Rezai and Simona Halep, Serena has signalled her return to form with a straight set victory over Russian Maria Kirilenko in third round.

Her opponent Marion Bartoli has been in smashing form this year with final performances at Indian Wells and at Strasbourg. She sizzled on French clay as she reached the semi-final at Roland Garros and was stopped only with the 2 time French Open Champion, Francesca Schiavone. Prior to Wimbledon, Bartoli also claimed her first title of the 2011 season with a final win at Birmingham against Czech Petra Kvitova.

Both players have met 2 times before and Serena has won on each occasion. Last time they met at U.S Open'2007 where Serena won 6-3, 6-4.

Venus Williams vs. Tsvetana Pironkova

Former World No.1 Venus Williams takes on Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Championships at Wimbledon, season's third Grand Slam event being played here at the All England lawn tennis Club in London, England.

Venus Williams is one of the most unpredictable players ever to grace the sport. If she can lose four major finals at a stretch, she also has the ability to win Wimbledon singles titles as 23rd seed, lowest in the history. Venus' stellar performance at the All England lawn tennis Club has produced five title winning runs. The American last won the title at SW19 in 2008 by beating younger sister Serena. With three contrasting wins in the previous rounds, Venus has somehow gotten into the groove.

Venus' opponent, Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova beat Williams in the quarterfinals of the 2010 edition and caused a major stir. However, at this year's championships, she duly avenged her loss to the woman who handed her defeat in the semifinals last year - Vera Zvonareva. Despite such high profile wins, Pironkova has never won a WTA singles title and she is currently ranked No.33 in the world.

Both players have contested three matches before and Pironkova has a surprising 2-1 lead. The Bulgarian won both of pair's previous meetings in Australia (2006) and Wimbledon (2010).

Even though Tsvetana Pironkova manages to bring her best on the green lawns of Wimbledon, inconsistent results from the rest of the tournaments make her less likely to overcome the Venus hurdle. The American, on the other hand, is hungry to avenge her loss and was in ruthless form against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the previous round.

Petra Kvitova vs. Yanina Wickmayer

Petra Kvitova is progressing with confidence as she has been beaming with a precision filled game. She will be facing young Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer from Belgium in the fourth round of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships.

Petra Kvitova is ranked at number 8 in the world. On the other hand Yanina Wickmayer is ranked within the top 20 at 19 among the WTA rankings.

Kvitova has won a few titles and has managed to snatch a few well fought victories at each of the Grand Slams. She had an amazing stint at Eastbourne as she reached the final and lost to Marion Bartoli. She defeated Roberta Vinci in the previous round to set up an encounter against Wickmayer in the pre-quarters. She will be expecting to win a few more victories over the top ten at this year’s Championships.

Wickmayer has been electrifying this year with quarterfinal and semi-final performances all over the place. Her best performances include a semi-final spot at Indian Wells and her recent display of top form includes a tough loss in the quarterfinal to eventual winner Vinci at Hertogenbosch. She got past 12th seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets in the previous round. She will try to enter the quarterfinals of the Championships this year.

Both the players have met 3 times before and this is the head-to-head stands at 3-3. The last time they met was this year at Fed Cup where Kvitova won in three tough sets. Kvitova can angle her left handed forehands and can corner serves with confidence. Wickmayer can come up with aggressive backhands and can club them well with timely volleys.

 

Victoria Azarenka vs. Nadia Petrova

Both Victoria Azarenka and Nadia Petrova contested their last match right here on grass in the same round with the Belarusian emerging victorious in three sets.

World No.4 Victoria Azarenka takes on Russian Nadia Petrova for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Championships at Wimbledon, season's third Grand Slam event being played here at the All England lawn tennis Club in London, England.

With every round passing, Belarusian star Victoria Azarenka has proved her billing at this year's draw, particularly with her confident win over in-form Daniela Hantuchova in the previous round. Azarenka is enjoying her most successful season with titles in Miami and Marbella and a final finish in Madrid, coupled with pre-quarters and quarterfinal finishes in Australian and French Open respectively. With a career high No.4 ranking, Azarenka has emerged as a real time contender at SW19.

Azarenka's opponent, Russian Nadia Petrova is currently ranked No.37 in the world and has 9 WTA singles titles to her name. Known for her image of a giant killer, the ever-inconsistent, power serving Nadia Petrova's best Grand Slam performance came in 2003 and 2005 at the French Open with a semifinal finish. Her best Wimbledon run is a quarterfinal appearance in 2005 and 2008 editions of the Championships.

Both players have contested four matches before and the head-to-head is tied at 2-2. In the pair's previous meeting, which happened right here at Wimbledon, Azarenka scored a tough 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3 win.

Both players have the capability to dominate the play from the back of the court, however inconsistent forehand has always been Petrova's biggest weakness, which will definitely be a plus for Azarenka, particularly in long rallies which are expected in this encounter.

---