Notable Day 7 completed matches
#1 Caroline Wozniacki defeats Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-4
#9 Li Na defeats #8 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-3
#30 Andrea Petkovic defeats #14 Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-3
#6 Francesca Schiavone defeats #23 Zvetlana Kutznetsova 6-4, 1-6, 16-14
Notable Day 8 scheduled matches and predictions
#3 Kim Clijsters vs. Ekaterina Makarova
Prediction: Clijsters in 3 sets
#22 Flavia Pennetta vs. #25 Petra Kvitova
Prediction: Kvitova in 3 sets
#2 Vera Zvonareva vs. Iveta Benesova
Prediction: Zvonareva in 2 sets
#12 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Shuai Peng
Prediction: Radwanska in 3 sets
Thoughts: A bunch of great matches on Day 8, and I think that a red-hot Makarova will take Kim Clijsters to 3 sets, but will ultimately fall short. I’m interested to see how the Flavia Pennetta-Petra Kvitova match turns out. I predicted a slight upset, but that one could go either way, as both players are coming off of victories over top-10 seeded players, Shahar Peer, and Samantha Stosur respectably. Now, as the second week of the Australian Open begins, I fully expect to see many more 3 set matches, and the record-breaking Francesca Schiavone-Zvetlana Kutznetsova match is a huge indicator of that. Of course, I might be wrong, but to quote Charles Barkley, “I maybe wrong, but I doubt it.”
Match to watch:
Pennetta-Kvitova and Makarova-Clijsters
