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Showing posts with label Halep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halep. Show all posts

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Wimbledon 2019 Women's Champion



Simona Halep defeated Serena Williams in under one hour by following the script Serena has written for herself in three recent majors finals. Halep played a great match on offense and defense but the key was to let Serena make the errors.

Wimbledon 2019 Women's Predictions for the Finals


"I've been waiting for this moment for all my life" but not with the negative undertone of Phil Collins's song. This moment has eluded Serena Williams' for over two years, ever since she went on maternity leave. Since then she's lost two major championship finals. She's always the favorite even when playing someone the caliber of Simona Halep.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Wimbledon 2019 Women's Predictions for the Semifinals


Everyone gets nervous. We saw a bit of that in the last round for these four players who have qualified to play in the Semifinals. Whereas Serena's nervousness came in the second set after winning the first, the other three players got off to slow first sets before overcoming being down a break to win the first set. All three won in two sets while Serena won in three sets.

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

Wimbledon 2019 Women's Predictions for the Quarterfinals


Continuing with the theme of Expected and Surprise, an applicable song would be Deborah Cox's "Nobody's supposed to be here". Some these players could not possibly be on anyone's bracket, except for family, friends and countrywomen.

The players breakdown:

  • 4 players were not seeded.
  • 1 seeded in the Top 32
  • 1 seeded in the Top 16
  • 2 seeded in the Top 8


Sunday, October 23, 2016

WTA Finals 2016 Singapore



Since the US Open ended six weeks ago, WTA players have been on the “Asian Swing”, the Road to Singapore. These six weeks of tournaments make up the end of their ten-month season and lead to the WTA Finals Singapore.

Unlike other WTA tournaments, Singapore is not single-elimination, but a round-robin for two groups of four Singles players. Each player plays three matches, and the top two players in each group face off against the other group in two semi-final matches and an eventual championship match.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

WTA US OPEN 2016 Finals Wrap-up

Angelique Kerber captured the world #1 ranking on her way to her second grand slam title and first US OPEN championship. She did it while only dropping one set in seven matches. That lone set loss came in the Finals against Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Serena Williams in the Semifinals. Pliskova had beaten Kerber the previous week to win the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Sunday, September 04, 2016

My WTA US OPEN 2016 - Finals Pick, BRACKET FOUR



BRACKET FOUR

7 R. Vinci – Roberta plays the role of crafty veteran so well. She knows most players want to stand behind the baseline and hit away. I had Vinci losing to Christina McHale because Vinci has played a lot of tennis this past year. In recent outings, it seemed fatigue might have gotten to her. The amount of play has paid off because she has won enough to boost her points to keep her into the Top 10 in the rankings. This, in turn, has helped her avoid a seeded player this far into the tournament.

My WTA US OPEN 2016 - Finals Pick, BRACKET ONE


Another major tournament and again the biggest disappointment is Garbine Muguruza, who lost in the second round. We are not being unfair to Muguruza. Ponder the numbers: 7 of the top 8 seeds made it to the Round of 16, and 4 of the next 8 seeds made it

That is not to say my bracket is not busted. IT IS!!!  I ended up with a 7 of 16 correct picks for a 43.75% output. Names in red were not my original selection, so I most likely will not pick them to go too far but I will give credit where it is due.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

My WTA US OPEN 2016 - 4th Round Picks, Bracket One



Bracket
Player
Player
Player
Player
ONE
1 S. Williams
16 S. Stosur
19 E. Vesnina
5 S. Halep





1 S.Williams tough first rounder versus E. Makarova and a star-filled potential third rounder against 29 A. Ivanovic

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

WTA Wimbledon 2016 Finals Wrap-up



http://cdn-s3.si.com/styles/si_tile_image/s3/images/serena-wins-wimbledon-trophy-lead.jpg?itok=MutDCr58
When it comes to Tennis, picking the favorite to win a grand slam title is easy. I had Serena winning Wimbledon 2016, yet I was one match away from picking her opponent. Angelique Kerber solidified her Top 2 ranking. She, Garbine Muguruza and Victoria Azarenka are three bona fide opponents who will stand in Serena’s way as she tries to reach the ultimate record of 25 women’s grand slam singles titles.

Monday, July 04, 2016

My WTA Wimbledon 2016 Finals Pick



http://b.smimg.net/15/28/640x480/coco-vandeweghe.jpg
The biggest disappointment was Garbine Muguruza losing in the second round. She lost early in the Mallorca Open but that could be seen as the hangover from her winning the French Open. What she learned in this Wimbledon is that other players see her as their potential “biggest” victory and are bringing their best.



A quick look at the numbers: 5 of the top 8 seeds made it to the Round of 16; only 3 of the next 8 seeds made it. That is where we get the two additional surprises, in addition to the two upsets I picked. Funny enough, the two slots did produce upstarts, just not the ones I picked.  I ended up with a 56% output of picks correctly selected. 

Monday, June 27, 2016

My WTA Wimbledon 2016 - 4th Round Picks



1 S.Williams v. H. Watson, if Heather Watson progresses after facing a tough 1st Round match-up against Annika Beck and potential 2nd Round against 31 Kristina Mladenovic.



13 S. Kuznetsova v. 18 S. Stephens, if Svetlana Kuznetsova gets by Caroline Wozniacki. It's hard to pick Sloane in this potential match-up, not knowing whether she'll be tuned in.


27 C. Vandeweghe has been playing well and this a great opportunity for her. On the other side of the ledger, Alison Riske or 6 Roberta Vinci are the potential opponents.
  

Sunday, May 29, 2016

My WTA French Open 2016 Finals Pick

I was expecting some surprises and upsets to reach this Round of 16 and compete for the second week of the WTA 2016 French Open. Unfortunately, my upsets did not pan out, leaving me with a 50% output of picks correctly selected. 

Names in red were not my original selection, so I most likely will not pick them to go too far but I will give credit where it is due.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/bulgarias-tsvetana-pironkova-reacts-after-winning-her-womens-third-picture-  id534704704





Bracket
Player
Player
Player
Player
ONE
1 S. Williams
18. E. Svitolina
12. C. Suarez Navarro
Y. Putintseva
TWO
K. Bertens
15 M. Keys
9. V. Williams
8 T. Bacsinszky
THREE
25 I. Begu
S. Rogers
13 S. Kuznetsova
4 G. Muguruza
FOUR
6. S. Halep
21. S. Stosur
T. Pironkova
2 A. Radwanska

PICKS