The second Tuesday at the Wimbledon Championships is all about the women with all four quarter-final matches taking place.
Only one out of the eight players will be making their debut in a grand slam quarter-final, 28-year-old Elena Vesnina. The group features three grand slam champions and four top-10 players. The outcome of Tuesday’s matches could also result in another milestone for the most famous sisters in sport, Serena and Venus Williams. It could be the first time that they have both reached the last four at a major tournament since the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, when Serena defeated Venus in the final.
Serena Williams Vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Defending champion Serena will play her 12th Wimbledon quarter-final against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. On route to the last eight, Serena has produced a common trend in her matches with a sluggish start followed by a convincing finish. Facing Svetlana Kuznetsova yesterday, the world No.1 was poor and erratic during the first set before producing a sublime performance in the second.
On the other hand, 21st seed Pavlyuchenkova progressed to her first grand slam quarter-final since the 2011 US Open with a less dramatic straight sets wins over seeded players Timea Bacsinszky and Coco Vandeweghe.
Serena’s record against the Russian is spotless with her winning all five of their previous encounters. The last time she lost a set to Pavlyuchenkova was in their first meeting at the 2010 French Open. With power on Serena’s side, it is likely that she will extend her winning streak to six. Pavlyuchenkova is a tough player for anybody to play, however, the biggest threat to Serena will be herself with her at-times inconsistent play.
Venus Williams Vs Yaroslava Shvedova
The oldest woman in the ladies draw, Venus Williams, faces doubles specialist Yaroslava Shvedova. The 36-year-old had endured a tough route to the second week of the tournament. In two of her matches, Venus was taken to three sets by Maria Sakkari and Daria Kasatkina. Then in the fourth round, she recovered from 3-5 down in the first set to see off Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets.
Shedova’s surprise run to the last eight received a massive boost with the loss of Garbine Muguruza in her section. After dashing the hopes of Elina Svitolina and Sabine Lisicki, she booked a showdown with Williams following a 6-2, 6-4, win over 28th seed Lucie Safarova.
This encounter promises to be closer than some might expect. Venus might be ranked 88 placed higher than the Kazakh, however, Shvedova is no pushover on the grass and has the game to trouble Williams. There is also a question of how Venus’ fitness level is holing up after three consecutive long matches. Venus does have the edge, but a three-set encounter will be highly likely.
Dominika Cibulkova Vs Elena Vesnina
Dominika Cibulkova won over the Wimbledon crowd on Monday with her epic triumph over Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round. The former Australian Open finalist required over three hours to see off the Polish player 6-3, 5-7, 9-7. She will without a double be both the match and crowd favourite going into her match against world No.50 Elena Vesnina.
Vesnina has enjoyed a generous draw in her run to her maiden major quarter-final. In her first three matches she defeated two qualifiers (Tamira Paszek and Julia Boserup) as well as 32nd seed Andrea Petkovic. Like Cibulkova, Vesnina also had to ensure a thrilling fourth round encounter. Facing Fed Cup teammate Elena Makarova, she battled past 5-7, 6-1, 9-7.
Their current head-to-head of 3-3 is a misleading figure with five of those matches occurring before 2011. During their most recent meeting at the 2015 Moscow Open, the Slovakian won the match in straight sets. It is expected that a repeat of the Moscow meeting will happen again at Wimbledon with Cibulkova being the clear favourite to progress to the last four.
Simona Halep Vs Angelique Kerber
Simona Halep against Angelique Kerber promises to be one of the best matches of the day. On one side there is world No.5 Halep, who has only dropped one set on her way to the last eight. Halep, who withdrew from her Wimbledon warm up tournament due an Achilles injury, battled past an error-stricken Madison Keys in the fourth round, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. On the other side is Australian Open champion Kerber, a player who has only dropped a total of 20 games in her first four matches. The world No.4 strolled to the last eight with wins over Laura Robson, Carina Witthoft, Varvara Lepchenko and Misaki Doi.
Halep currently leads the head-to-head 3-1, however, Kerber won their most recent match at this year’s Fed Cup tie. The Wimbledon encounter should be very different to their clash earlier this year with a surge in Halep’s form compared to the start of the year. This match promises to be full of long rallies and roller coaster moments. As for the potential winner, that is a prediction that is too close to call. If both women are able to play at their best, the match could be one of the best of the entire tournament.
Out of the four matches, this is the more anticipated.
Order of play
CENTRE COURT 1pm start
S HALEP (Rom, 5) v A KERBER (Ger, 4)
S WILLIAMS (US, 1) v A PAVLYUCHENKOVA (Rus, 21)
R Stepanek & N ZIMONJIC (Ser/Cz, 14) v B BRYAN & M BRYAN (US, 2)
NO.1 COURT 1pm start
V WILLIAMS (US, 8) v Y Shvedova (Kaz)
D CIBULKOVA (Svk, 19) v E Vesnina (Rus)
P-H HERBERT & N MAHUT (Fr, 1) v S Groth & R Lindstedt (Aus/Swe)
