Warsaw QFs: RG Round-of-16 preview?

Every player left in this tournament would be seeded at RG.

14 Kuznetsova. vs 16 Farina Elia
03 Mauresmo... vs 22 Schiavone
11 Zvonareva.. vs 20 Smashnova-Pistolesi
13 V Williams. vs 24 Maleeva

These would be round-of-16, or QF matchups. Certainly worth paying attention, if only to find out who Kim, Serena and Justine have to worry about.

14 Kuznetsova. vs 16 Farina Elia

Despite the rankings, I think SFE has the edge here. SFE has won three tournaments. All on clay. (All Strasbourg, actually.) Kuznetsova has one two, at least one of which was hard courts. There is a 13 year disparity in age here, so heat could be a factor.
03 Mauresmo... vs 22 Schiavone

Every sign says Mauresmo. Schiavone's best hope to push Mauresmo hard and hope she cracks. Won't happen. Not enough paparazzi around.
11 Zvonareva.. vs 20 Smashnova-Pistolesi

This isn't Hantuchova. Zvonareva won't spray 63 UEs. I don't think AnnaSmash has enough offense.
13 V Williams. vs 24 Maleeva

H2H favors.... Maleeva! They've play five times. Venus won all the hard court matches. Maggie won all the matches on carpet. Venus won all the outdoors. Maggie won all the indoors. I have a theory that players who excel indoors on carpet are also players who are adversely affected by the elements. In other words, wind and sun favor Venus.

Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi and Magdalena Maleeva, ALWAYS choke in the majors...they won't make it that far, despite their obvious talent. And I don't see Kuznetsova getting that far either, she never seems to get the best draws.

the indoors vs. outdoors theory falls short when you look at iva majoli. her two best surfaces were clay and carpet. but then again, iva is just plain wierd...

expect venus, momo, vera, and silvia (or sveta) to advance...

These are good match-ups! This tournament has been able to get pretty good matches out of the draw! Any of these SF & F matches will be exciting!

Anna Smash can get enough back to frustrate Vera though

Anna Smash can get enough back to frustrate Vera though
Not on clay. On clay Vera has time so she can hit it into the corners all day long. I think Vera will annihilate Anya, 6:2, 6:2 or something similar.

Not on clay. On clay Vera has time so she can hit it into the corners all day long. I think Vera will annihilate Anya, 6:2, 6:2 or something similar.
And I thought it was going to be different :o The time may help Anna to get MORE balls back. Of course the match is in Vera's hands...and I don't think Vera has struggled with Anna since the 0-6 7-5 6-2 melt down (or whatever it was). Who has the H2H?

Not on clay. On clay Vera has time so she can hit it into the corners all day long. I think Vera will annihilate Anya, 6:2, 6:2 or something similar.

Yeah right :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: , there matches have almost all went to 3 sets and now she's gonna beat her easily on CLAY!!! :rolleyes:

Those meetings were ages ago.. Venus will sweep Maleeva off the court.

And I thought it was going to be different :o The time may help Anna to get MORE balls back.
With modern rackets red clay is the least favourable surface for retrievers. Red clay does not award quickness. Consistent hitters don't really care if you make them hit one more ball. They have time on clay. Meaning, they won't miss. Think Hewitt. Think Coetzer.



Of course the match is in Vera's hands...and I don't think Vera has struggled with Anna since the 0-6 7-5 6-2 melt down (or whatever it was). Who has the H2H?
Vera leads 2:1. Winning last two. And every next match gets a bit easier for her than the previous one. On red clay it will be no contest. A player with no offense on clay has no chance.

I think the winner of AnnaSmash vs Vera Z will be Venus. That will be a LONG match, while I think Venus will handle Maggie in straight sets, mostly because Venus is a vastly superior clay court player. However, I do NOT regard Venus as having recovered her form, and Maggie is wily, and knows how she's beaten Venus before. In fact, forget I said 'straight sets'. Venus will win, and will be on the court a full hour LESS than the winner of AnnaSmash/VeraZ.

Venus will win, and will be on the court a full hour LESS than the winner of AnnaSmash/VeraZ.
We can bet on that ( I only don't know how can we check that ). But let me say that - Maggie will take more games off Venus than Smashnova will take off Vera.

Those meetings were ages ago.. Venus will sweep Maleeva off the court.
Well well well. on the last two occasions where Maggie beat Venus was supposed to be in better form than now though those matches were played on Maggie's favorite ground. I'm a die-hard Maggie fan and admitting it, I predict Venus to prove to be too strong for Maggie.