Serena Beats Bartoli To Win 38th Title

Serena Williams won her first non-major title since the 2009 Tour Championships by withstanding a stiff early challenge from Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli to win  the championship match 7-5 6-1 at the Bank of the West classic in Palo Alto, CA.

Bartoli came out strong early, serving well and out-hitting Serena by blasting balls into the corners of the court. She was consistently hitting her second serve well above 100 mph and her first serve even harder. Bartoli quickly broke Serena to go up 2-1 and both players held serve until 4-2. In the seventh game of the match Bartoli had multiple chances to go up 5-2 (win the "insurance" break) but Serena prevailed and managed to stay just one break behind. Serving at 4-3, Bartoli opened with a double fault and Serena  started playing longer, more controlled points and Bartoli's balls started landing less deep in the court, eventually leading Serena to get the break back to even the match at 4-all. Both players held relatively easily the next two games. Then Serena quickly fell behind 0-30 in the 5-all service game but managed to get out of trouble to force Bartoli to hold serve in order to play first set tiebreaker. Unfortunately for Bartoli she started missing her first (and second) serve and began pressing a bit much from the back of the court, leading to Serena getting a break point (and set point) at 5-6, 30-40. They then played a very long point with Serena ending up at the net and Bartoli missing a backhand pass. First set Serena, 7-5. The second set was all Serena with Bartoli having called for the trainer to look at her right hand during the set break and the French player repeatedly looked down at the hand and shook it but quickly fell behind 3-0. Bartoli again started putting up resistance in the second set's 4th game but Serena was in full flight and won the insurance break to go up 4-0 and then easily won her own service game to hold a 5-0 advantage. Bartoli was finally able to hold serve and Serena closed out the match relatively quickly with a service winner.

This was a pretty important match for Serena and must be pretty terrifying for the rest of the field. In just her third tournament back after not playing for a year, Serena beat three of the players who performed the best in the last major tournament, in a row: Maria Sharapova (finalist), Sabine Lisicki (semifinalist) and Marion Bartoli (quarterfinalist), losing a mere 13 games. Her hardest match of the tournament was against an in-form Maria Kirilenko, which she gutted out with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win following her 6-0 6-0 blowout to begin the week.

She's also committed to playing several of the North American summer hard court tournaments (Canada and Cincinnati) and should be considered to win her 14th major title in New York in September.

Serena Demolishes Lisicki and Sharapova To Reach Final

Serena Williams ranked #169 in the world, beat World #5 Maria Sharapova and World #26 Sabine Lisicki in the last two days, losing a stunning total of 7 games over four sets. First she beat 2011 Wimbledon finalist Sharapova 6-1 6-3 on Friday night and followed that performance with a 6-1 6-2 drubbing of 2011 Wimbledon semifinalist Lisicki 6-1 6-2 in 59 minutes.

Serena reached her first final since the 2010 Wimbledon final and her first final on U.S. soil since the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open (which she lost to Victoria Azarenka). She will face Marion Bartoli, the player who shockingly dismissed the defending champion from this year's Wimbledon in straights sets in the fourth round. Bartoli has actually lost even less games than Serena in her last two matches because she's only had to play one set: both Dominika Cibulkova and Ayuma Morita have had to witchdraw, the former without playing a single point.

That being said, Bartoli does have the power to match Serena stroke for stroke, but it is doubtful she has the stamina or agility. Serena hates to lose to a player twice in a row, and I doubt that will happen Sunday afternoon in Stanford.

MadProfessah's prediction: Serena in two sets.

WIMBLEDON 2011: Women's Final Preview

Maria Sharapova RUS (5) vs. Petra Kvitova CZE (8). 

This year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals.

Here are my predictions for the women's final at the Wimbledon Championships for 2011.

For the first time since 2006 there will not be a Williams playing the final women's match at Wimbledon. Instead we have the now-veteran Maria Sharapova, at 24, seeking her 2nd Wimbledon crown and 4th major title overall. After she broke through as a teenage phenom to win Wimbledon in 2004 by blasting Serena Williams off the court in straight sets many hailed the blonde, blue-eyed Russian as the new Ice Princess of Tennis and her face quickly became the most photographed countenance in all of women's sports, leading to untold riches off the court in the endorsement jackpot. However, since those heady days, Sharapova has only won 3 major titles, like clock work, every even year: 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 U.S. Open and 2008 Australian Open. This put her in the company of past champions like Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Kim Clijsters and not legends of the game like Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert or Serena Williams. Sharapova's metronomic Grand Slam winning pattern was interrupted by an October 2008 shoulder surgery after which she suffered the indignities of failing to get past the Round of 8 in any major for two full calendar years due to intermittent serving difficulties.

However, now it's 2011 and  for the last month or so Sharapova has gotten back to doing what she does best: hitting the bejeezus out of the little yellow ball into the corners of the court followed by an ear-shattering "grunt." She came very close to completing the career slam in Paris but was outlasted by a steadier player, Li Na who went on to win the title.  

Her opponent is a 21-year-old first-time finalist from the Czech Republic, the same age the great Martina Navratilova was when she won her first of 9 Wimbledon singles titles. Whether Petra Kvitova will go on to as storied  a career as her fellow countrywoman is something we can not know now, but the two have a lot of similarities in their games. They both are big-serving lefties, with hard-hitting ground strokes on both wings and a willingness to approach the net. Martina was the consummate serve and volleyer, the dominant strategy of her era, while Kvitova is the epitome of the modern game, able to blast winners from any position in the court.

Sharapova has not dropped a set on her way to the final and hasn't had to play anyone very troublesome along the way, except for wild card Sabine Lisicki. The German had been playing some of the best grass court tennis of the year, dispatching Marion Bartoli (who had dismissed 2-time defending champion Serena Williams) and Li Na in two very exciting matches. The mouthwatering "Mean Girls" quarterfinal with Sharapova and "World #1" Caroline Wozniacki never materialized because Pocket Rocket Dominika Cibulkova dismissed the new It girl in the 4th round and was rewarded by being demolished by Sharapova in the quarterfinals. Hometown favorite Laura Robson was able to ride the crowd's enthusiasm to a first-set tiebreaker in the second round but Sharapova hasn't even faced a set point for the entire tournament.

Kvitova, on the other hand, has had to play 3 tough sets to go through World #5 Victoria Azarenka and had another tight 3-set match with Tsevetana Pironkova, the woman who dismissed Venus Williams, the best female grass-court player of her generation from Wimbledon, in two consecutive years by the same exact score!

Head-to-head the two have played only once with Sharapova winning easily (on clay before Kvitova made her breakthrough by reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon last year). The intangibles definitely favor Sharapova; she has won before, this is her 5th major final, it is Kvitova's first. However, if you look at their style of play you see that Sharapova has had 11 more double faults than aces (32 to 21) while Kvitova has 22 more aces than double faults (35 to 13). Summary: Kvitova's serve is a weapon, while Sharapova's is a liability.  Generally, on grass, the person with the better serve wins, unless the other person has better movement and better returning. Sharapova does have a better return than Kvitova: she will go for a direct winner on both first and second serves. Is Sharapova a better mover than Kvitova? Doubtful, though quite honestly neither of them are superb in this category. All-in-all, Kvitova has the game to win the title, and I believe she will.

MadProfessah's PREDICTION: Kvitova.

WIMBLEDON 2011: Women's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2011. I predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. Last year I predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals correctly.

Maria Sharapova RUS (5) vs Sabine Lisicki GER . Sharapova appears to be returning to the form that has led her to win 3 major tournaments (2008 Australian Open, 2006 US Open and 2004 Wimbledon) so far after surgery in 2009 really deteriorated her game. Lisicki is a wild card has put on two amazing performances on Wimbledon Centre Court this year, dismissing 2011 French Open champion Li Na in the 3rd round and eliminating 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals. With both Williams sisters gone from the tournament (this was Serena's half) this is the most wide open Wimbledon in over a decade. If  you start to match up the two player's games Lisicki has the better serve, while Sharapova has the better return.

Sharapova has the better second serve, or at least she goes for more, but this also makes it less reliable. Sharapova has 19 aces but also 19 double faults over 5 matches so far. Lisicki has 44 aces and only 13 double faults. Sharapova has a total of 126 winners while Liscki has 157, including an incredible 52 winners in the round before in her 3-set win over Bartoli. Lisicki is probably the better mover but Sharapova is faster than she appears and can do more with the ball when she gets there. Analyzing their groundstrokes you have to give a big advantage to Sharapova, especially on the backhand side, with the forehand side being a bit closer. On grass you have to give the edge to the better server (Lisicki) but all the intangibles (been in this position before, mental toughness) go to Sharapova.I would be delighted if Lisicki wins, but I think it's more likely she will falter than Sharapova will. I was very surprised that Lisicki had to play a 3rd set against Bartoli, after having 3 match points in the second set, but she shook that off to win 6-1. If she gives that opportunity to Sharapova to come back, the Russian will reach her 2nd Wimbledon final. PREDICTION: Who I think will win: Sharapova, Who I want to win: Lisicki.

Victoria Azarenka BLR (4) vs. Petra Kvitova CZE (8). This should be the more interesting match of the two because the higher ranked player is the one with the less experience being in the semifinals of Wimbledon. However, I'm sure in her own mind Azarenka feels like she should have won a major already. Azarenka is like a young Novak Djokovic in that early in his career the Serbian retired in a number of important matches and Azarenka is (in)famous for her withdrawals from multiple matches, especially this year.

They are both incredibly talented players and you totally expect them to win multiple majors. Djokovic has met (and possibly even exceeded) expectations but Azarenka is still waiting for her big breakthrough. If you look at each of the semifinalists' records to this point Azarenka has only had 10 aces to 9 double faults in 5 rounds. Kvitova has had 26 aces to 11 double faults. Interestingly, when you match up their games you see that Kvitova has the better serve and the better ground strokes. Azarenka is by far the better mover and I think the intangibles are pretty even. Kvitova disappointed me when she lost a 2nd set tie-break to Tsevetana "Venus-killer" Pironkova with some bad misses on attempted winners. Then again, like Lisicki, she won the deciding set pretty easily. This second match should be closer than the first semifinal with Kvitova, another left-handed female player born in Czechoslovakia like the great Martina Navratiilova, reaching her first (but probably not her last) Wimbledon final. PREDICTION: Who I think will win: Kvitova, Who I want to win: Kvitova.

WIMBLEDON 2011: Li Upset, Serena Survives, Raja Cruises

Sabine Lisicki celebrates her 3-6 6-4 8-6 victory over
 2011 French Open champ Li Na at Wimbledon 2nd Round
(photo credit: LEON NEAL)

Day 4 of Wimbledon's highlights was the upset defeat of #3 seed Li Na by German 21-year-old Sabine Lisicki in a tough, hard-hitting match 3-6 6-4 8-6.  Li had two match points on Lisicki's serve at 4-5 in the third set which were erased by four ridiculously huge serves over 120mph in a row, half of which were aces. Lisicki had Serena-like numbers on her serve, ending with 17 aces for the match.

The other stand-out match of  the day was the showdown between Lleyton Hewitt and Robin Soderling. The 2002 Wimbledon champion and former World #1 from Australia outplayed the current World #5 from Sweden for the first two and a half sets but succumbed in a thrilling 6-7(5) 3-6 7-5 6-4 6-4 instant classic lasting nearly 4 hours.

Speaking of Serena, she was outplayed for an entire set by Romanian teenager Simona Halep. The youngster's level dropped and Serena's level elevated midway in the second set and she basically ran away with the third set to win the match 3-6 6-2 6-1.

Other winners on Day 4 were Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro and Nicolas Almagro. Almagro took out John Isner in the second round after the American had made quick work of his 2010 (and 2011) 1st round opponent Nicolas Mahut. Federer is yet to lose a set, but will face his one-time nemesis (and 2002 Wimbledon finalist) David Nalbandian in the third round.

On the women's side Francesca Schiavone, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Ana Ivanovic and Julia Georges with Seed #14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Seed #13 Agnieska Radwanska losing.