TENNIS – The first round of the WTA Premier Mandatory Tournament at the Caja Magica features some very interesting matches like Venus Azarenka vs Venus Williams, Flavia Pennetta vs Andrea Petkovic, Simona Halep vs Alizé Cornet and Maria Sharapova vs Timea Bacsinszky Diego Sampaolo
The first quarter of the draw features 19-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams who will start against her compatriot Madison Brengle, who reached the semifinals last week on indoor clay in Stuttgart before a possible clash against another compatriot, either Sloane Stephens or Betthanie Matthek Sands.
In the Round of 16 Serena is on a collision course against either her sister Venus or Viktoria Azarenka who will square off against in a mouth-watering first round match. Vika battled past Venus in their last head-to-head match in Doha earlier this year with 2-6 6-2 6-4
Wiliams started her season with a 20-match winning streak and titles at the Australian Open and Miami but had to dig deep to beat Sara Errani in the recent Fed Cup Play-off match between Italy and the USA in Brindisi. In that match Williams committed 61 unforced errors and said afterwards that she needed to train harder for the clay season
Williams’s possible rival in the quarter finals could be either Carla Suarez Navarro or Ana Ivanovic. Navarro has recently reached the final in Miami and has become the third Spanish player in history in the top-ten.
Ivanovic has had a difficult start to her season and was knocked out in the first round in Stuttgart last week. She could face Romanian Aleksandra Dulgheru in the third round.
The second quarter is highlighted by Petra Kvitova who could face German Sabine Lisicki in the second round and Italian Sara Errani (quarter final in Stuttgart) in the round of 16. Kvitova, who returned last week in Stuttgart after a break of two months, could play against Eugenie Bouchard or Andrea Petkovic or Flavia Pennetta. Bouchard, who reached the Wimbledon final and two semifinals at the Roland Garros and at the Australian Open last year, has had a difficult season so far and lost five consecutive matches in which she won just two sets. The young Canadian will start against Barbora Stykova before meeting 2012 Madrid quarter finalist Varvara Lepchenko in the second round.
The third quarter features a potential second round between Caroline Wozniacki (finalist in Stuttgart) and Agniewska Radwanska, who lost in the first round in Stuttgart and is not in a good period of form. The winner of this match could meet Madrid defending champion Maria Sharapova in the quarter final
Sharapova will open her campaign against Timea Bacsinszky who won two back-toback titles in Acapulco and Monterrey but lost in the quarter final this ween against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in Marrakesh. Sharapova then could face either Caroline Garcia or Karolina Pliskova (finalist in Prague this week) who are expected to meet in the second round. Sharapova has already met Garcia in the 2011 Roland Garros where Maria fought back from a set and a break down
Simona Halep, semifinalist last week in Stuttgart and runner.up in Madrid last year against Sharapova, will be the stand-out name in the fourth quarter of the draw. Halep could face Roberta Vinci in the second round and Lucie Safarova or Camila Giorgi in the third round. The Romanian star, World Number 2, is on collision course for a possible quarter final against either this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova or this year’s Charleston and Stuttgart champion Angelique Kerber, who has extended her winning streak on clay to 11 consecutive matches including Charleston, the Fed Cup and Stuttgart. The German will face Sam Stosur in the first round before a possible re-match of the Charleston final against Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys in the second round and a third round match against Garbine Muguruza. .
