Wimbledon Semifinal Picks- Part II

[4] Victoria Azarenka vs [8] Petra Kvitova

Victoria Azarenka can now tell her haters to shut up. Many of them were complaining that she didn't deserve to be number four in the world without reaching a grand slam semifinal. Now she's done just that, and she has a great opportunity to get even farther. She's the highest ranked player left in the draw. She showed some excellent tennis against Paszek in the quarterfinals. She was creaming the ball and kept her error count low. She hits solidly off both sides and isn't a terrible mover compared to Kvitova. She isn't amazing at net, but then again, who is these days? She has an okay first serve, but her second serve is attackable. Her mental game is what seems suspect. Although she has improved significantly in that regard, she has never been to a grand slam semifinal, so no one knows how she'll handle the moment.

With her victory over Pironkova, Petra Kvitova has proven that she is no one slam wonder. She has one of the best forehands in women's tennis, and her backhand is quite strong as well. Although her serve won't be setting any speed records, it is a force to be reckoned with. She has a great flat serve, and her slice serve gets her a lot of aces too. In her quarterfinal match against Pironkova, Kvitova served nine aces, only one less ace than the ten aces that Azarenka has served during the whole tournament. Her return of serve is excellent as well, and she will be looking to attack the Azarenka second serve.

In order for Azarenka to win this match, she has to come in with multiple game plans. She knows that she won't be able to out-muscle Kvitova, so she will need to add variety to her game and try to make Kvitova move. If she resorts to hitting the ball as hard she can, she fall to Kvitova in a Wickmayer-esque fashion. However, if she can make Kvitova uncomfortable, her reward will be numerous errors from Kvitova and a spot in the finals.

Kvitova has a different route to the finals. She can overpower Azarenka and punish her second serve. She can hit penetrating shots and work the net. However, she needs to keep herself from choking. If she can do that, she will get to her first major final.

Although this is a tough decision, I think that Kvitova will tough it out in either two or three very close sets.