Serena Williams vs Lucie Safarova – Quarterfinal Preview: Rogers Cup 2011
Former world number one and the resurgent Serena Williams will be facing Czech Lucie Safarova on Friday in the second quarterfinal of 2011 Rogers Cup here at Rexall Centre, in Toronto.
Unseeded at the Women’s Tennis Association tournament, Williams has been in commanding form since the start of this week. In her opening match, she crushed Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko in straight sets. In the second round play,
she thrashed out the rising German Julia Georges. Coming back from a set deficit against Chinese Jie Zhang yesterday, she booked her quarterfinal berth at the prestigious WTA tournament.
"I decided that I had to like really relax and really calm down and just, you know, try to start playing better," Williams said. "She was really just playing well from the whole match. I just tried to do better."
After being forced out of the game for more than a year due to various fitness related problems, Williams made a comeback at 2011 Wimbledon Championships just over a month ago. Although she was knocked out in the second round by
Marion Bartoli, Williams continued to improve her game play with every match, she played on the tour. At 2011 Stanford, she overwhelmed the likes of Maria Sharapova, Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli to win her first title of the year.
She has already shown that on her day, she can floor even the best in the business. If the American woman can continue to execute her big forehand and backhand winners to perfection, she will be very hard to overcome.
William’s opponent, Lucie Safarova from Czech Republic has also been in decent form since the start of the competition. The 24-year-old stunned number six seed Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to book her place in the last
eight. Earlier in the second round, she has an easy victory against Romanian Simona Halep.
Safarova is also vastly experienced at the international level. Although she has not been in the best of her forms this season, she has bagged four WTA titles since she turned professional in 2002. She will be hoping to continue
her good form in her next match-up as well to change the course of her career. However to achieve similar results, the Czech must try and bring more consistency into her game play.
The two players have met each other four times on the WTA tour prior to the meeting with Williams emerging victorious in each of them. At 2009 Rogers Cup, Williams eased past Safarova in straights sets and she will be looking to
put up a similar performance here in this year’s edition of the tournament as well.
Prediction: Serena Williams is expected to sail past the Czech in straight sets.
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