DFS Classics

Finally I have much more time now to look back at the tennis world and my God am I happy I did so. The DFS Classic just looked too tempting to not post.
Firstly Marion Bartoli loses again! This year that hasn't been an uncommon title and if you have read my blog I have already stated how this year she is a losing horse to me and for the people who know me you'll know that she is my least favourite player. Though Cetkovska was a strong second round opponent for someone who reached the Wimbledon Final it surely wouldn't be much of a problem - this leads me to conclude that the feat was a fluke and after Wimbledon we'll see her in the low 20's rank wise which is where she deserves to be (or even lower) considering players like Flavia Pennetta who are doing much better are still in the 20's. Therefore we find ourselves with an unlikely Semifinal player between Cetkovska and Pin and K.Bondarenko (who beat Ann Keothavong aswell as Samantha Stosur) and Melinda Czink. Only Bondarenko is a seed in this field of 16 seeds - way different from a normal Tier III tournament! Her sister Alona Bondarenko will be aiming to be her opponent with her being the two being the only seeds left in this half - wouldn't that be a nice match! Sunitha Rao is her opponent who beat Naomi Cavaday sadly. A player who I thought was rising the ranks was Akgul Amanmuradova but she lost in the first round to Yaroslava Shvedova who beat Katie O'Brien another British hopeful. Shvedova will play Erakovic who beat Sania Mirza in straight sets. The first half definitely looks very wierd with a slex of below Top 50 players - Cetkovska 52, Pin 79, Kateryna Bondarenko 69, Erakovic 64 and the rest being outside the Top 100 with only Kateryna Bondarenko securing a decent ranking. Whilst I'm on rankings I congratulate Anne Keothavong for finally making the Top 100 (which I didn't know until last week) but is this all to late for the 24 year old.
The second half looks much more like my game. Krajicek won an easy to match to ensure a match against Y. Wickmayer who I have never heard of. Hopefully Krajicek will capitalize on this. The only British player left will be in the next match up with 17th seed Nakamura. This is no less than Melanie South who beat the failing Austrian Sybille Bammer. If all goes well we may even see a British player in the Quaterfinals against Krajicek the Wimbledon Quaterfinalist last year who is playing much better than her fellow shocker Marion Bartoli. Tanasugarn who seems to be taking much more attention defeated Tamira Paszek a player who saw a good end of season last year but seems to be out of her depth in this one. Bethanie Mattek who recently rejoined the Top 100 will meet Tanasugarn. The final match sees one of my favourite players Nicole Vaidisova take to the spot against Ekaterina Makarova ranked 62 in the world. The youngster has had a steady start to her career and shoudn't be taken lightly of. But if Nicole continues her form she should be able to sail through.
Therefore I am hoping for a Bondarenko sisters semifinal with a Krajicek/Vaidisova one in the bottom half.
As I had some time I looked up all the head to heads.
Petra has never player Pin but Petra is ranked 52 compared to 79. Both have never won a title but from what Petra looks to be doing she may have a chance this year with a 23-13 win loss record. Therefore I hand this match to Petra Cetkovska.
The next match sees Kateryna Bondarenko ranked 69 against Melinda Czink ranked 124. Kateryna has won both previous meetings but both were on Clay, however Kateryna looks stronger so Kateryna wins this match.
Alona is ranked 29 whilst her oppponent Sunitha Rao is way down at 160. Both are of similar stature and both have a similar win loss record though Alona has won one title before. Considering all the facts Alona looks the favourite here.
Yaroslava plays Erakovic in this next match. Yaroslava ranks 129 whilst Erakovic ranks at 64. Both are of the same age. Erakovic however has a much better win loss record at 27-10 than Yaroslava Shvedova, considering all of these Erakovic looks the victor.
Krajicek ranks 53 whilst Yanina Wickmayer ranks at 85. Both are in their teens. Krajicek has had an awful year with a win loss of 1-10 whilst Wickmayer is 28-9. They have never played each other before either. From what I see Krajicek looks like she maybe finding form but Yanina Wickmayer did cause an upset to Casey Dellacqua who has had a better year compared to Michaella Krajicek. With all these factors it's looking very bad for Michaella Krajicek but she could pull it through seeing that Grass is a good surface for her.
Nakamura is ranked 78 whilst Melanie South is at 154 which is probably the second lowest rank left. Melanie has had a good start to the year but at lower Tier event I expect compared to Nakamura. I think on the day this one can go to either player as Melanie has the backing of the crowd but Nakamura has the upper hand of being the better player overall.
Tanasugarn is a 31 year old Thai player ranked 89 whilst Mattek ranked 81 at 23 years old. Both are similar in stature and have very similar win loss records. These statistics give nothing away except for their age. Both of them beat seeds who aren't uncomfortable on grass so with all the information Tanasugarn may be the victor as she seems to have had an easier journey to reach the Third Round.
Makarova and Vaidisova played earlier in the year on Clay when Makarova beat Vaidisova (note Vaidisova was in her losing streak at this point) Makarova is ranked 62 whilst Vaidisova is the highest rank left at 19. Both have a winning win loss record but just by a thread. On rankings and past performances Vaidisova will be the winning choice but when we add the loss Vaidisova had against her earlier this year. But we have to understand that Makarova's Grass court play hasn't been developed too much with her only playing three matches competitively on Grass since 2006. If we then add on the two difficult wins to Elena Baltacha and Angelique Kerber we see the chances of a Vaidisova win much higher. Though Nathalie Dechy has not been having a great year or for the past year she still isn't too shabby on Grass, as Vaidisova beat her I believe the probability of a Vaidisova win is high.
Therefore we most likely get a:
Petra Cetkovska (52) Vs. Kateryna Bondarenko (69)
Alona Bondarenko (29) Vs. Marina Erakovic (64)
Michaella Krajicek (53) Vs. Melanie South (154) I am going to bet on her.
Tamarine Tanasugarn (89) Vs. Nicole Vaidisova (19)

As we can see only two players are in the Top 50 which seems far away from last year where Sharapova and Jankovic competed for the title. Anyway I'll cheer on Nicole as a win here will be a big boost for her confidence after a 6 match losing streak (maybe this will be the time where she does a Jankovic!)