2017 Australian Open Quarterfinals Round Women’s Singles Predictions
Garbine Muguruza (-180) vs. Coco Vandeweghe (+150)
American Coco Vandeweghe marched her way into the quarters of the women’s side of the Australian Open in the most stunning of ways, crushing no. 1 Angelique Kerber, 6-2, 6-3, in the fourth round. Vandeweghe played with so much intensity against Kerber, and it showed in her game, firing 30 winners and winning 78 percent of her first-serve points. Vandeweghe’s tenacity could spell trouble for Garbine Muguruza, who only has 57 first serve return points through four games in the tournament.
Like Vandeweghe, Muguruza was feeling it in the fourth round, recording 18 winners and successfully winning 86% of her first serve points. Vandeweghe leads the all-time series of this matchup, 2-1, though Muguruza won in the most recent meeting, getting a 7-6(4) 6-2 victory in last year’s Cincinnati Masters (hard surface). Muguruza beat Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-3, in the fourth round to break into the quarters.
Venus Williams (-110) vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (-120)
As expected, Venus Williams cruised past Monta Barthel, 6-3, 7-5, in the fourth round to book a seat in the quarters of the Australian Open. Williams has yet to drop a set in the tournament, playing just eight sets thus far. The lesser workload for Williams should help preserve energy in her 36-year-old body moving forward.
Williams destroyed Barthel with 31 winners while playing aggressively, as evidenced by Williams going 17-for-25 on net points won. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, meanwhile, punched her ticket to the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 upset win against Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian was clutch in the fourth round, with five break points won, bringing her total to 20 break points won—second most in the tournament. Williams has a 3-2 lead in the career head-to-head with Pavlyuchenkova.
Well, Serena Williams won’t have the chance to avenge her loss in last year’s Australian Open final with Angelique Kerber bombing out of the fourth round. Instead, the all-time great will face Johanna Konta, who is coming off a 6-1, 6-4 fourth round dressing down of Ekaterina Makarova.
Konta is playing inspired right now. She hasn’t dropped a set at this point of the tournament and has won at least 76% of her first-serve points in all her past four matches. She’ll run into Williams, who is no stranger to playing this deep in any given tournament, let along the Australian Open, where she has six titles already. Similar to Konta, Williams arrives in the quarters with zero sets lost. She beat Barbora Strycova, 7-5, 6-4 to set up the match with Konta.
*The other fourth round matches are still being played as of this writing. Don’t forget to come back to our site for fresh previews of upcoming matches.*
