WTA Pick 'Em (BOTP) - Wimbledon 2012: Deadline 11am Mon 25 June

[super8]

Hello!

Just to let you know that there will be a WTA predictions comp being run for Wimbledon.

I shall post an entry form onto this thread for download as soon as I can after the main draw has taken place tomorrow (i.e. one prior to completion/ placement of qualifiers).

There will then be another form on this thread when the qualifiers have been placed. I'm not sure when this will be - perhaps Saturday night/ Sunday morning?

The entry form will be in the same format as previous BOTPs.


Closing time for entry is more or less when the first ball is hit in the tournament - which starts at 11am on Monday 25 June - but usually there is some latitude for late entrants if it is shortly after the tourney has started.

If you have any queries about this, then please pm me - or simply post them onto this thread.

Update: As the qualies were already completed by the time that the MD was made, the predictions form will be made available today. If not within the next 2 hours, then later this evening..

[RoastLamb]

This one'll be really tough. I want to go for Serena again but her losing at RG the way she did has made me rethink. The defending champ doesn't have great form going in. Shazza might do it. Kim still doesn't look her best (I've seen all her matches in Holland) and the jury's still out on the likes of Sam. What to do???

[pabbers]

This one'll be really tough. I want to go for Serena again but her losing at RG the way she did has made me rethink. The defending champ doesn't have great form going in. Shazza might do it. Kim still doesn't look her best (I've seen all her matches in Holland) and the jury's still out on the likes of Sam. What to do???

Pull a name out of a hat?

[super8]

Pull a name out of a hat?

Well, it's certainly a lot harder to predict than the men's side, isn't it? On the ATP side, it's the other extreme. I'm pretty sure that 99% of those taking part in steven's pick 'ems in the last few years have only considered picking one of the same 4 players.

I was wondering if Wimbledon has been the hardest slam to predict on the WTA side in recent years. Who is likely to predict that Pironkova will reach the last 8/ last 4 again? Kanepi, anyone? As RL mentioned, the fact that Sam Stosur doesn't seem to know how to play on grass is baffling. She was a top-ranked doubles player, and yet her volleying is very ordinary too.

With the grass court season being so short as well, there is no form to speak of, either. The biggest risk is probably the first week for the top players. If they get past that, then the courts start to harden, and behave more like hard courts - which will suit them down to the ground (if you pardon the pun).

[super8]

Here's how the last 16 would look if all of those seeded to get this far were to win their matches:

[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS) v [15] Sabine Lisicki (GER)
[12] Vera Zvonareva (RUS) v [8] Angelique Kerber (GER)

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) v [16] Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
[11] Na Li (CHN) v [5] Samantha Stosur (AUS)

[6] Serena Williams (USA) v [10] Sara Errani (ITA)
[13] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) v [4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)

[7] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) v [9] Marion Bartoli (FRA)
[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v [2] Victoria Azarenka (BLR)

[RoastLamb]

Gulp!

[super8]

Here is the predictions form for Wimbledon.

We all have nearly 3 days to figure out our predictions - hopefully this will be enough time!!

Just to mention - I have included a 3rd way of submitting your BOTP predictions, which is uploading your completed file into a post that you make on this thread.

It worked well when we had the ATP 'just for fun' pick 'em for the French Open - so if you wish to do that for this one too, then that would work well with me.


As ever, if you have any queries, then please do let me know.

[JAMES4578]

There's a few interesting match ups early on with for instance Kim taking on Jankovic in the opening round, whilst Venus and Radwanska could clash again in the 2nd round! On the WTA thread I criticised the decision to rigidly follow the worlds rankings this year. However, as it turns out Maria and Serena are in opposite halves and they seems to be most pundits favourites. Mind you it's not a two horse race and others such as Azarenka and the defending champion Kvitova can't be discounted. Though a big fan of Sam Stosur can't see her really being a contender with her track record, though you would think she use her weapons to her advantage, whilst another concern for Clijsters as she pulled out of the semi in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Sure there'll be a few floaters who could cause some upsets!

[DaveArneRiise]

Sent mine to you via e-mail last night Super 8. Hope you received it and it's all OK?

[super8]

Sent mine to you via e-mail last night Super 8. Hope you received it and it's all OK?

Hi - received your e-mail. All is fine with them :)

[DaveArneRiise]

Hi - received your e-mail. All is fine with them :)

Hi Super 8 I just sent you an e-mail but I'll repeat what I said here.

I made a few changes to my pick em and have sent you final updated version. I hope this is OK?

Many thanks
David

PS there will be no more changes, that's definitely final version :rolling:

[Linda]

I can't upzip the file. Last time I couldn't either, so I downloaded WinZip. It's now telling me that it's expired and I have to buy it! But I never had any problems before. :confused:

[DaveArneRiise]

What browser do you use Linda?

[Linda]

Chrome.

[-J-]

I can't upzip the file. Last time I couldn't either, so I downloaded WinZip. It's now telling me that it's expired and I have to buy it! But I never had any problems before. :confused:ye think (been a while) you either ignore it or press cancel
failing that o to filehippo and get winrar dose thesame thing

[DaveArneRiise]

Chrome.

Maybe try a different one, firefox perhaps?

[Linda]

You always used to be able to ignore it and carry on, but it won't let me now. The button for Use Evaluation Copy is greyed out. I'll try one of the others. (Although I'm wondering why until the French the file always opened OK without asking for software to unzip it.)

[Linda]

OK I downloaded WinRAR and opened the file with that. But it says the copy only lasts for 40 days so I might have the same problem again next time!

[-J-]

OK I downloaded WinRAR and opened the file with that. But it says the copy only lasts for 40 days so I might have the same problem again next time!no definitely works after that, the box will come up saying expired just press close

[-J-]

Maybe try a different one, firefox perhaps?not browser problem m8, third party software thing

[DaveArneRiise]

I just clicked on it and it downloaded and opened automatically. I have a Mac though and I guess that's further evidence as to why Macs are superior to Windows ;)

[RoastLamb]

I've sent mine via email. Sooooooo difficult. I am defo coming last on this one. What a ditherer.

[Linda]

But it always just opened automatically before. I don't know why it doesn't any more.

Anyway, I've emailed my entry now!

[Linda]

I reckon I know what happened. It wasn't downloading last time that was the problem, it was trying to upload the file for the just-for-fun pick'em into the thread. I had to zip it because it was too big. So I downloaded WinZip. When WinZip installed it must have taken out whatever my computer was previously using to open the files.

[super8]

I should just mention a couple of things:

It's also no problem to e-mail the prediction file to folk - and therefore not have to unzip the file. They can just complete it, save it somewhere and e-mail it back.

Also - if anyone submitting predictions then wants to change them then that is no problem. If you're sending a file, then just re-send the revised file. If you're copying and pasting the results onto the AM/ CC threads, then you can either edit your original post - or create a new post on that thread. If you edit your original post, then please post something on the threafd or pm to let me know about this, as I might have processed your predictions already..

[JAMES4578]

I've just posted mine over at CC,thanks Super8!

[cazza99]

Just emailed mine. Thanks for doing this Super8. :)

[Sallydaisy]

Super8 - sorry about this but as you can see it's the middle of the night and I need to get some sleep. So, I've put my entries below.
It'll give peeps a bit of a laugh no doubt.
http://freeemoticonsandsmileys.com/animated emoticons/Food and Drink Animated Emoticons/strawberry.gif

ROUND 1 WINNERS (64)
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)
[WC] Virginie Razzano (FRA)
[29] Monica Niculescu (ROU)
[23] Petra Cetkovska (CZE)
Sloane Stephens (USA)
Eleni Daniilidou (GRE)
[15] Sabine Lisicki (GER)

[12] Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU)
Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)
Kim Clijsters (BEL)
[28] Christina McHale (USA)
Mathilde Johansson (FRA)
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)
[8] Angelique Kerber (GER)

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) v
Venus Williams (USA)
Heather Watson (GBR)
[27] Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)
[20] Nadia Petrova (RUS)
[WC] Melanie Oudin (USA)
Anna Tatishvili (GEO)
[16] Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

[11] Li Na (CHN)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU)
[WC] Naomi Broady (GBR)
[17] Maria Kirilenko (RUS)
[30] Peng Shuai (CHN)
Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)
Arantxa Rus (NED)
[5] Samantha Stosur (AUS)

[6] Serena Williams (USA)
Johanna Larsson (SWE)
Vera Dushevina (RUS)
[25] Zheng Jie (CHN)
[19] Lucie Safarova (CZE)
Chanelle Scheepers (RSA)
Anne Keothavong (GBR)
[10] Sara Errani (ITA)

[13] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
Olga Govortsova (BLR)
[Q] Kristyna Pliskova (CZE)
[WC] Laura Robson (GBR)
[31] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
Elena Baltacha (GBR)
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)

[7] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
Alize Cornet (FRA)
Greta Arn (HUN)
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)
[21] Roberta Vinci (ITA)
Urszula Radwanska (POL)
[Q] Mirjana Lucic (CRO)
[9] Marion Bartoli (FRA)

[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)
Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR)
[22] Julia Goerges (GER)
[26] Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)
[Q] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)
Romina Oprandi (SUI)
[2] Victoria Azarenka (BLR)


ROUND 2 WINNERS (32)
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
[WC] Virginie Razzano (FRA)
[23] Petra Cetkovska (CZE)
[15] Sabine Lisicki (GER)

[12] Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
Kim Clijsters (BEL)
[28] Christina McHale (USA)
[8] Angelique Kerber (GER)

Venus Williams (USA)
Heather Watson (GBR)
[20] Nadia Petrova (RUS)
[16] Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

Sorana Cirstea (ROU)
[17] Maria Kirilenko (RUS)
[30] Peng Shuai (CHN)
[5] Samantha Stosur (AUS)

[6] Serena Williams (USA)
[25] Zheng Jie (CHN)
[19] Lucie Safarova (CZE)
[10] Sara Errani (ITA)

[13] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
[WC] Laura Robson (GBR)
[31] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)

[7] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
Greta Arn (HUN)
Urszula Radwanska (POL)
[9] Marion Bartoli (FRA)

[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
[22] Julia Goerges (GER)
[26] Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)
[2] Victoria Azarenka (BLR)


ROUND 3 WINNERS (16)
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
[15] Sabine Lisicki (GER)
Kim Clijsters (BEL) [8] Angelique Kerber (GER)
Venus Williams (USA)
[20] Nadia Petrova (RUS)
[17] Maria Kirilenko (RUS)
[5] Samantha Stosur (AUS)

[6] Serena Williams (USA)
[10] Sara Errani (ITA)
[13] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)
[7] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
Urszula Radwanska (POL)
[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
[26] Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)

ROUND 4 WINNERS (8)
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
Kim Clijsters (BEL) [20] Nadia Petrova (RUS)
[5] Samantha Stosur (AUS)

[6] Serena Williams (USA)
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)
[7] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)


Quarter Final Winners (4)
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
[5] Samantha Stosur (AUS)
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)
[14] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

Semi Final Winners (2)
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE)

Wimbledon Champion
[1] Maria Sharapova (RUS)

[super8]

No problem Sally - will have a closer look at this tomorrow - will pm you if any queries :)

[Sallydaisy]

Thanks. I'll be out though all day at Wimbledon, leaving at 6.30am and not back until about 10.30pm!
Think I'll just have to live with any errors.

Best go and get a couple of hours kip.
:sleepy:

[super8]

Well, all entries have been processed - and we have the following 20 folk taking part:

Alli
Big Al
Cazza
Dave ArneRiise
DN
fah51
iconA
James4578
liam valid
Linda
lizzim
mojoworking
nevets
Northernlight/ Super 8
RoastLamb
SallyDaisy
T01
tabbles
tlim
VivaHate

I shall put all of your predictions onto this thread some time this evening, plus stats..

[super8]

Here are everyone's BOTP Picks.

I can never seem to get screen shots uploaded because of file size - so, as with the French Open, I have simply created a file of predictions for you to download - as attached.

(Linda - I shall e-mail these to you if you cannot unzip the file)

[super8]

And here are the BOTP picks in terms of percentage picks.

These are separated into the 4 quarters of the draw:

[super8]

Alright folks - here is the BOTP table after day 01

Report to follow at some stage..

[super8]

Hello everyone!

Well, here is the report after an opening day which saw 30 of the 32 round 1 matches completed from the top half of the draw.

Usually, I start with the 100%ers. The ones that are expected to win, and we all expect to win – and duly did so.

”Unanimous Verdict”

((1) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 63
(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 63 63
(5) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 61 63
(8) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 64 61
(11) Li Na (CHN) d. Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) 63 61
(17) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Alexandra Cadantu (ROU) 63 61
(20) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (Q) Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 60 62
(30) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (Q) Sandra Zaniewska (POL) 62 67(3) 63
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. (Q) Vesna Dolonc (SRB) 57 60 75
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 62 36 63
Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) d. Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) 61 62

In spite of Sam Stosur having been knocked out in the first round at SW19 in the last 2 years, that didn’t stop us all from backing her to break that hoodoo.

Tsveti Pironkova started off with a win – but she’s got her work cut out if she is to make the second week for the third year in a row. She faces Maria Sharapova in the next round, who looked very impressive in her win over Nastya. Sharpie won 17 of the first 18 points in that match.

”Overwhelming Majority”

Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (18) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 62 64 (95-5)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 64 61 (90-10)
Sloane Stephens (USA) d. (Q) Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 62 62 (85-15)
(15) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Petra Martic (CRO) 64 62 (85-15)
(23) Petra Cetkovska (CZE) d. Vania King (USA) 64 62 (80-20)
Heather Watson (GBR) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 62 61 (80-20)

Well, Kim is a popular player on both CC and am.com – and all but one picked her to beat Jelena J – who can consider herself a little unfortunate with her round 1 match against a player who has beaten her 7 times in their 8 matches. JJ also lost in round 1 last year, against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

A notable win for Heather Watson against Iveta Benesova, where HW’s determined defence pretty much drove Iveta to distraction. It was a battle between 2 players who are pretty averse to grasscourt tennis; Heather had never even won a Wimbledon match as a junior, let alone a senior! Iveta’s thoughts on Twitter on grass?

“F WORD GRASS!!!!!!!”

Iveta is great value on Twitter, great fun – that was more in exasperation rather than disrespect for the surface – of course, she won mixed doubles at SW19 last year with Melzer. But anyway. Great win for Heather – and of course helped with 80% BOTP backing.

A notable win also for Sabine Lisicki, who despatched rising star Petra Martic in straight sets.

”Majority Vote”

Mathilde Johansson (FRA) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 36 60 63 (75-25)
Arantxa Rus (NED) d. (LL) Misaki Doi (JPN) 75 63 (75-25)
Lourdes DomÃ*nguez Lino (ESP) d. (WC) Naomi Broady (GBR) 64 76(4) (70-30)

Naomi Broady hit the news for all the wrong reasons back in 2007 when she lost WTA funding as a result of her partying photos posted on Bebo. She is not known for being the best of competitors, but fought gamely against the LDL.

Another good win for Rus, building on her recent good performances at RG. Misaki Doi beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands (R1) and Jie Zheng (R2) at SW19 last year.

Mathilde Johansson is not known for winning tight matches – but she had a decent RG last month, and seems to be continuing where she left off from there.


“Split Jury

Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) d. Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) 57 63 20 ret. (left thigh injury) (50-50)
Anna Tatishvili (GEO) d. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 64 62 (45-55)
SÃ*lvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) d. Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU) 46 64 108 (40-60)

Eleni’s match was a loseable one – but Tammy’s loss a surprise, given Tatishvili’s poor form of late – has lost 6 of her last 7 matches. Tatishvili’s attempt to acclimatise on grass courts was commendable though – she played Nottingham, Birmingham and Eastbourne! So, perhaps this win is a deserved reward for her desire to prepare for SW19.

”Asia Minor”

Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) d. (WC) Virginie Razzano (FRA) 62 64 (25-75)
Ayumi Morita (JPN) d. Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 64 63 (20-80)

Virgine and Jarmila were probably the higher profile players in these matches – but these were always likely to be tough matches against very determined opponents.

Hsieh Su-Wei used to be better known as a doubles player. However, she has been starting to string together good wins on the singles front, including some good grass preparation. She beat brits Naomi Broady and Laura Robson in Nottingham, reached the last 8 in Birmingham. She was the first Asian winner of the Malaysian Open earlier this year too.

Ayumi Morita. 22 years old. Looks about 12! Broke into the top 50 for the first time last year – and also secured her first tour title in Taipei. She made round 2 at SW19 in 2010, and also RG this year, before running into the Sharapova juggernaut.

Anyway. Both were fine picks for 25% and 20% of BOTPers respectively.

”Maverick Minority Votes”

Stéphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) d. (29) Monica Niculescu (ROU) 64 36 63 (10-90)
Timea Babos (HUN) d. (WC) Melanie Oudin (USA) 64 46 63 (5-95)
Jamie Hampton (USA) d. (27) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 64 76(1) (5-95)

These were all surprise results for most of us – particularly Melanie Oudin on the back of her winning her first tour title in Birmingham last week.

Babos is perhaps one to watch. She turned 19 last month, and this year has beaten Shvedova, Errani and Cirstea. Maybe Linda had all of this in mind when picking her to win this match? Well done Linda!

Well, Dani Hantuchova has been a little short of match practice. She has played only 8 matches in 4 months – won just 2 of those - and perhaps this showed against Jamie Hampton – another young American with decent potential.

The only BOTP to predict this is one of her fans in the shape of Northernlight – I guess if you follow certain players more closely, you are also aware of their lack of form.

Monica Niculescu can usually be relied upon to slice her way into round 2 - but surprisingly came a cropped against Steph Foretz Gacon. Only iconA and nevets foresaw this. Well done to you both!!

"BOTP Blanks"

(Q) Carmila Giorgi (ITA) d. (16) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 64 63 (0-100)
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. Venus Williams (USA) 61 63 (0-100)

Well, plenty has been written about the Venus Williams v Elena Vesnina match. Needless to say, none of us saw this coming. Elena Vesnina played well, and deserved to win – but the best players just don’t allow such players to play well. Sharapova is a good example of that.

As for Flavia Pennetta.. (shakes head). This is her 12th consecutive Wimbledon – and her only round 1 defeats here have been to Petrova (2004) and eventual finalist Bartoli (2007) – so where did this defeat to Giorgi come from? Anayway – zero points to us again.

BOTP Roundup – Day 01

Usually after day 1, the BOTP table is pretty tightly packed, as if it were an early lap on a middle/ long distance track event.

However, many of the matches today were difficult to pick – not the usual amount of easy, rollover matches for top players – and this showed in both the split of BOTP votes, as well as the result. The difference between the top pick rate (80%) and bottom one (53.3%) is quite marked at such an early stage – and the overall pick rate of 67.8% quite low for day 1 too.

The early front-runners are all am.com folk – lizzim is in pole position, with cazza and Linda close behind, with northernlight sharing 3rd spot with Linda.

But really – early days yet, of course!!

[Lizzim]

Can we just stop now?....I would be the winner which would be good ;)

[Linda]

These were all surprise results for most of us – particularly Melanie Oudin on the back of her winning her first tour title in Birmingham last week.

Babos is perhaps one to watch. She turned 19 last month, and this year has beaten Shvedova, Errani and Cirstea. Maybe Linda had all of this in mind when picking her to win this match? Well done Linda!

You compliment me too much. All I had in mind was that every time I have picked Oudin in the past, she has lost! :rolling:

[super8]

Can we just stop now?....I would be the winner which would be good ;)

That would make for quite a unique BOTP - and of course your second BOTP slam! You won the US Open BOTP last year, if memory serves correctly?

I'll just post what would have happened had we continued with this tournament - an 'if's but's and maybe's' version.. ;)

[super8]

You compliment me too much. All I had in mind was that every time I have picked Oudin in the past, she has lost! :rolling:

Ah! Well, there was a method in your prediction process.. so as they say in tennis: 'The original call stands' ;)

Funnily enough, Icona posted something not dissimilar on the CC BOTP thread - his post was as follows:

"Thank you for crediting me with some foresight but I'm afraid it was just dumb luck!"

I'm sure that he was doing himself a disservice too. Us Brits are such a modest lot at times.

[super8]

Hello again

Well, here is the BOTP table after Day 02.

Report to follow - will try to cobble something together this evening, but it might be shorter than day 01's report. As ever, feel free to add any thoughts that you may have on either the matches or BOTP - or both!

[super8]

Hello!

Here is the BOTP report for day 02.

“The Wanton Patriotism Section: 5 Brits into Round 2!”

Anne Keothavong (GBR) d. Laura Pous-Tio (ESP) 63 63 (95-5)
Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. Karin Knapp (ITA) 46 64 60 (90-10)
(24) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (WC) Laura Robson (GBR) 26 64 64 (80-20)
(28) Christina McHale (USA) d. (WC) Johanna Konta (GBR) 67(4) 62 108 (100-0)

That would be 5 brits in the ATP/ WTA combined, that is (ahem) – 3 WTA and 2 ATP - the most in a slam second round since 2006.

Nearly all of us predicted all of these results correctly. We showed our faith in the older guard, whereas acknowledged that the younger, rising star might be outfoxed by Fran, and that McHale would be too go for JoKo. Which proved to be the case, although it was especially tight in the latter..

It was a fine day for 4 of them, including Heather Watson. Today, 4 of them were given wild cards for the Olympics; Bally and Anne in the singles – and Heather and Laura in the doubles.

A Dutch Serving of a BOTP Bagel

Kiki Bertens (NED) d. (19) Lucie Safarova (CZE) 63 60 0-100

Well, none of us saw this coming! Kiki Bertens is just 20 years old, and ranked 86. This is her second slam main draw, having qualified for RG this year as her first slam, where she lost in the first round to Christina McHale. Her win today is therefore her first Grand Slam main draw win. Quite an achievement!

As for Lucie, goodness only knows what happened to her today. The match lasted just 50 minutes, including a 19 minute second set. Bertens won 6 break points out of 6.

No points for us. Along with Aranxta Rus, the Dutch have 2 players in round 2.

”The Big Guns (and Lepchenko) Get Moving: 100%ers”

(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Irina Falconi (USA) 61 64
(4) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 64 64
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 62 64
(9) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 62 64
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT) 62 63

We all picked these results correctly. Well done us!! All straight set wins, all pretty comfortable. Not much to say about it, really.

Split Vote

Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) d. Greta Arn (HUN) 64 62 (45-55)
Romina Oprandi (SUI) d. Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) 76(3) 64 (45-55)

Well, these were certainly tricky ones to pick, and were reflected in the 45-55 split in the vote. Both Galina and Greta have had success in slams in the past, so were worth a shot.

Oprandi and Begu are ranked 87 and 64 respectively, so not so much between them. Oprandi beat Schiavone on her way to round 3 of the Australian Open earlier this year, so had some form in terms of slams. She’s reached round 2 once before (in 2010, beating Heather Watson in round 1) – but now faces Vika in round 2..


”Nearly 100%ers”

(21) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. (WC) Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 62 64 (95-5)
(25) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) 46 64 63 (90-10)
(26) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Simona Halep (ROU) 36 61 62 (90-10)
(31) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 61 62 (95-5)

Well, nearly all of you saw these results coming, except for a few Mavericks, here and there. I’m not sure if there are many Australians left in the draw (WTA or ATP?) – maybe Sam Stosur the only one flying the flag now? They had 5 in the WTA MD, and 4 of those are certainly out already.

”Majority Verdicts: Slightly Tricky Picks”

Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. Vera Dushevina (RUS) 62 75 75-25
(12) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Mona Barthel (GER) 26 76(3) 64 (60-40)

A good win for Aleks, was picked by 75% of BOTPers. She plays Ji Jheng in the next round. Could she make it to the 3rd round for the first time?

It is interesting that so many folk predicted that Barthel would beat Zvonareva, especially as she is seeded 12th. It was a good call, as Mona was a whisker away from winning this match in the 2nd set. The young German is certainly one to watch – and merited the 40% pick.

Minority Picks

Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. (32) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 62 63 (20-80)
Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. Urszula Radwanska (POL) 64 64 (30-70)

Well, most of us got caught out by Wicky’s defeat of Sveta, especially as Sveta had shown signs of getting back to form at RG. Whilst Wicky reached the final of Bad Gastein (losing to Cornet) recently, her form has generally ben poor. Mind you, Wicky also knocked out Sveta at Wimby last year – so there was a precedence for this. Well done to DaveArneRiise, liam, SallyDaisy and VivaHate for picking this one correctly.

Whilst 70% of us went for Radwanska Minor to beat Erakovic, the Croatian New Zealander’s grass court savvy prevailed. Apparently several of the New Zealanders in the crowd did the Haka to celebrate Marina’s victory!!


”Qualifiers and Wild Cards run amok and upset the apple cart (sort of )”

(Q) Melinda Czink (HUN) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 60 62 65-35
(Q) Mirjana Lucic (CRO) d. Alexandra Panova (RUS) 46 63 64 80-20
(Q) Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 62 62 45-55
(Q) Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. (Q) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 63 36 61 15-85
(WC) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 76(5) 76(5) 85-15

Certainly by any slam standards, this was a high number of wins from qualifiers and wild cards in one day!

The satisfying thing about this from a BOTP perspective was that most of us picked these wins – with even 45% of us predicting a first slam match win for one of the Pliskova twins.

There are 3 sets of sisters in the slam draw, and one of each pair of siblings has already been knocked out, with the others making it to round 2. Incidentally, Kris’ sister Karolina made some headlines yesterday for her tattoos – she was pictured in the Daily Fail – tattoos seemed quite topical after Ascot as well.


BOTP Roundup: day 02

Well, the rain put paid to the completion of the Round 1 matches, with 9 of the matches to be completed tomorrow. A few matches have already been started, with the oddest match to be resumed tomorrow being the Vandeweghe v Errani match – which had to be stopped at match point for Errani. They might have to go on court tomorrow, warm up, and play just the one point!!

Of the 25 matches completed today, only 5 had 100% picks – very low. This once again meant that there were plenty of points/ places gained and lost – and this was reflected in a much greater movement in the BOTP table than usual at this stage. I think that this is indicative of this being quite a tough pick ‘em to predict.

We managed to improve on our overall pick rate a little – 67.8% to 69.7%, which was good going. There were changes at the top o f the BOTP table, with lizzim slippin to 3rd, and cazza moving up to pole position and DN close behind in second place.

At the other end of the table, tlim had dropped 5 places into the BOTP basement. tables had also taken a wee tumble, down 9 places to 14th equal. 14th place is shared by 25% of the BOTP folk, including linda who also tumbled 11 places, and James, who climbed 4 places. However, the difference between 14th and 7th is just 2 points – so really, not much in it the moment.

It was a good day for vivahate who left the BOTP basement in style, moving up 10 places to 10th. Australian Open BOTP champ T01 also climbed 5 places to 10th.

So, yes, plenty of musical chairs played by the BOTP gang today. There will be more of that happening over the next few days, for sure!

[super8]

Hello again,

Here are the scores on the doors after a rain-affected day 03.

I will have to write the daily report tomorrow evening..

Quite a lot of movement in the BOTP table, to put it mildly!!

[Linda]

:crying:

[RoastLamb]

I cannot believe three big names went out today. That I'd picked! :grrr:

[DaveArneRiise]

Blimey down 9 places.

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 03

Good evening!

Going to hurtle through the report for yesterday’s play, so that I can get up to speed with today’s play.

Day 03 was a rain-affected day, yet 21 matches were completed – although some of those were admittedly carried over from rain-affected day 02!

Anyway. The following 9 round 01 matches were completed today:

The Tamira-Caro Match takes centre stage!

Tamira Paszek (AUT) d. (7) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 57 76(4) 64 (30-70)

With the rain, this centre court match was the only one taking place in the afternoon – and what a match it was. Tamira saved 2 match points in the second set on her way to winning in a 3+ hour match.

Nice to see such a good women’s match when the focus is solely on them. Didn’t a similar sort of thing happen last year with Venus v Date-Krumm?

Paszek of course won Eastbourne last week, and reached the 4th round at SW19 – and gave Serena a run for her money then – so is no mug on the green stuff.

Well done to the 30% of BOTPers who predicted this upset!

Another Canny Pick for the select Minority

Klara Zakopalova (CZE) d. (13) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 64 61 (10-90)

Well done to nevets and tabbles for picking this one! Dom had form on grass, having beaten Caro here last year, and only going out to Sharpie – but Klara had momentum after her impressive RG campaign and pretty much outplayed her today.

More straightforward Round 1 Picks

(14) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Mar’a JosŽ Mart’nez S‡nchez (ESP) 63 36 63 (100-0)
Alize Cornet (FRA) d. Nina Bratchikova (RUS) 60 76(1) (95-5)
(10) Sara Errani (ITA) d. (Q) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 61 63 (95-5)
(22) Julia Goerges (GER) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 62 62 (85-15)

Ana v MJMS the tightest match here – yet we all picked it correctly. Alize of course has just won a title on grass (though that didn’t help Mel Oudin), Errrani the RG runner-up, and Peer pretty poor on grass.

Majority Picks

Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) 57 63 63 (55-45)
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (Q) Annika Beck (GER) 63 36 63 (75-25)
Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) d. Mandy Minella (LUX) 46 63 63 (65-35)

All of these matches were tight 3-setters. The women’s first round has been an extremely competitive one, hasn’t it! At least everyone still has their tournament winner – unlike at RG, which was already carnage by this stage with Serena out, and Vika flirting with disaster.

Moving on to round 02…


Business as Usual.. well, nearly..!

(17) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Lourdes Dom’nguez Lino (ESP) 61 62 (100-0)
(30) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 76(4) 63 (90-5)
Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) 63 63 (95-0)
(15) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 36 62 86 (85-0)

The ‘’nearly’ referring to the close finish for the Sabrina v Bojana match, that was not without some controversy. During the match Sabine complained to the umpire a few times about Bojana’s grunting. This is what she said after the match:

"It was distracting. You usually hear the sound of the ball, but I couldn't really hear it because of her grunting. But that's why we have the rules, the hindrance rule.”

Lisicki was asked how it compared to Shrieky Vicky and Sharpie the Shrieking Harpie. Her response?

‘It was completely different, but off-putting as well. Grunting is part of the game, but it shouldn’t be off-putting and be an advantage for the opponent, the one who is doing it.’


The hindrance rule sounds like a very grey area – and of course a controversial one.


Swinging when you’re winning!

(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Elena Vesnina (RUS) 62 61 (65-0)
(12) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. S’lvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 61 36 61 (60-0)

The beneficiaries of these matches were the ones who predicted Aga to beat Venus (had they played) and Vera to beat Barthel in the previous round. They may get more swing points in round 3 if Vera beats Kim and Aga beats Heather Watson in round 03.
And speaking of the Guernsey Girl..

The Youngsters are Coming!!

Heather Watson (GBR) d. Jamie Hampton (USA) 61 64 (30-5)
Sloane Stephens (USA) d. (23) Petra Cetkovska (CZE) 76(6) 46 63 (20-65)
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) d. StŽphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) 64 61 (10-0)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (11) Li Na (CHN) 63 64 (10-90)
(Q) Camila Giorgi (ITA) d. Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 63 61 (0-0) :(
Arantxa Rus (NED) d. (5) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 62 06 64 (0-100)

..and not many of us saw this happening – all very much minority picks!

Here is the roll call for those who had inspired choices:

Watson James4578 - liam valid - RoastLamb - SallyDaisy - T01 tabbles
Stephens IconA - RoastLamb - tabbles - tlim
Hsieh liam valid - nevets
Cirstea SallyDaisy - Alli

Well done, all of you!!

Of course, seeing as we all picked Pennetta v Tanasugarn rather than Giorgi d Tatishvili, we were served a BOTP double bagel.

And what about Arantxa Rus, eh? Sam Stosur’s grasscourt credentials were questioned on both the CC and am.com boards before the tournament, yet we all picked her to win this one. What a win for Rus.


BOTP Roundup: Day 03

Well, the exits of Wozniacki, Li and Stosur and the surprise emergence of the youngster in round 2 meant that our pick rate took a bit of a dent today. Very few folk got more than 50% of the results correct for round 2 so far, with the notable exception of tabbles, who seems to like motoring up the BOTP board of late. tabbles picked 8 out of the 12 correctly to move up 13 places to joint 1st with big al and lizzim.

It was also an excellent day for SallyDaisy who also motored up the table, up 9 places to 5th. Sally, liam, tlim and James were the only others to get over 50% picks right.

At the other end of the scale, it was not a good day for DAR, Linda and mojo, who all picked just 4 out of 12 on round 2 – but poor nevets had a bit of a ‘mare, with just 3 correct picks from 12. As things stand, they’re all vying for that BOTP basement slot.

Certainly there was musical chairs aplenty. However.. It is actually still pretty tight. There is just a 4 point gap between 1st and 11th place. And plenty of scope for more musical chairs. Or maybe this is more like pinning the tail onto the donkey?

[DaveArneRiise]

Did Wickmayer win her match today?

[super8]

Did Wickmayer win her match today?

I don't know.. I haven't seen the results for today yet! I'm just about to check them out..

[super8]

Hello again!

Well, here are the scores on the doors after day 04:

(And Dave, Wicky did indeed win...!)

All change again!!

[RoastLamb]

Just so relieved Shazza won today. She is looking really sharp! But Serena is a worry (meaning a threat to Shazza).

[super8]

Just so relieved Shazza won today. She is looking really sharp! But Serena is a worry (meaning a threat to Shazza).

Masha looked sharp at RG, and she's carried that over to SW19, in spite of Sveti being inspired at times in their match. It was a tricky matchup for her.

Haven't seen Serena yet, but I would suspect that she's probably on a mission.

But they both have some potentially tough matches ahead. Whether they do both reach the final, who knows?

[JAMES4578]

Maria was certainly given a scare and I thought she'd win in straights having been break up in the 2nd overnight but she did breeze through the 3rd against Pironkova, a player with grass court form of course. Quite a few upsets over the last few days and I've lost a quarter finalist in Bartoli who was shocked by qualifier Lucic (who lost to Graf in the 1999 semis!) Didn't pick Stosur going out to Rus but only had her making the 3rd round. I very nearly plumped for Paszek to put out Wozniacki but in the end wasn't sure Tamira would play at the same level and played safe in the end.

[RoastLamb]

I very nearly plumped for Paszek to put out Wozniacki but in the end wasn't sure Tamira would play at the same level and played safe in the end.

Same here! That's another d'oh moment for me. (Along with picking Rafa to win Wimbly this year!)

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 04

Hello again!

It is late, so will definitely make this a shorter report.

Day 04 saw the completion of all but one of the remaining 20 round 2 matches – so, 38 points up for grabs today – potentially..!

Round 1 Minority Pickers Reap their rewards!

Tamira Paszek (AUT) d. AlizŽ Cornet (FRA) 62 61 (30-0)
Klara Zakopalova (CZE) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 26 61 62 (10-0)
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) 46 63 86 (15-0)

If you were one of the few who picked Tamira to beat Caro, Klara to beat little Dom, Wicky to beat Kuzzy in round 1, then all but one of you also picked them to win round 2 too. Handy 3-pointer for you all!

“Party Like it’s 1999!�

(Q) Mirjana Lucic (CRO) d. (9) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 64 63 (0-100)

Well, at Wimbledon back in 1999, Mirjana Lucic beat Monica Seles and Natalie Tauziat on her way to the semi finals before she was knocked out by Steffi Graf.

That seems a lifetime ago! Today’s win over Bartoli was Mirjana’s first win over a top 10 player in 13 years – that was her SW19 quarter final win against Tauziat back when she was just 17.

It’s also the first time she’s reached round 3 of a slam since the French Open in 2001 when she was beaten by Jennifer Capriati.

None of us saw this coming, of course, and had all predicted Marion to win.

�The French Open, and Momentum�

Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. (31) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 76(4) 64 (30-70)
(WC) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. Kiki Bertens (NED) 64 64 (25-0)

Varvara beat Sciavone and Jankovic at RG to reach round 4. Yaro fought through the qualies to make the last 8, beating Na Li along the way (they both lost to Kvitova there btw) Breakthrugh slams for them – and continuing their form. So much for players not transferring form between RG and SW19!!

A good pick for 25-30% of BOTP folk. Mind you, Lepchenko plays Kvitova again in the next round..

BOTP Pick-Rate Boosters: 100% picks

(1) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 76(3) 67(3) 60
(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Romina Oprandi (SUI) 62 60
(4) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Elena Baltacha (GBR) 60 64
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (Q) Melinda Czink (HUN) 61 64
(8) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 75 63
(14) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 63 76(3)
(28) Christina McHale (USA) d. Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 75 75

Ah, after the topsy-turvey results involving top players, it was back to straight sets wins for the big guns – with the notable exception of Sharpie, who forfeited her overnight break of serve in the second set to Tsveti, but then duly served her a bagel as retribution for having the temerity to do such a thing..

Poor Bally got hit off the court for the first 8-9 games against Kvitova. She did well to fight back in the second set.

Nearly-100%ers – more handy BOTP points

(10) Sara Errani (ITA) d. Anne Keothavong (GBR) 61 61 (95-5)
(20) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Timea Babos (HUN) 64 67(3) 97 (90-0)
(21) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Marina Erakovic (NZL) 64 63 (80-0)
(22) Julia Goerges (GER) d. Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) 76(3) 62 (85-0)
(24) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (Q) Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 64 64 (80-0)
(25) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 64 62 (75-15)

Well, Errani was just too consistently good for Anne Keo today. In fact, Errani – and earlier on, Klara Zak, are yet more examples of players who did well at Roland Garros but also doing well at Wimby.

Must mention Timea Babos’ heroic effort against Nadia Petrova. Another 3+ hour epic, with the final set alone lasting over an hour and a half!

The Italians are doing well, btw. 4 of them have made round 03..


BOTP: Damage Assessment

BOTP Picks lost:

Winners: None!!
Finalists: None!!
Semi Finalists: Bartoli (5%) Stosur (15%) Na Li (20%) Venus (20%)

BOTPers: semi finalist picks remaining

All 4 intact: 45%
3 left: 50%
2 left: 5%

BOTP Day 04: Summary

Well, it was a good day for most folk in terms of pick-rate for the day, with everyone over the 50% mark with picks. nevets top-scored for the day, with an excellent 16 correct picks out of 19 for the day. Well done nevets! As a result, nevets jumped 7 places up the table to 12th.

It was also a good day for northernlight/ super8, who picked 15 out of 19 to move up 7 places to 2nd, just the one point behind big al, whose 14 correct picks kept him in pole position.

The average pick was 13 from 19 – about 70% - so most folk did pretty well, all told. After her leap up the table yesterday, SallyDaisy took a week bit of a tumble, dropping 9 places to 14th. Icona did exactly the same – both of them had 11 picks from 19, as did tlim who has reclaimed his BOTP basement residency.

So, there is a little more of a gap in the table, with 6 points separating the top 12. However, after the completion of the one round 2 match left tomorrow (AMG v Cepelova), we’re onto 3 points per win with the round 3 matches. Plenty of scope for more BOTP musical chairs.

[super8]

'Morning everyone!

Here are the scores on the BOTP doors after day 05:

Report to follow..

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 05

‘Afternoon!

Day 05 saw the completion of the remaining match of the second round and the 8 third round matches of the top half of the draw. How did they pan out?

Qualifiers Serving BOTP Bagels!

(Q) Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. (26) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 67(7) 76(5) 63 (0-85)
(Q) Camila Giorgi (ITA) d. (20) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 63 76(6) (0-80)


The Cep v AMG match was the remaining round 2 match, and one that I would have thought to have been a 2-pointer for 85% of BOTP folk. It certainly looked that way towards the end of the second set.

However, the young Slovak prevailed. She’s really come out of nowhere in this tournament. Her one success of note was winning girls’ doubles at Aus Open in 2010.

Camila Giorgi, however, is making waves. She’s 5 foot 6, and hits a very flat ball. Another pocket rocket in the game of tall players, perhaps? She beat Pennetta in round 1, Tatishvili in round 2. Beating Petrova is actually less of a shock considering she also beat her in Memphis earlier this year. Nadia was 5-2 up in the second set too.

Giorgi also qualified for Wimbledon last year, which is also the only other Slam MD that she has played in (she lost to Pironkova in round 1). Clearly, as with Pironkova, she likes the surface!

Anyway. No points for us.

Form Players live up to their billing

(1) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) 61 64
(8) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (28) Christina McHale (USA) 62 63

We all picked these two to win their respective matches, against tricky opponents - and they duly did so, in straight sets.

Aga Outclasses Heather

(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Heather Watson (GBR) 60 62 (65-0)

Whilst Heather is a very good counter-puncher, she needs to be given pace to do this. This was never going to happen with Aga, who was likely to be a bad matchup for Heather. And so it proved.
Aga continued to be a good pick for those who chose her instead of Venus (the other 35% of BOTPers).

Kim and Sabine march on

Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (12) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 63 43 ret. (respiratory illness) (80-10)
(15) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Sloane Stephens (USA) 76(5) 16 62 (75-0)

The Kim v Bepa match ended in floods of tears for the Russian as she was coughing and spluttering into her towel. Bepa had not played well, and was clearly under the weather. Kim, by contrast was solid won well.

Sabine in another topsy-turvey match. But both matches were good results for the vast majority of us.

Minority Picks

(17) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 63 61 (25-5)
(30) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Arantxa Rus (NED) 61 62 (5-0)

In her first 2 matches, Kirilenko lost just 7 games (only matched by Vika) – and now equals her best showing at SW19 in 9 appearances.

It was a good result for James, Mojo, Sally, T01 and tlim. the rest of us had picked Na Li for this one.

Peng made the 4th round at SW19 last year for the first time, where she lost to Sharapova. This time, she will play Kirilenko.

Well done to James again – he was the only person to pick this result! 90% of went for Stosur, and an interesting 5% for Gadjosova (Maverick points to DaveArneRiise!)

BOTP Roundup: Day 05

Not a good day for us, overall, with a daily pick-rate of just 52%. James had the good day, picking 6 of the 8 round 3 matches – and so moved up 7 places to 5th. nevets, alli and RoastLamb all took a wee bit of a tumble with 3 picks from 8.

However, not nearly as much movement in the table, overall, with the top 4 unchanged. tlim now has company in the BOTP basement in DaveArneRiise - but it’s equally close at the bottom – as it is at the top too, where just 5 points separate the top 9.

[super8]

Hello again..

Well, the Women's matches were all on early today, for some reason - all 8 matches finished well before 5pm!

So, here is the BOTP table after the first week of the tournament:

[RoastLamb]

Happy both my finalists and all my semi-finalists are still safe.

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 6

Well, today is of course 'tennis-free middle Sunday'. Handy for getting up to speed with BOTP reports at a leisurely pace.

�Yaro’s Golden Set, and Serena/Jie’s Golden Match�

(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (25) Zheng Jie (CHN) 67(5) 62 97 (100-0)
(WC) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. (10) Sara Errani (ITA) 60 64 (15-45)

Whilst everyone correctly predicted that Serena would win her match, it was a close run thing! Jie’s causes Serena so many problems; they have played 3 times, and all of these matches have gone the distance. This report on the match seemed to sum it up quite well.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/30/wimbledon-2012-serena-williams-jie-zheng?newsfeed=true

Yaro Shvedova’s win over French Open finalist Sara Errani was impressive in the scoreline itself – but, as many of you will know already – was all the moreso because the 6-0 first set was a ‘Golden Set’, where Yaro won all 24 points played in that 15-minute set.

The golden set stats are attached.

It is certainly a remarkable achievement, and one not attained by even the likes of Graf, Martina Nav even at their most dominant. What is even more remarkable is that only one other WTA player has come close to achieving this before, in 2006 when she won 23 points and lost her first set point.

The player involved? Yaroslava Shvedova. She was playing Amy Frazier in Memphis. She double-faulted at 5-0, 40-0 – and then lost the match, 1-6, 6-0, 6-0!!!

Even more peculiar is that Yaro didn’t realise that she had won a ‘Golden Set’ until it was mentioned to her after the match yesterday – and couldn’t remember the Memphis match either.

Anyway, 15% of us were rewarded for sticking with Yaro, with 45% backing Errani before she encountered the whirlwind of Yaro. The other 40% had picked Lucie Safarova.

Yaro’s achievement has already been mentioned to Serena. Her responses?

“I immediately thought, ‘She won all four in a row and the Olympics?’ (referring to the four Grand Slam tournaments) “I thought that wasn’t possible. That’s the only golden thing I know of.�

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to win a point in the set. That will be my first goal, and then I’ll go from there.�


�Brit-Slayers March On�

(24) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 60 64 (5-5)
(4) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 61 60 (95-0)

Well, Petra Kvitova had 95% BOTP backing against Varvara Lepchenko, who can also give the ball a fair old whack. Whilst Petra won 12 of the 13 games played, she won just 60% of the points played. Shows how scores alone can be deceptive!

Francy’s good form continued, despatching the in-form Klara Zak. Only 1 BOTPer backed either player in this match. tabbbles got a handy 3 points in picking Schiavone, and nevets had picked Klara. Dom Cibulkova had 90% backing to win this one.


"Eastbourne Champ and RG Doubles Champ Prevail"

Tamira Paszek (AUT) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 26 76(4) 75 (25-0)
(21) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. (Q) Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 76(4) 76(3) (0-0)

The Paszek v Wicky match was such a tight one. Wicky actually served for the match at 5-4 in the final set.

It was yet another dramatic and competitive women’s match, with the 2nd and 3rd sets . Wicky actually won more points than Tamira (117-115), and both hit twice as many winners to UE’s.

25 of the 30% of BOTPers who picked Paszek to beat Caro in round 1 also picked her to make round 4 – so a handy 6 points for Big Al, fah51, [b]liam/b], nevets, vivahate. No-one had backed Wicky, and the rest of us had picked Caro (55%) or Kuznetsova (20%) – the players that Tamira and Yanina had beaten.

Vinci put an end to Lucic’s fairy-tale run in 2 tie-breaks. It’s been a good tournament for the Italian players. It was however a double-bagel for us – no-one predicted either player! 80% had predicted Vinci would get this far, but no-one predicted her to go further. 85% had picked Bartoli. Intriguingly, 15% had picked Urszula Radwanska to win this.


"Vika sees off Jana, Ana outhits Julia"

(14) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (22) Julia Goerges (GER) 36 63 64 (90-10)
(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (Q) Jana Cepelova (SVK) 63 63 (95-0)

The commentators described the Ana v Julia match as a matchup of mirroring games – they were more or less right!

Cepelova was pretty impressive in her match against Vika – quite an effective backhand, both cross-court and down the line. Vika was always a few levels above and never in danger of losing this one.

A handy pair of results for us with 90% picking Ana, and 95% going for Vika.


BOTP Roundup: Day 06

So – all round 03 matches completed, and 16 names left in the draw. 112 of the 127 matches completed.

It wasn’t a great day for BOTP folk. It was generally all or nothing, with 4 results almost unanimously picked, and 4 with next-to-no-one picking! The pick rate for the day of roughly 50% therefore resulted.

It was however a good day for nevets, who top-scored for the day with 6 out of 8 correct picks – and moved up 7 places to 9th.

Everyone else picked either 4 or 5 out of 8 – only Sally and Cazza picked fewer, with 3 each – and dropped 4 and 3 places respectively. No changes in the top 3, with Al still in the lead – and no changes in the bottom 4 either.

With Errani’s defeat, we also lost another predicted semi finalist, with Linda the one who had backed the Italian. Otherwise, everyone still has plenty of players left in the draw. Of the 8 matches in round 04 nearly everyone potentially has 5-6 winners – quite unusual in a WTA pick ‘em..

[super8]

Hello again,

Well, thanks to the early scheduling, all 8 round 04 matches were completed today - so, unlike the men's side, things are actually on schedule.

So, here is the BOTP table after day 07.

I had planned to write a report this evening, but unfortunately won't be able to. I will hope to catch up on things tomorrow. As ever, feel free to add your thoughts on proceedings, if you wish.

[RoastLamb]

My winner has gone! :crying: :crying: :crying:

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 07

Well, we were down to the last 16 – so all were battling for a place in the last 8 – so, have taken the matches, and have grouped them into the pairs on the draw.


Auf Gehts Angie & Sabine!

(15) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (1) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 64 63 (0-100)
(8) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Kim Clijsters (BEL) 61 61 (55-35)

Well, Sharapova was heavy favourite coming into this match, especially as Sabine had never beaten her. Probably what counted against the Siberian was that she was French Open champion. Sabine has now beaten the reigning French Open 3 times in a Wimbledon match in the last 4 years. She did for Kuznetsova in 2009, Na Li in 2011, and Sharpie this year.

None of us saw this coming. A German BOTP Bagel for us then!

Votes were split on the Kerber v Clijsters match – but the match itself was nowhere near as close, with Angie storming to victory, and pretty much outplaying Kim. Handy for 55% of us.


"Maria Minor however succeeds, Aga wins in straights again"

(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Camila Giorgi (ITA) 62 63 (60-0)
(17) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. (30) Peng Shuai (CHN) 61 67(6) 63 (5-0)

Giorgi simply did not have enough ammunition to blow Aga off the court, and the Pole’s superior courtplay ensured a comfortable win, which was good news for 60% of BOTPers. 30% had picked Venus, 10% Nadia Petrova.

Incidentally, Lisicki and Kerber have a Polish background – so, could have been 3 polish players in the quarter finals.

Maria Minor managed to fight off a determined challenge from Peng Shuai to reach her first slam quarter final. Only 1 BOTPer predicted that she would do this. Congratulations to james4578!

The rest of us picked Na Li (55%), Sam Stosur (35%) and DaveArneRiise still sticking with Jarmila Gajdosova.


Crunch Match Beckons for Serena and Petra!

(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (WC) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 61 26 75 (95-0)
(4) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (24) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 46 75 61 (95-0)

But both had to win tough 3-setters to set up their showdown!

Yaro fought so valiantly, but Serena squeaked through another tight finish as the rain started to fall towards the end of the final set.

The rain seemed to bother Francy immensely in her match with Petra – and arguably contributed towards losing concentration and momentum in a match that perhaps she should have won in the second set. However, Petra seized the chance that came her way.

This was arguably a predictable quarter final lineup – and is proven by the fact that 95% of BOTPers all predicted it successfully. Go us!


Mismatch-r-us

(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (14) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 61 60 (95-5)
Tamira Paszek (AUT) d. (21) Roberta Vinci (ITA) 62 62 (0-0)

The final 2 matches of the draw ended up being mismatches. Vika v Ivanovic awas predicably so, and reflected in the 95% vote for the Belarussian, and 5% for Ana (courtesy of SallyDaisy).

For once, Tamira had a pretty easy passage into the last 8. None of us had picked either her or Vinci to win this match, so were duly served a BOTP double bagel.


BOTP Summary: Day 07

well, once again, it was an all or nothing sort of scenario for the BOTP gang. We were all in the same boat, one way or another – with a notable exception of the Kerber match – as well as the Princess Kirilenko match.

It was James4578’s prediction of Maria that set him apart from the rest of the BOTP pack on the day, with this inspired pick giving him 6 picks out of a possible 8, and resulting in him moving 4 places up to 3rd in the table.

Those who picked 5 out of 8 also did pretty well. DaveArneRiise moved up 7 to 12th, liam valid up 6 to 11th. T01 up 2 to 6th, and Big Al, Northernlight/ Super8 and fah51 consolidating their positions of 1st, 2nd and 4th respectively.

Overall, it was once again a 50% pick rate for the day, with Sharpie’s loss certainly denting our pick rate. We have all lost our finalist from the top half of the draw – and 60% of us have also lost our predicted winner. Everyone else still has their winners in the draw - but how indeed will this BOTP pan out?

[super8]

Hello!

Here is the BOTP table after an eventful day 08:

[RoastLamb]

Good stuff, James! :clap:

[JAMES4578]

I see that I'm top at least for now! Whilst my winner Serena is still there I did pick Sharapova to reach the final. Lisicki was indeed hot but Maria's performance was disappointing, serve was a weakness on some of the key points. Perhaps she wasn't quite mentally prepared for the challenge after her success at the French. Serena was certainly very strong today and whilst Petra had her moments she erred on many of the crunch points, sometimes I felt she was going for winners too early and she only ever had one break point on Williams' serve. Kerber and Lisicki was certainly a good contest with many twists in the plot. Maybe some nervy moments but certainly some drama. Anjelique had 3 match points in the 2nd and then seemed to lose it mentally at a crucial stage in the 3rd and Sabine served fopr the match at 5-3 but Kerber seemed to go for broke for and won 4 games in a row to take it. Perhaps a challenge at 4-5 and 0-15 helped her cause. Only seen some of Radwanska and kirkilenko but it was a very tight affair which was constantly interrupted, which Agnieszka finallly won 7-5 in the 3rd with the final stages being complted on cente court! I have seen Kirkilenko quite a few times and piicked her tro reach the quarters as I fancied her chances moore than either Sam or Li Na. Vika got through in straights but Tamira gave a good account of herself in the 2nd.

[super8]

BOTP Report: Day 08

Well, day 08 saw the eventual completion of all 4 quarter finals – in spite of the inclement weather impacting things once again! Here’s how the matches panned out and how they impacted BOTP:


The ‘A’ students prevail in 3-set epics!

(8) Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (15) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 63 67(7) 75 (0-0)
(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (17) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 75 46 75 (45-0)

This was in theory the weaker top half of the draw. However, these 2 matches arguably created much more drama than the bottom half matches.

Both Angie and Sabine have reached slam semi finals before – the US Open and Wimbledon respectively. And how they battled for the coveted semi final spot! Sabine saved 4 match points in the second set – and Angie fought back from 5-3 down in the final set! An epic struggle worthy of a quarter final match.

None of us, however, had predicted that either of them would reach the semi final. We all opted for Maria Sharapova.

Radwanska Major and Maria Minor also had an epic match, that started at about 2pm, and fnished after 9pm! It was also a ding-dong struggle, with Maria doing her best to take the match to the Pole. It was left tantalisingly poised at 4-4 15-0 in the final set, before they moved courts to Centre to complete the match. Once again, the stakes were high, as neither of them had reached a slam semi final before – and how that also fought to achieve this ‘first’ – but Aga squeaked through in the end.

The Aga v Venus match in round 02 is proving to be quite the swing match. Of the 65% who had predicted her to beat Vee in round 02, 45% of BOTPers had picked her to make the semis – it has reaped a benefit of 14 points over the Vee backers..

20% of BOTPers had picked Vee to make the semis – 20% had picked Na Li, and 15% Sam Stosur.


Serena wins battle of the Heavyweights, Vika ends Tamira’s dream run

(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (4) Petra Kvitova (CZE) 63 75 (55-40)
(2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Tamira Paszek (AUT) 63 76(4) (90-0)

Well, it would appear that Serena’s ‘A’ game made an appearance today. Lots of good quality, heavy hitting from both players – Petra even had set points in the second set. However, Serena was the better player on the day, and a worthy winner.

The Serena v Kvitova match was indeed another swing match, with 55% picking Serena and 40% picking Petra. Of those BOTPers, 70% had also picked either of them to make the final in the bottom half of the draw. So, those picking Serena could reap some big benefits as a result.

Tamira fought hard against Vika, but always seemed to be on the brink as Vika, continually threatened her service matches, to set up a crunch match with the 4-time Wimbledon champion

Vika was heavy favourite to win, also securing 90% of the BOTP popular vote to make the semi finals for the second year running.


BOTP Summary: Day 08

The exit of Sharapova in the previous round meant that no-one could correctly pick more than 3 of the 4 semi-finalists. However, 5 of the BOTP folk did indeed manage to do just that.

James, lizzim, vivahate, liam and tlim were the ones to do so. Please all of you, take a bow!

As a result of this inspired picking, James moved up 2 places to claim top spot from Big Al. lizzim and vivahate both moved up 2 places to 5th equal. Both liam and tlim had been residents in the BOTP basement – but that was a distant memory for both of them. liam moved up 4 places to 7th, and tlim moved up 6 places to 12th.

At the other end of the table, poor Sally became the first BOTP to lose all of her picks, with iconA’s 1 correct pick of Serena moving him out of bottom spot. The Serena v Petra match had been a swing one for them too, with Sally having picked Petra.

So, James leads Big Al by 3 points, with just 3 matches to go. By my calculations, 3 BOTP folk can still win this pick ‘em. How will this turn out?

I shall be away from Friday until Monday, so won’t be able to update this until then. I’m sure that everyone can handle the suspense until then! I thought that the 4 quarter final matches were very good contests. Hopefully the semis and final will also prove to be good matches.

[super8]

Hello again!

Well, with everyone long since gone from SW19, and the Olympic rings are already being put up in the grounds, this may well be the most belated update of any of the Wimbledon predictions comps.

Anyway. Here is the BOTP report after the semi finals that took place way back on day 10.

BOTP Report: Semi Finals

(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (8) Angelique Kerber (GER) 63 64 (0-0)
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (2) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 63 76(6) (40-25)

Well, with Sharapova the 100% pick to reach the final from the top half of the draw, the Aga v Angie semi drew a complete blank for us, irrespective of the outcome. As things turned out, Aga was too solid for Angie, and ran out a comfortable straight sets winner.

By contrast, there was plenty riding on the Serena v Vika match. In fact, many of those picking either player to win this one had also had their pick winning the tournament. The outcome of this match could therefore become a 13-pointer for some.

40% had picked Serena, with 30% picking her to win.
25% had picked VIka, with 10% picking her to win.

It was therefore a very handy 6 points for those backing Serena – including nevets who I think had a very astute change of mind with his predictions, with version 2 picking the American to win this match.

BOTP Summary: Day 10

Well, the scoring today was pretty prosaic; it you picked Serena to win her match, you scored 6 valuable points. Not such a good day!

Mind you, predicting these semi finalists alone was a tricky task. It seemed reasonable enough to predict that Kvitova and Sharapova would make the semis, especially after their exceptional French Opens. In fact, the 4 semi finalists at SW19 were completely different to those at RG!!

In terms of the BOTP table, both James and [/b]Big Al[/b] had picked Serena, so strengthened their positions at the top of the table, opening up a 7-point gap between 2nd and 3rd place. Surprisingly, not a big amount of movement elsewhere in the table, with the biggest climber being tlim, moving up 3 places to 9th. Cazza and T01 did tumble 4 places each to make way for tlim, DN, RoastLamb and nevets.

No change to the top 7, but certainly the risers below them had closed the gap significantly on them. Final BOTP report and table to follow shortly..

[super8]

BOTP: Final Report

Well, one more match to go!

(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 61 57 62 (30-0)

Well, the potential 13-pointer for those predicting Serena to win both the semi and the final proved to be just that – although I wonder how many would have predicted that she would be taken to 3 sets by Aga Rad?

A quick recap of the picks for the winner:

Sharapova 60%
Serena 30%
Vika 10%

30% of us correctly picking the winner wasn’t bad going, compared with the French Open, where only 5% of us managed to do so!

The roll call of those gaining those 13 points for the Serena Semi and Serena final were James, Big Al, liam valid, nevets DNand IconA – fine predicting from all of you!!

The result of this was that icona moved up 3 places to 15th, DN up 2 places to 9th. liam and nevets stormed into the top 4, both moving up 4 places into 3rd and 4th respectively.

However, both James and big al remained first and second by some distance with 11 points between Al and liam.

Big Al top-scored in terms of number of correct picks with 87. However, he could not dislodge James from the top of the table, who was a worthy BOTP champion. Well done James!!

In terms of key aspects of the pick ‘em, I am thinking that James’ inspired pick of Kirilenko to reach the quarter finals enabled him to nudge Al into second place. In terms of swing matches deciding the outcome of the pick ‘em, these were as follows:

Sharapova v Lisicki
Serena v Kvitova
Serena v Azarenka

Had Vika managed to beat Serena in the semi finals, then fah51 would have won BOTP, irrespective of the outcome of the final. Had Vika lost the final, then she would have tied with James but would have won having more correct picks. Had Vika won she would have been outright winner.

If Sharpie had beaten Lisicki then it would have made no difference to BOTP. The only way that her tournament would have impacted BOTP in any way was if she had won the whole thing. Even if she’d made the final, and lost to Serena, then the BOTP table would have been exactly the same.

Now, had Kvitova beaten Serena, then that would have changed things a lot. Had she then lost to Vika in the semis, then fah51 would have won again. Had she then won the top 3 would have been NL/ Super8, Tabbles and cazza99

But of course, this is all just idle conjecture! But certainly goes to show how those swing matches can significantly impact the BOTP outcome.

Well, that just about wraps up the 2012 Wimbledon BOTP. Many congratulations to James4578 again for being a worthy champ, and also to Big Al for an excellent second place.

Many thanks to all of you for taking part – I hope that you enjoyed it, and that it added to, what I thought was a relatively decent women’s tournament, all told.

[RoastLamb]

Well done James!!! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

[Sallydaisy]

Thanks for all the work you've put in Super8!
Not long until the USO!
;)

[JAMES4578]

Thanks again Super8, appreciate all your efforts. Glad I came out on top this time, though still did ponder a bit with my pick for champion.. Had Serena even had just a decent run at Rolland Garros sure a few more would have made the same choice!