By Chris Oddo | Sunday July 8, 2018
Serena Williams has assumed top dog status after a stream of upsets has cratered the women's singles draw at Wimbledon.
Photo Source: CameraSport
Wimbledon, England—It’s one of the greatest days of the tennis season, fabled Manic Monday, when all 16 round of 16 encounters take place at Wimbledon. We’re here to preview the action on the women’s side, where chaos has swept through the draw and only one Top 10 seed has made it to the second week for the first time in Wimbledon history.
Hsieh Su-Wei vs. Dominika Cibulkova
Head-to-head: Cibulkova leads 2-0
Though she won’t openly embrace it as a narrative, it appears that former quarterfinalist Dominika Cibulkova is playing with a chip on her shoulder at Wimbledon this year. She was knocked off the seeding list when the tournament elected to give Serena Williams the 25th seed, but that difficult blow hasn’t stopped her from powering into week two as one of the most impressive players in the main draw.
Wins over No.22-seeded Johanna Konta and No.15-seeded Elise Mertens in straight sets demonstrate the type of form Cibulkova is carrying at the moment.
The Slovakian owns a 7-1 lifetime record in R16 matches at majors and has been the best server on the women’s side of the tournament in week one, winning 25 of 27 of her service games to lead all remaining players. She owns a 2-0 lifetime record against Chinese Tapei’s Su-Wei Hsieh, but she’ll surely have her hands full with the 32-year-old who has set a personal career-high for Grand Slam wins in a single season with six. Hsieh was brilliant in taking down top-seeded Simona Halep on Day 6, and her wicked backhand and uncanny ability to keep points alive while on the defense are major strong points.
Pick: Cibulkova in 3
[12] Jelena Ostapenko vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Head-to-head: Ostapenko leads 2-0
Have to hand it to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko. She has bounced back beautifully from a difficult first-round loss at Roland Garros, where she became the first WTA player to lose at the first hurdle of her Roland Garros title defense since 2005, and hit the ground running at Wimbledon. Ostapenko seems to like the action on the grass at SW19 because she knows she has to be aggressive to have success here. So she goes for the lines and hits with her trademark boldness, and so far she has yet to drop a set.
Sasnovich has done a brilliant job of backing up her first-round shocker over Petra Kvitova. She won nine of the final ten games to knock off Daria Gavrilova and reach the round of 16 at a major for the first time. The 24-year-old is a fantastic mover on the grass and she’s returning exceptionally well. She ranks second among remaining players in percentage of return games won (17/29, 59 percent) and she could pose problems for Ostapenko and make it a back-and-forth struggle.
Pick: Ostapenko in 3
[14] Daria Kasatkina vs. Alison Van Uytvanck
Head-to-head: Kasatkina leads, 1-0
After stunning defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza on Day 4, Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck backed it up with a takedown of 28th-seeded Anett Kontaveit to reach the second week of a major for the first time. Waiting for her there is a 21-year-old who has been making a habit of deep runs at the Slams. Daria Kasatkina has now reached the second week in three of four majors and she was mighty impressive in her Day 6 straight-sets win over one of the hottest grass-court players on the tour, Ash Barty.
Kasatkina leads all WTA players in percentage of return games won and she’s been opportunistic, converting 19 of her 26 break points through three rounds. She says the grass allows her to be creative, and she’s clearly finding her way on the surface. It will be interesting to see how she attempts to defuse the big game of Van Uytvanck—the Belgian ranks third in percentage of service games won (25/30) and fourth in unreturned first-serves (43%) among the 16 remaining WTA players.
Pick: Kasatkina in 3
[11] Angelique Kerber vs. Belinda Bencic
Head-to-head: Kasatkina leads, 1-0
If you’re wondering why Belinda Bencic only owns a 7-7 record in 2018 thus far, don’t think that talent has anything to do with it. It’s about her health, Bencic had wrist surgery last season and saw her ranking plummet—this year it was a foot injury. But here on the grass she has recaptured her form. She defeated sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia in round one then saved four match points to get by American Alison Riske in the second round. She’ll head into her second round of 16 at Wimbledon with a lot of confidence, because she owns a 3-0 lifeteme record against Angelique Kerber.
Kerber is the only WTA player to have reached the second week at all three majors and she owns an impressive 26-10 lifetime record at SW19, which included a trip to the final in 2016. Is this the place and time for Kerber to truly recapture the form that saw her rise to No.1 and win two majors in 2016?
Pick: Kerber in 3
[7] Karolina Pliskova vs. [20] Kiki Bertens
Head-to-head: Pliskova leads 2-1
Karolina Pliskova is the lone Top 10 seed to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon on the women’s side. That in and of itself is a remarkable achievement, but when one takes into account that she had failed to reach the third round on her previous seven appearances at SW19, one can appreciate the improbability of it all. Now the Czech looks to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal out of her last eight appearances, with a very good shot at a deeper run if she does.
Pliskova showed her steel when she battled back from a set and 4-1 down to defeat Mihaela Buzarnescu in the third round—it could be a sign that she’s ready for more success here at Wimbledon.
Her opponent, No.20-seeded Kiki Bertens is bidding for her first Grand Slam quarterfinal on a surface other than clay. She stunned five-time champion Venus Williams on Day 5, and though she’s not known for grass-court prowess, the victory could be the one that wakes up the potential of the powerful Dutchwoman on this surface. “I think I can play really well on grass, like when my serve is going well, when I really play aggressive, when I believe in it, then I think I can play well,” she said.
Pick: Pliskova in 3
[13] Julia Goerges vs. Donna Vekic
Head-to-head: Goerges Leads 1-0
Lo and behold. In Vekic we see another relatively unheralded player backing up a big upset of a Top 10 seed. The Croatian knocked off No.4-seeded Sloane Stephens in the first round and has since moved into the round of 16 without dropping a set. Vekic leads all remaining WTA players in percentage of unreturned first-serves and ranks fourth in percentage of service games won. In other words, she's serving lights-out.
The matchup with Goerges could work in her favor on grass. Goerges ranks last in percentage of return games won and last in percentage of break points won. The German will either need to serve extraordinarily well or find ways to break Vekic—which won’t be easy.
Pick: Vekic in 2
[25] Serena Williams vs. Evgeniya Rodina
Head-to-head: First meeting
Serena Williams has hit the ground running at Wimbledon and has improved with every match. The seven-time champion may just be at the cusp of what she can produce, and now that she is confident in her physical fitness, we may see an altogether more imperious Williams in week two. She’ll face qualifier Evgeniya Rodina of Russia, a player who has done wonderfully to reach the second week of a major for the first time, but also a player that began to show the wear and tear of winning six matches in a little over a week in London.
Expect Williams to dismiss Rodina rather routinely, but not before the Russian shows a bit of the fortitude and fire that brought her to a career-best performance at Wimbledon this year.
Pick: Williams in 2
Camila Giorgi vs Ekaterina Makarova
Head-to-head: First meeting
It’s about time that these two tried-and-true veterans on the WTA Tour locked horns, and what better place to have them do it than at Wimbledon. Makarova, who upset No.2-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the second round, will bid to make her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, while Giorgi, who owns a 13-7 record at Wimbledon and has reached the round of 16 before, will bid for her first major quarterfinal.
Giorgi saved a match point to win her third-round contest with Katerina Siniakova, and both Giorgi and Makarova have gone three sets twice in week one.
Expect another three-setter as these two battle for the first time on Monday.
Pick: Giorgi in 3