Ladies' Quarterfinals Preview

The men get the day off on Tuesday, leaving the women to carry the day. Each match features a top four seed, meaning that we could get the top four ranked players in the world in the semifinals, which would be the first time that had happened on the women's side this decade.

CENTRE - SHOW COURT - 1.00 PM START

1. Dinara Safina (RUS) [1] 1 vs Sabine Lisicki (GER) 26
A perplexing battle between an underperformer and an overperformer. It's tough to say who will win, but based on who has been playing closer to their best, it would have to be Lisicki. I think Safina's difficulties on grass will finally catch up with her against the flat hitting, aggressive, courageous German, and she'll be the sole spoiler to the top four party in the semis.
Prediction: Lisicki in three.

2. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [8] 97 vs Serena Williams (USA) [2] 128
This one could be quite the bloody affair. The two met in the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier this year, with Azarenka winning the first set then retiring midway through the second due to vertigo symptoms. It was a mess. Azarenka was a different type of mess in her fourth round win over Petrova yesterday, throwing a general tantrum the entire time yet still managing to power her way into her first Wimbledon quarterfinal. Serena, for her part, has looked great this entire tournament, but she hasn't faced anyone near Azarenka's caliber. This one could go into overtime.
Prediction: Williams in three.

COURT 1 - SHOW COURT - 1.00 PM START

1. Venus Williams (USA) [3] 33 vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [11] 49
Serena got the opportunity to dismantle Radwanska in last year's Wimbledon quarterfinals, so it's only fair that Venus should get the chance to do so this year. Venus has been hitting the ball very cleanly, and Radwanska has no weapons that Venus won't be able to pound her way through.
Prediction: Williams in two.

2. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 74 vs Elena Dementieva (RUS) [4] 96
Elena Dementieva's soft draw continues. Two veteran players, neither of whom was talked about much going into this tournament, face off for a spot in the semis, where they will undoubtedly lose meekly to the Serena-Azarenka winner. Dementieva's game is much more stable, and should hold up better to the pressures of the occasion.
Prediction: Dementieva in two.

The Bump II

About twelve years after Irina Spirlea and Venus Williams made it cool, Sabine Lisicki and Caroline Wozniacki brought "The Bump" to a new generation of tennis. Wozniacki appeared greatly perturbed by the collision, but it's unlikely to have had much of an effect on the result, as it occured only a game from the end of Lisicki's 6-4, 6-4 win over the ninth-seeded Dane.

Have a look below at the biggest collision between a Dane and a German since the Second Schleswig War!



I think the British woman doing commentary sums it up best: "well that's, you know, handbags, isn't it, stuff, so, ha." Brilliant.

And for those of you still yearning for the mid-nineties when the only videos online were GIFs, The Bump II has been immortalized in that format too!

It's Her Party And She'll Cry If She Wants To

Today, Svetlana Kuznetsova celebrated her 24th birthday. Svetlana marked the occasion by giving an enormous gift to her opponent Sabine Lisicki, crashing out of the third round by the score of 6-2, 7-5, and allowing the young German to make the second week of a major for the first time.

As she is wont to do, the recent French Open Champion Kuznetsova played horrendously uncontrolled tennis at Wimbledon, regularly hitting shots that landed at the bottom of the net or feet wide of the doubles alley.

Kuznetsova has now lost to a player ranked below her at each of the last four Wimbledons. Even more embarrassingly, the two-time major champion has only registered one career victory over a seed at Wimbledon, an embarrassing 1-5 record.

To put that statistic in perspective, it's worth notingh that American qualifier Melanie Oudin today doubled Kuznetsova's number of career wins vs. seeds at Wimbledon by beating the #6 seed, freefalling Serb Jelena Jankovic. Oudin is in just her first Wimbledon, and is ranked well outside the top 100. Kuznetsova has played in the main draw of Wimbledon seven times, is ranked #5, and has been ranked as high as #2.

None too impressive, to say the least.