Serena Williams, Garbine Muguruza Headline Wimbledon Women’s Preview

by Jeremy Davis | June 24th, 2016, 11:25 am
  • 16 Comments

Can Serena Williams retain her Wimbledon title and win a first Grand Slam title in 2016? Is French Open champion and last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza ready to take it a step further?
ADHEREL
Is Venus Williams done, or can she take advantage of a fairly good draw? Are grass upstarts Madison Keys, CoCo Vandeweghe and Caroline Garcia confident enough to go deep?

These questions and more will be answered over the next fortnight at the All England Club.

Here’s a look at the women’s draw:


TOP QUARTER

Top 4 Seeds: (1) Serena Williams, (6) Roberta Vinci, (11) Timea Bacsinszky, (13) Svetlana Kuznetsova

Floaters: (18) Sloane Stephens, (27) CoCo Vandeweghe, (31) Kristina Mladenovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Alison Riske

Notes: Tough section for Serena with a lot of seeds who can step it up on grass, in addition to former No. 1s and Slam winners…Difficult openers for (13) Kuznetsova vs. Wozniacki, and (6) Vinci vs. Riske…Serena’s path to the semis would likely have to go through a qualifier, Chrisina McHale, (31) Mladenovic, then (13) Kuzy or (18) Stephens, then (11) Bacsinszky or (27) Vandeweghe…You never know what mindsets they’re showing up with, but Americans Stephens and Vandeweghe could go deep. Has Serena put the yips behind her?

2ND QUARTER

Top 4 Seeds: (3) Aggie Radwasnka, (7) Belinda Bencic, (10) Petra Kvitova, (16) Johanna Konta

Floaters: (30) Caroline Garcia, Ekaterina Makarova, Tsvetana Pironkova

Notes: Not a lot of floating talent, but (7) Bencic could be up against it in her opener against the fast-court upset specialist Pironkova. If the Swiss survives she will meet a battle-tested qualifier in the 2nd round..In the third round (3) Radwanska could meet (30) Garcia who won a Wimbledon warm-up tournament…The draw for the former Wimbledon champ (10) Kvitova could open up if the Czech keeps winning and is healthy…Radwanska can be easily overpowered on grass, Bencic is trying to come back from injury, and Kvitova seems always injured or sick — this section is a toss-up.

3RD QUARTER

Top 4 Seeds: (4) Angie Kerber, (5) Simona Halep, (9) Madison Keys, (15) Karolina Pliskova

Floaters: (23) Ana Ivanovic, (25) Irina-Camelia Begu, Jelena Ostapenko

Notes: Another quarter where the seeds have pretty straight-forward paths…Possible road bump for (26) Kiki Bertens vs. Ostapenko…(4) Kerber will have a high-profile start against Brit wildcard Laura Robson…(9) Keys starts against German Laura Siegemund who has shot to tour-level prominence this year…Watch for fourth round (5) Halep vs. (9) Keys.

BOTTOM QUARTER

Top 4 Seeds: (2) Garbine Muguruza, (8) Venus Williams, (12) Carla Suarez Navarro, (14) Sam Stosur

Floaters: (22) Jelena Jankovic, (29) Daria Kasatkina, Donna Vekic, Sabine Lisicki, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Camila Giorgi

Notes: The former Wimbledon runner-up Muguruza is the favorite, but this will be a tough quarter to emerge from…Difficult starts go to the fading (8) Venus Williams vs. the Croat riser Vekic, (28) Safarova vs. Mattek-Sands, (2) Muguruza vs. the feisty Giorgi, and second round (14) Stosur vs. the Lisicki/Shelby Rogers winner…Muguruza’s road out of this quarter would likely go through Giorgi, a qualifier, Mattek-Sands, (14) Stosur and (8) Venus Williams. Don’t count anyone out, and a (2) Muguruza vs. (8) Venus quarterfinal would be mouthwatering.

Anyone for a Serena Williams vs. Garbine Muguruza final again? What is your pick?

 


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16 Comments for Serena Williams, Garbine Muguruza Headline Wimbledon Women’s Preview

RZ Says:

I think Serena finally matches Graf’s record here.

June 24th, 2016 at 4:10 pm


jalep Says:

Yep, I think Serena gets it here but I don’t think it won’t be easy. She’ll likely get Kiki Mladenovic 3rd round who I think will be up for the contest and ready to bring her Fed Cup best. Then Stephens/Woz possibly 4th round,and Bacsinszky/Vandeweghe QF. Konta or Kvitova SF.

The lower half is loaded: Keys, Kerber, Muguruza, Halep and the one I’m loving on grass right now Pliskova.

Not sure if Garbine can be consistent enough yet to win 2 GS titles in a row, let alone make the final. I like Keys a lot but it’s tempting to pick Pliskova – such a great serve weapon if she’s playing confident and aggressive like she is at Eastbourne this week. But my favorite, Simona, is in there too and I have a tough time not picking her!

It’s a hard decision. Have to consult the cards or flip some coin.

June 24th, 2016 at 5:36 pm


RZ Says:

It’s nice to see Pliskova finally play well on grass. Her game is suited for it.

June 24th, 2016 at 11:19 pm


RZ Says:

The second quarter is full of possibilities! It was really difficult to make my bracket picks. I felt like regardless of who I chose, I was making a mistake.

June 25th, 2016 at 1:05 am


chrisford1 Says:

I won’t even try to pick a WTA bracket. It’s blindfolded dartboard stuff at Wimbledon to make selections on the woman’s side most years.
But Wimbledon is where strange bloom happens. The mentally weak, underachieving Sabine Lisicki can become a force. Kvitova can win. A Bartoli can happen. A slender, beautiful Bulgarian named Tsvetana Pironkova slays seeded players right and left, notably Venus Williams.
This Wimbledon has less screamers than past ones with hoot owl Azarenka and Screamapova absent.

June 25th, 2016 at 8:55 am


jalep Says:

Ah, Fordy, come on. Don’t be a ***** . You know deep down you’d like to have a go.

June 25th, 2016 at 9:38 am


jalep Says:

Dominika, pome! Cibulkova got the 1st set in the Eastbourne final!
Smart, smart girl, Cibby.

She’s shaking Pliskova’s confidence and it shows!

June 25th, 2016 at 9:42 am


jalep Says:

RZ , I’m kinda using this final as a test for Karolina. Her game is so well-suited for grass and I’d like to think she’s confident enough to hit Cibby off the court. But…Pliskova is possibly not quite ready to go as deep as I’d like to pick her.

Dominika is a force – pome!

June 25th, 2016 at 9:48 am


jalep Says:

So, I could be wrong but I can’t take Pliskova too deep yet. Wily veteran Cibby can still intimidate her.

Great win for Cibulkova! Her first grass court title. Geez, she’s solid, mentally/emotionally much more than most. And have to take note where she is in the draw!

June 25th, 2016 at 10:21 am


Willow Says:

YAY Well done to the little pocket rocket, take it to Wimby girl !….

June 25th, 2016 at 12:02 pm


jalep Says:

Couldn’t find the Final highlights but Cibby beating Radwanska in the quarterfinal was awesome: AGA and Simon are my favorites, you know but dang Cibby is too good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXuxwmQQXf8

June 25th, 2016 at 12:21 pm


Willow Says:

I Dont actually have a favorite female player to be honest, although theres quite a few i enjoy watching, i like the ones you mentioned, both so talented with a lot of variety, and Cibby is alot of fun to watch, i dont see much of her anymore, and some might have found her a bit irritating due to that noise she makes, but i always used to enjoy watching Schiavoni as she was also such fun to watch, with a lot of variety in her game, and the year she won the FO she played amazing, watching her still always makes me smile ….

June 25th, 2016 at 12:50 pm


Willow Says:

Moderation tennis-x why prey tell, only talking tennis ? ….

June 25th, 2016 at 12:52 pm


jalep Says:

Had to go hunting for this thread but I think this 1st round Muguruza v Giorgi will be a cracker! 🍿

But if Giorgi pulls the upset my bracket is toast. Even so, I can’t help cheering for Giorgi. Sensational athlete.

June 27th, 2016 at 10:42 am


Willow Says:

Ivanovic is out ….

June 27th, 2016 at 11:05 am


BBB Says:

Woz is hopeless. She seems like such a nice person, but her unwillingness to part company professionally with her father appears to be destroying her career.

June 28th, 2016 at 9:49 pm

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