Ash Barty (Florian Eisele, AELTC)
It has been a thrilling Australian Open so far. The first Grand Slam event of 2022 has seen Rafael Nadal find his best form, world number 1 Ashleigh Barty completely wipe the floor with all of her opponents on home soil and the devastating defeats of two Canadian men in the ATP quarterfinals.
We've finally reached the semifinals of the tourney. There is a fun mix of elite talent and young sleepers trying to break onto the scene.
On the men's side, I did quite well with my predictions in a sport as volatile as tennis. I managed to predict three of the four semifinalists, with Stefanos Tsitsipas being the one to break my bracket after beating Jannik Sinner in the quarters. The other semifinalists are Rafael Nadal, Matteo Berrettini and Daniil Medvedev.
In the women's tournament, Australian native Ash Barty, unranked American Madison Keys, Keys' countrywoman Danielle Collins and Polish wonderkid Iga Swiatek have all advanced.
In this article, I'll be previewing all 4 semifinal matches, on both the men's and women's brackets, and breaking them down as well as picking a winner for each matchup.
Men's Singles
Matchup 1: Rafael Nadal (6) v Matteo Berrettini (7)
This is a fun one in the sense that I've already predicted the outcome of the match in my preview a couple of weeks ago. At the time, I said that a combination of Rafa's annoying left-handed style and his icy cool calmness would help him prevail over the stronger, more emotional Berrettini.
Frankly, I stand by what I said then. Nadal has surpassed the expectations of most at this tournament, only ever being troubled against Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Berrettini has taken advantage of an easier draw to make his way to the semis. These players are still close in the ATP rankings and Berrettini's serve has been catching my eye this week, so the Italian should make things interesting.
Another thing to note is that even though I used Rafa's left-handed playstyle as a reason he would win, Berrettini has only lost 1 game against a southpaw dating back to last year.
I expect this game will not divert much from the script. The two players will hold most of their services with Nadal breaking Berrettini a couple of times. Nadal will take a few tiebreaks from his opponent and move on to the final.
Prediction: Rafael Nadal def. Matteo Berrettini in 5 sets
Matchup 2: Daniil Medvedev (2) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (4)
A match between two of the next stars in men's tennis will be a really special matchup. Medvedev has been as dominant as we all expected, sweeping through his opponents with relative ease. He still remains the bookies' favourite for the men's title, but he will have to beat the highest seed he has faced yet to even get to the final.
The Greek God, Stefanos Tsitsipas, hasn't been incredible at this tourney, playing with some shakiness. He hasn't been terrible, but I need convincing stuff out of him to pick Tsitsipas over Medvedev. Outside of a comfortable win against Italian Jannik Sinner, Tsitsipas will need to find a level far above how he is currently playing to have any shot at beating Medvedev. He can take comfort in the fact that his game has been much better as of late. His service has been showing flashes of winning matches on its' own like we saw at the Rogers Cup during his breakout year.
Medvedev is 6-2 against Tsitsipas, largely due to his movement. He is one of the few players on Tour who can handle back-to-back forehands from the Greek. Tsitsipas will undoubtedly target both wings, but the Russian possesses the delicate touch and hardcourt proficiency to hold off his opponent.
This should be another chapter in the storied rivals between the two U25 tennis stars. They clearly don't like each other, and we could expect some fireworks in this match.
Prediction: Daniil Medvedev def. Stefanos Tsitsipas in 4 sets
Women's Singles
Matchup 1: Ashleigh Barty (1) v Madison Keys
Barty has had some semifinal heartbreaks in the past and Keys is in stunning form. Despite that, on Barty's current form, the American is going to need the game of her life to prevail against Barty.
Barty hasn't lost a set this whole tournament, only coming off on the losing end in 17 games since the beginning of the Open.
Currently, the only person who might be able to stop Barty is herself. We've seen the pressure get to her at the past two Australian Opens, as she tries to bring glory to her home country.
Keys, meanwhile, has been bulldozing through ranked players like nobody's business. She has a lot of power and is Barty's first opponent so far who will challenge her until the very end. She can make shots out of nothing and adds a lot of power to her serves.
I'm expecting that Barty won't cut through Keys as easily as her past few opponents, but her effortless, heavy shots are one of the scariest weapons in all of tennis. There isn't any player in the world who is making tennis look as easy as the Aussie is. She'll mix her world-class serve with a signature slice technique to break down Keys.
Keys will be Barty's toughest opponent yet, but expect the world number 1 to move on to the final.
Prediction: Ashleigh Barty def. Madison Keys in 3 sets
Matchup 2: Iga Swiatek (7) v Danielle Collins (27)
The 20-year old Polish star Iga Swiatek is one of the most hotly tipped youngsters in all of women's tennis. Her French Open championship will always be mentioned when speaking about her, but Swiatek hasn't taken the expected step since that title. Her performance in Melbourne has been unconvincing. Despite that, when she is at her best, nobody can stop Swiatek, because she has so much variability in her play. When I watched a part of her third-round match, it was astonishing to see how often I had no idea where she was going to strike the ball. Her mind is elite, but her power may hold her back from beating the efficient Collins.
The American is very strong and will be motivated to make up for a hypothetical loss from her fellow American, Madison Keys, in the previous semifinal as I've predicted. She rarely makes mistakes and is certainly capable of an upset on the hardcourt surface.
Swiatek's tenacity and mental toughness have had to be at her very best this tournament, but I expect we could see an upset in this match. My pick is Danielle Collins.
Prediction: Danielle Collins def. Iga Swiatek in 3 sets
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED
Comments
Post a Comment