Super Saturday at WTA Brisbane will bring tennis fans two top-class semifinal matches. All four semifinalists are members of the world’s top 15 and players who will be in contention for the Australian Open title in a couple of weeks time.
Read the previews and predictions for both semifinals below.
WTA Brisbane Semifinal Predictions
Madison Keys vs Petra Kvitova
Head-to-Head Record: Keys 3-3 Kvitova
If you subscribe to the belief that a clash of styles makes the best matches you may not be looking forward to this one. So many of the same adjectives and phrases apply to both Keys and Kvitova. Powerful groundstrokes. Big-serving. But also erratic and, on occasion, mentally questionable on court.
There has been no questioning their quality this week though. Both players have shown excellent form, especially on serve. Keys defeated the hitherto unplayable Danielle Collins convincingly. She broke Collins four times whilst not facing a breakpoint. She won an incredible 25 out of 27 points behind her first serve, which she got in 71% of the time. These figures gave Collins no chance in the match and would be a concern for Kvitova also.
The similarities between the American and the Czech continue, however. As soon as Keys was finished on-court Kvitova produced an almost carbon copy display to defeat another scrappy American, Jennifer Brady. Kvitova won 28 out 30 points behind her first serve, though she only got hers in 55% of the time.
The match will probably come down to either player taking a rare breakpoint opportunity. Neither player is expert at returning serve, in fact, they are strikingly similar in this attribute too, winning the same percentage of return points on hard courts in the last twelve months.
It will be close, probably involving a tiebreak somewhere in the match. The edge just goes slightly to Madison Keys because of her consistency in getting her first serve in and her slightly better win percentage behind her second delivery.
Prediction: Keys in 3
Naomi Osaka vs Karolina Pliskova
Head-to-Head Record: Osaka 2-2 Pliskova
As in the first semifinal, there is very little to split these two members of the elite. All of their previous meetings have been recent and have been on hard court so they are solid form lines to follow.
Their last meeting was almost a year ago in the Australian Open semifinal. This turned into a three-set epic, decided by a single break of serve in the third. The serving and the groundstrokes were fierce and devastating. Much the same is expected in this semifinal encounter.
Pliskova had come into that semifinal last year on a ten-match winning streak, having won this title in 2019. This time, Osaka enters on a 14-match streak, including winning four in a row against fellow top ten members.
It is a tricky balance between taking Pliskova’s excellent record on these courts and Osaka current form. If Osaka’s streak is going to snap, then this may be the time. However, she was asked serious questions by Kiki Bertens in the last round and answered them in that decided third set. Her relationship with Wim Fissette looks very good and she doesn’t seem to know how to lose at the moment. This gives her the edge in this encounter, take the Japanese to win it in three.
Prediction: Osaka in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
