{"id":12623,"date":"2019-03-07T18:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T23:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=12623"},"modified":"2019-03-07T14:32:11","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T19:32:11","slug":"wta-indian-wells-bnp-paribas-day-3-predictions-including-serena-williams-vs-victoria-azarenka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/03\/07\/wta-indian-wells-bnp-paribas-day-3-predictions-including-serena-williams-vs-victoria-azarenka\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Indian Wells BNP Paribas Day 3 Predictions Including Serena Williams vs Victoria Azarenka"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Friday moves the ladies into the Second Round, offering tennis fans plenty of great matches. Also in action will be the 2018 Finalist, Daria Kasatkina and the unpredictable Jelena Ostapenko. Here are predictions for five &#8220;must watch&#8221; matches.<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Indian Wells BNP Paribas Day 3 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h3>Garbine Muguruza vs Lauren Davis<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Head to head: <\/strong>Muguruza 1-0 Davis<\/p>\n<p>Receiving a first round bye, Garbine Muguruza will begin her Indian Wells run up against American Lauren Davis. Davis impressed in her first round match against Anna Karolina Schmidelova where she broke her serve five times, an impressive 50% of return games. But, Muguruza is a much higher caliber player and Davis will need to fight for every game. It\u2019s not Muguruza\u2019s best venue and she doesn\u2019t usually fare well at this tournament. Still, I expect Muguruza to stick around at least until the quarter finals.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: \u00a0Muguruza in 3<br \/>\n<a id=\"wMz0EiUWQNRHtuaFTZVDyQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1134145750\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'wMz0EiUWQNRHtuaFTZVDyQ',sig:'rPDUxz9Z6xF1NIFiMgBcSJDMzdpdKCB4g_pjicQZpCI=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1134145750',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Elise Mertens vs Amanda Anisimova<\/h3>\n<p>No history<\/p>\n<p>Belgian Elise Mertens should be feeling pretty confident. She took out Simona Halep at the Qatar Open to win her biggest title of her career just a few weeks ago. And, on Wednesday, the World #13 doubles player, alongside Sabalenka, ended the #2 Seeds\u2019 (Babos and Mladenovic) quest. She may be confident, but the tournament\u2019s youngest player has the game that can end Mertens\u2019 run. Effortless power allows Anisimova to crack winners from anywhere on the court. A Hingis-style ability to redirect sees her continually wrong-foot opponents. While the oddsmakers give the slight edge to Mertens, this early in the tournament, with energy and power on her side, I think the young American is nearly impossible to beat.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction:\u00a0 Anisimova in 3<br \/>\n<a id=\"tVV-LBvGSExtt3D90P6nmQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1130500899\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'tVV-LBvGSExtt3D90P6nmQ',sig:'Uzxx84HQGhbubTBKPQQiCkksHAasff4uqpJSFmRRZ9I=',w:'594px',h:'399px',items:'1130500899',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Stefanie Voegele vs Sloane Stephens<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Head to head:\u00a0 <\/strong>Voegele 3-1 Stephens<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d feel better about Voegele\u2019s chances if she\u2019d have been able to win any match back-to-back. Seems she can win one, but can\u2019t string a few together. She is coming off a commanding win over American Sachia Vickery that took only 20 games to decide. That may be the confidence booster Voegele needs. While the head-to-head would seem to favor Voegele, those wins were a long time ago. And, on Friday, she\u2019ll face a healthy and mobile Sloane Stephens. On US soil with the crowd support behind her, we\u2019ll see Stephens playing her best tennis. Though she\u2019s another player with a shaky record at Indian Wells, the #4 Seed should move through this Second Round match with relative ease.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: \u00a0Stephens in 2<br \/>\n<a id=\"N_XPgFv7Rb1PYT-lpgdRdA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1127930965\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'N_XPgFv7Rb1PYT-lpgdRdA',sig:'ViVZMqUP4MtDD4lPIu8uQvWcSlHOrErYC6VYpMZjXEs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1127930965',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Johanna Konta vs Hsieh Su-wei<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Head to head: <\/strong>\u00a0Konta 3-2 Hsieh<\/p>\n<p>A commanding win over Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier sends Johanna Konta to the Second Round. In her 6-2, 6-3 win over Parmentier, Konta dictated play beautifully. Taking more than 43% of her shots inside the baseline, Konta is demonstrating aggressive ball striking \u2013 and is coming to the net far more than we\u2019re used to seeing. That strategy may not play well against Hsieh Su-wei.\u00a0 The sneaky good 33-year-old from Taiwan is court savvy and creates tricky and unimaginable shots. And, when she\u2019s down and it looks like she\u2019ll lose the match, her \u201cgo for broke\u201d style leads her to mouth-open shocking victories. Hsieh clearly cannot be overlooked given what she\u2019s done in Dubai, and the 27-year-old Briton may meet her match.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction: \u00a0Hsieh in 3<br \/>\n<a id=\"11iP-dfsQL1wZ_uwHw78BQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1134102303\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'11iP-dfsQL1wZ_uwHw78BQ',sig:'q3Jo-dKa6VYyPq7TI1FQKm9O0g5msOuSzC1qADT4GKo=',w:'594px',h:'387px',items:'1134102303',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Serena Williams vs Victoria Azarenka<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Head to head:\u00a0 <\/strong>Williams 18-4 Azarenka<\/p>\n<p>This is definitely not the match you expect to see in the second round of a WTA Mandatory tournament. But, it just goes to show the long road back for each of these ladies, post pregnancy. These two former World #1s are looking to return to the top form which propelled them to that ranking pinnacle. During the Australian Open, we saw flashes of that in Serena, blasting serves, cracking winners and dominating her opponents. We also saw the let-downs, the most startling in which she lost a 5-1 lead. On the other side of the net is Azarenka who had an easy, straight-sets win over fellow Countryman Vera Lapko. She converted on six of her 13 break points and won 63% of her first serve points. But, clearly Lapko is not the talent Serena is. Azarenka has yet to put together a winning streak, and Serena is there to obstruct. This edge of your seat match should send Serena on to the third round.<\/p>\n<p><em>Prediction:\u00a0 Serena in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"11iP-dfsQL1wZ_uwHw78BQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1134102303\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'11iP-dfsQL1wZ_uwHw78BQ',sig:'q3Jo-dKa6VYyPq7TI1FQKm9O0g5msOuSzC1qADT4GKo=',w:'594px',h:'387px',items:'1134102303',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday moves the ladies into the Second Round, offering tennis fans plenty of great matches. Also in action will be the 2018 Finalist, Daria Kasatkina and the unpredictable Jelena Ostapenko. Here are predictions for five &#8220;must watch&#8221; matches. WTA Indian Wells BNP Paribas Day 3 Predictions Garbine Muguruza vs Lauren Davis Head to head: Muguruza [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":12633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4951,2746,831,2754,1412,200,4960,60,490,25,463,4721,393,15,4936],"class_list":["post-12623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wta","tag-2019-bnp-paribas-open","tag-amanda-anisimova","tag-bnp-paribas-open","tag-bnp-paribas-open-predictions","tag-elise-mertens","tag-garbine-muguruza","tag-hsieh-su-wei","tag-johanna-konta","tag-lauren-davis","tag-serena-williams","tag-sloane-stephens","tag-stefanie-voegele","tag-victoria-azarenka","tag-wta","tag-wta-indian-wells-predictions"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1838"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}