Victoria Azarenka is capable of shocking Serena Williams

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It’s ladies day today at Wimbledon as all four women’s quarter-finals take place. Here are three stats about each encounter:

Dinara Safina (1) v Sabine Lisicki
» The pair have only met once before, with Lisicki beating Safina in three sets at last year’s Australian Open.
» The bad news for the German is that only one unseeded woman has reached the last four in the last eight years - Jie Zheng last year.
» The world number one has won eight of her last nine quarter-final matches.

Victoria Azarenka (8) v Serena Williams (2)
» Serena holds the 2-1 head-to-head advantage but Azarenka has shown she can hang with the ten-time Grand Slam champion this year.
» At the Australian Open she won the first set before retiring in the second

Posted: June 30th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Stats about the six leading contenders to win Wimbledon

Click here for all the latest odds on this year’s men’s singles

Hint: It’s everybody in the picture above except Davydenko and Simon

After waiting for an eternity to see Roger Federer dethroned and a new champion crowned, Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal with injury guarantees that there will once again be a changing of the guard at Wimbledon. Here are some statistics about the six men that the bookmakers consider the frontrunners:

Roger Federer
Best Wimbledon Performance: Winner (2003, 2004, 2005, ‘06, ‘07)
Grass Court Win Rate (prior to Wimbledon 2009): 87%
The world number two was unbeaten in 65 matches on grass prior to last year’s final defeat to Nadal and is quite rightly favourite to regain his title in the Spaniard’s absence. However, coming back from losing the previous year’s final is difficult, with Nadal the only person in the last 18 years to have done so, and nobody since Rod Laver in 1962 has completed a French Open-Wimbledon double at the first time of asking (Bjorn Borg and Nadal both have but not in the year of their first win at Roland Garros).

Andy Murray
Best Wimbledon Performance: Quarter-finals (2008)
Grass Court Win Rate: 78%

Posted: June 23rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez are favourites to make the French Open Final

A 2007 Australian Open Final repeat could be on the cards

Over the course of the last 14 Grand Slams there has only been one final that has occurred more than once - with Roger Federer facing Rafael Nadal seven times in that period. However, the bookmakers make Federer and Fernando Gonzalez favourites to win their semi-finals and set up a repeat of the 2007 Australian Open Final. Here are all the key stats about today’s matches:

Click here to check out the Ladbrokes’ French Open Wizard

Robin Soderling v Fernando Gonzalez
Soderling has taken care of David Ferrer, Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko to get this far but now has to conquer Gonzalez, who he has lost four straight clashes with, two of which were on clay. Over the last three years, every men’s semi-final at Roland Garros has been won by the player who won the pair’s previous meeting. Both men have had sensational tournaments so far, with Soderling dropping just two sets and Gonzalez one so it should be close. The Chilean is a worthy favourite though having excelled in his only other Grand Slam semi (Australian Open 2007), beating Tommy Haas 6-1 6-3 6-1.

Posted: June 5th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Local hero Gael Monfils tries to take down Roger Federer

Previews of today’s four French Open quarter-final matches

Usually it’s the women’s tournament that produces the biggest upsets but yesterday two more male favourites were sent packing as Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez took care of Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Murray. The man hoping to make the year of the underdog continue today is Gael Monfils, the last remaining Frenchman in the tournament, who meets favourite Roger Federer, who knocked him out 12 months ago:

Click here to check out the Ladbrokes’ French Open Wizard

Sorana Cirstea v Samantha Stosur
The Grand Slam quarter-final stage is unfamiliar territory for both of these women, neither of whom are in the top 30 of the world rankings. There’s not much to go on as the pair have never clashed before but Cirstea has only dropped one set so far compared to Stosur’s two. Both have taken high-profile scalps, with the 19-year-old Romanian stopping Jelena Jankovic, who reached the semi-finals in 2007 and 2008, and Australian Stosur getting rid of former finalist Elena Dementieva. Stosur is the favourite here.

Svetlana Kuznetsova v Serena Williams
Serena/Safina is the final that most expect but Kuznetsova won’t roll over for the self-proclaimed world number one. In the last three years, the Russian has reached the final, quarter-finals and semi-finals at Roland Garros, whereas Williams last got past this point in 2003. In fact, four of Serena’s last

Posted: June 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Federer goes into the final as favourite against Nadal

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After five sets and over five hours on court, Rafael Nadal overcame compatriot Fernando Verdasco to reach his first Australian Open final. However, it’s his nemesis Roger Federer who starts as favourite:

Roger Federer [1.68]

» On all three occasions that Federer has reached the Australian Open final he has triumphed.

» Andre Agassi is the only man since 1962 to have won four times at Melbourne Park. Federer is a three-time champion.

Rafael Nadal [2.46]

» Nadal boasts a 12-6 record over the world number two and won each of their four clashes last year. They haven’t met since the Wimbledon final.

» However, the Spaniard has got one stage further every year in Australia, reaching the third round on his first visit. Since then he has reached the fourth, the quarters and then the semis. That indicates that this year he will be the runner-up.

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Posted: January 30th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

It’s hard to see past Serena Williams in the women’s final

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Serena Williams is 1.45 to overcome Dinara Safina (3.15) in the Australian Open final and while the two outsiders won the semi-finals, this is one match where an upset looks very unlikely:

» Safina has faced Serena six times in the past but has only triumphed once.

» Serena has a 75% record in Grand Slam finals having won nine of twelve whereas Safina lost her only final in France last year. Williams has a perfect three out of three strike rate in Australia.

» Excluding Serena, there have only been five winners in the last 22 years who weren’t one of the top two seeds. Safina is seeded third.

» Safina has clashed with Serena four times before on hard courts, losing each time, and on three of those occasions she has lost in straight sets. Serena is 2.2 to win in this manner.

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Posted: January 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment