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The first of the 2013 US Open women’s singles quarter-finals get underway tonight and there are two high quality matches that are worth not missing.
The entire line-up is yet to be confirmed, with the highly anticipated fourth-round match-up involving former world number ones and Grand Slam champions Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic being postponed due to rain.
For this reason, it is only fair to preview the two quarter-finals coming from the top half of the draw. The bottom half will be previewed as soon as Azarenka and Ivanovic play their match.
Serena Williams (1) vs. Carla Suarez Navarro (18)
Head-to-head: Williams 2-0
Last meeting: Williams 6-2, 6-0, quarter-finals, 2013 Rome Masters
There is simply no stopping Serena Williams right now as she shoots for a fifth title at her national Grand Slam championships.
She would have been due to face Angelique Kerber, one of only four players to defeat her last year (and the last to defeat her in straight sets, at Cincinnati last year), at this stage; however, it will instead be unheralded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro that Williams meets instead.
Suarez Navarro has fast become one of the most improved players on tour, cracking the top twenty for the first time and reaching her first Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2009 Australian Open by knocking out 8th-seeded Kerber in her fourth round match.
But just how will she handle Serena Williams?
The American has not lost more than four games in a single match as she attempts to become the first woman since Kim Clijsters in 2009-10 to successfully defend her title.
She has seen off Francesca Schiavone, Galina Voskoboeva, Yaroslava Shvedova and Sloane Stephens without any hassle and given her intimidating form so far, the US Open title is hers to lose.
Expect the American to continue on her march towards title number five at Flushing Meadows.
Key: In two combined matches, Suarez Navarro has only been able to win a total of five games, so do not expect a boilover here.
Prediction: Williams in straight sets
Ekaterina Makarova (24) vs. Li Na (5)
Head-to-head: Li 3-0
Last meeting: Li 6-0, 6-3, first round, 2012 Sydney International
From this match, a first time US Open semi-finalist will be guaranteed, and it’ll either be the in-form Li Na who advances, or the giant killer Ekaterina Makarova, who ended Agnieszka Radwanska’s bid to reach all four Grand Slam quarter-finals in a single season with an upset victory in the round of 16.
Li is experiencing a much needed return to form this year, following a disappointing 2012 in which she failed to reach a single Grand Slam quarter-final, lost in the first round at the Olympics and failed to make it out of the round robin stage at the Tour Championships in Istanbul.
However, this year has seen her reach the final at the Australian Open, the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and now here at the US Open, her first final-eight berth since losing to Kim Clijsters in 2009.
The odds of her reaching her first semi-final at Flushing Meadows are very high, as she will be facing an opponent that she has never lost against.
Ekaterina Makarova’s straight sets dismantling of Radwanska in the fourth round counts among many of her highlights this year, which also include reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and upsetting Victoria Azarenka in Madrid.
Now she is into her first US Open quarter-final and she will be relishing the chance to go even deeper here, but to do that she’ll have to overcome the Chinese, whom she has never beaten in three previous tries.
Can she do it, or will Li’s experience prove too much?
Key: Makarova is the giant killer, but Li is the more in-form player and that’s what will count in this quarter-final.
Prediction: Li in straight sets.
The bottom half of the quarter-finals will be previewed once Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic play their postponed match overnight.
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