Everyone Watches Women's Tennis

Wimbledon: Upsets Galore & Quarter-final Previews

• Matipaishe RM • Season 1 • Episode 4

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In this episode of 'Everyone Watches Women's Tennis', I will discuss the ongoing Wimbledon tournament, highlighting the major upsets, surprising performances, and discuss the upcoming quarterfinals. I will cover the unexpected early exits of top-seeded players, impressive showings from lesser-known competitors, and a detailed preview of the upcoming quarterfinal matches, complete with predictions.


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Matipa Ruzive (00:06)
Hello and welcome to Everyone Watches Women's Tennis, a tennis podcast that is solely focused on the women's game, giving you regular updates about what is taking place on the WTA Tour, both on and off the court. Hi everyone and welcome back. We are currently in the second week of Wimbledon, just over halfway. It can't be exactly halfway because there's seven matches to be played, but there are three rounds left, so we are just over halfway.

And what a tournament it's been. my gosh, like upsets galore. But before we even get started into that, I'll just quickly run through our agenda. If you would say, or just what we'll be discussing today. So we'll talk about the upsets of this year's tournament, which there have been plenty. So there's a lot to go through there.

and then some of the surprises and impressive performances which have surpassed my expectations then finally we'll just finish off with a preview of our four quarterfinal matches

So to start off with what an unpredictable tournaments like I said before upsets galore.

I have been shook from literally the first round to the fourth round and I know even when I did my prediction my prediction episode I was like this is a really difficult tournament to predict

But when I said that, I just didn't think it would play out this way. But it did, which has made the championships a bit more interesting. And you've had to explore other avenues, learn about new players or even players that you've known, know more about them. But it's just been, it's been insane. And just to give you a quick little overview.

four of the top ten were out in round one which I think that's an open era record so that is Coco Gauff Paula Badosa, Jess Pegula and Qin Wen Zheng.

And that was only the first round. We haven't even gotten into round two, three and four.

And because there were so many upsets, instead of going through each one super details, because we could be here for a while, I thought let's just do like a quick fire round of how surprised I was by each loss.

And I'll just be rating it on a scale of one to 10, one being not shocked at all, and then 10 being mind boggling.

because I think it's just a better way for me to process my thoughts and for you to understand my perspective on some of the the upsets because some of them were in terms of ranking were upsets but in terms of playing style and matchups and results on grass in the weeks before or just results on grass in the past

were not that much of an upset or they weren't that shocking

And I also think grass evens the playing field a little bit because unless you're someone who plays really well on grass everyone is kind of still learning it each tournament they're still learning it how to get better how to be better because the players don't have that much time to play on the surface

there aren't that many competitions in the lead up and the turnaround time from Roland Garros is just too fast and most, say majority of players did not grow up playing on grass that their first first time playing on the surface is when they joined the main tour or if

They would have played juniors but not to a large extent.

Okay, so I've got my list here.

So I'll just go through the seed, which round they lost, who they lost to, and how surprised I was on a scale of 1 to 10.

Okay, so to start off with, we'll start with the top 10.

We'll just do it by ranking. So first player I have here is Coco Gauff and she lost in the first round straight sets to Dayana Yastremska for me for this matchup, it was like a three out of 10. That's how shocked I was. I know in the predictions, I think I got a

pushed Coco to like the fourth round maybe third or fourth round but I think that was based on ranking

but looking at this first round match on paper i was not confident in Coco at all and in terms of how she plays on grass how it kind of it lessens her

It lessens her strengths when she plays on grass and the person she was playing as well. Strengths become better on grass and they've played once this year. Although Coco came out on top in that match, it was a very, it was a difficult match. It was a long three setter. So yeah, that one was a three out of 10 for me.

And then next we have Jessica Pegula Jessica lost in the first round as well. She lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretto and that was a straight set victory. That was a straight set victory for that was a straight set victory for Cocciaretto. It was 6-2, 6-3. And this I was, I think it was a 10 out of 10. That's how shocked I was that Jess lost this match.

not just lost this match, lost in the first round because I predicted her to win the entire thing. That was my prediction. I wish I had known about the grass court title curse going into this. I might not have predicted her to win but I definitely still never have predicted her to lose in the first round.

So I think that's the one I'm most disappointed about.

Then the next player we have is world number four Jasmine Paolini. She lost in the second round to Kamila Rakhimova in three sets. This one surprised me I think six out of ten. I didn't think Jasmine was going to make it to the final again.

and didn't think she was gonna go super far.

Okay, I had her losing in the third round on my prediction.

So I guess that's probably why I wasn't as shocked but I was still shocked when it went to the third set I thought she would pull out on top in that match, but unfortunately she didn't Then the next player we've got here is Zheng Qinwen This one Zheng Qinwen lost in the first round to Katerina Siniakova and that was in three sets

my shock factor it was about a 2 out of 10 I expected this result I think I predicted it as well because this meeting with Siniakova was their third meeting on grass the last time that they had played on grass was last year Wimbledon and in Berlin and Siniakova came out on top in both those games or both those matches

and Zheng Qinwen just doesn't seem as fully comfortable on the grass and I think she's still figuring it out so she just has to keep pushing I guess and unlock her grass court tennis.

Then the next player I've got here is Madison Keys. Madison Keys lost in the third round to Laura Siegemund in straight sets. So for Madison, it's kinda, it's two, I'm gonna do two ratings.

If you had told me that Madison Keys lost in the third round to Laura Siegemund I probably would have been like eight out of ten shocked because she was one of my favorites and I thought she'd make it to the quarterfinals at least and meet Sabalenka. But that was before the tournament. If you had told me

After the first round that Madison would be eliminated in the third round by Laura Siegemund my rating would change to a 4 out of 10. I would have been less surprised.

because

I don't think Madison ever got in the groove. Even in that first round match, she ended up winning it in three sets, winning the last two sets, seven, five, seven, five after losing in a tie break. But she was playing someone who was a little bit ill and someone who was attacking that second serve. I don't know where Madison second serve has gone, but she's completely lost it because in that Laura Siegemund match, she only won one out of 19.

points on her second serve. It was basically 0 % until I think like the last game that she served. She won a point on her second serve. So Laura Siegemund was taking advantage of that. But yeah, kind of sad, but not a surprise Based on Madison's initial showing.

Then the next player, so this is to finish off the top 10, is Paula Badosa. Paula lost to Katie Boulter in three sets.

And for this I rated the loss on the shock factor a 4 out of 10 because I think Paula is not completely healthy. The tournament that she played before she pulled out, she retired during a match.

so i wasn't confident about her fitness level going into this one as well as she was playing Katie in front of her home crowd Katie's home crowd

I wasn't 100 % confident but in my prediction I did predict that she would still pull through and she didn't unfortunately.

Okay and then the last few ones we're just gonna do rapid fire because it's just too many. That's so bad but I feel like it was just too much.

and then next of Elena Rybakina who lost in the third round to Clara Tauson Both of them were seeded. Elena has 11th seed and Clara has 23rd seed but I still expected a better showing from Elena. just to talk about Elena a bit more, her tennis has, it's regressed. It's regressed a lot.

And these close matches, I think I've said a couple of times, she hasn't been winning. She hasn't been able to find that edge. Like in the match against Clara Tauson, they played a tiebreak in the first set. And I thought finally that like Lena was going to get her groove, but she didn't. I'd say about 18 to 24 months ago, if she had lost that set in a tiebreak, the next set,

especially against someone who

who is a great player in Clara but

In my opinion, Elena's better. In the next set, I think she would have lifted up her game, but she didn't. She just went out with the whimper again, which has happened time and time again. And it's hard to see, a player that, in my opinion, should be holding, at least three Grand Slams going out in the third round, especially on her favored surface.

still a few other upsets or seeded players that went out. I'll say prematurely. I won't go through all of them. I'll just do these last four. So the next player I have is Dayana Shnaider Shnaider lost in the second round to Diane Perry in straight sets and that one was a bit of a shock to me. Not because Dayana's been playing well

but because she plays better on grass.

And with this one I would rate the shock factor by a 7 out of 10. I wasn't expecting it from Dan. I just thought she would do better and I thought it was time for her to make an imprint in a grand slam which I don't think she's done that just yet. And also her opponent isn't someone that has a lot of experience on grass so I was thinking she would pull through.

even make it a three set match but she lost in straights and her serving was absolutely abysmal

Then next to have Karolina Muchova. She lost in the first round to Xin Yu Wang. And this one, my shock was about, I'd say, two out of ten.

actually one out of ten.

This one I wasn't that surprised because number one,

Karolina hasn't played a lot of tennis this year and also the opponent she had on the other side was someone who made the finals of the Berlin Open and was just high on confidence. So I wasn't that shocked that Karolina lost this one. I'm just hoping that she can now start getting matches under her belt and get some more consistency. Cause she's still ranked

For someone who hasn't been playing, she's still ranked quite highly and is seeded at the Grand Slams and other tournaments. So I think that's quite handy for her to have.

Then the second last player I've got here is Jelena Ostapenko. She lost in the first round to Sonay Kartal of Great Britain. This one I think was a 1 out of 10 as well. I did on my predictions have her losing in the first round because she pulled out of her last match in Eastbourne. It was a walkover.

I think she got injured at the end of her last match in Eastbourne she was also playing someone who is at home and has the home crowd advantage so I think that's something that have been probably frustrating for her

so wasn't that surprised but she did take it to three sets which I always appreciate if you're gonna go out go out fighting a little bit

Then the final player I've just got here on the upsets list

is Donna Vekic. Donna lost in the second round to Cristina Busca in straight sets.

And in terms of shock factor, me this was about an 8 out of 10. Donna did make the semi-finals last year and I wasn't expecting her to get to the same stage but I was thinking she would make it a lot further than she did. Especially again against an opponent who is not that experienced on grass. But she hasn't been having the greatest year of results, especially not matching the results that she had last year.

guess I shouldn't have been too surprised but I still was. I was surprised a lot.

Okay, I Think that's about it for the upsets and the disappointments for the tournament actually before we move on I will say I think I think Wimbledon is hardest one to predict and I think the players have played a lot of tennis leading up to this moment

So sometimes it catches up to you and probably at the worst moment as well as the turnaround time from clay to grass is difficult one to adjust to.

So

I think let's give the players some grace and also final thing I think about this often with tennis is these people are all great players they're all very very good so when things like that happen they are a shock to a certain extent but I

Sometimes it's not a shock because of who the opponent is. It's a shock because of who they are. Like with Jessica Pagula, I was more so shocked at Jess's level and her not being able to play herself into the game. Not because she lost to someone ranked just outside the top 100. That's not what shocked me. It was more so her level because I know the quality she can bring. So it's usually not about the

the player on the other side. It's about the player that I expect to win because I'm basing my prediction or my opinion on the level that they've shown us before,

then to be a bit more positive I'm just going to do a quick overview through players that I was impressed by and some that were like surprises as well in a good way and this is just going to be quick fire as well because I was impressed by a lot of people it's hard to get down into the details too much

But I'll start off with Belinda Bencic

I'm pleasantly surprised by the level that she brought into this tournament.

considering she's never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon and even her lead up to Wimbledon, she didn't play French Open and then in Bad Homburg.

which is a tournament before Wimbledon. She lost in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. And I just wasn't expecting this, but I think she has fully recovered from that injury. yeah, just her play style, her grind has impressed me a lot.

Then the next player who impressed me as well was Elizabeth Cocciaretto. She's played Jessica Pegula and won in straight sets in round one and she did not give Jess any time to breathe. She played so well. She was hitting her forehand, backhands. She wasn't making errors and giving easy points away.

If Jess was to win that game, she had to win it off her own racket and she wasn't able to do that because of how well her opponent was playing. And she has gone through quite a few injuries, Elisabetta So I'm hoping now that she can play consistently and her body can be up to the task as well. Because you never know when you put in the work,

You sometimes don't know what will come of it. So I'm just glad to see her in full health. Then the next player I've got here is Emma Raducanu I think outside like the top 10, she's men and women. She's probably the most talked about player, but I was very, very impressed with Emma's level throughout the competition. Her first round match against Mimi Xu and then especially

This is the match that impressed me the most, not even the Sabalenka match which I will talk about in a little bit but her match against Von drousova she didn't give her a chance I thought like after she won the first set Emma that that second set Von drousova will

will I guess I don't know play a bit better get herself back in the match and Emma's level would drop a little bit but it did not drop at all and I think because of the crowd she was feeding off them and taking a lot of confidence as well from winning that first set and even in her performance against Sabalenka I was very impressed in how she was able to keep up with her keep up with Sabalenka and keep up with her in rallies

And I think she should take a lot of confidence from those two matches. Even, even back in like Miami, she made the quarterfinals. She didn't beat people that were push overs. She worked hard to get those wins. So I think she's on an upward trajectory and I think she should Mark Petchy. I'm pretty sure that's his name. Her current coach or kinda coach. She should hire him full time if she can because

he looks to be instilling a lot of confidence in her. In saying all of that,

This is a note to the British media. I do think in the game against Sabalenka, Emma played very well. But I will have to say the conditions were like perfect for her, right? She likes playing on grass. She was the home, home favorite. She was coming off a super confident match. She would have had a lot of

confidence coming from the match of beating Von drousova, a former Wimbledon champ So I feel like the media has gotten a bit carried away because I heard someone say she was like inches away from winning the match against Sabalenka and you can't be inches away from winning a match if you didn't even win a set. I think what she now needs to do in the big moments is take her chances but it's hard to take a chance when you're playing the world number one, they're number one for a reason.

Then next I've got here is Barbora Krejcikova I doubted Babs. That's what me and my sister call her. That's her nickname. If she ever hears this podcast and hates the nickname, I will be waiting for her to tell us. But at the moment, Barbora is Babs in our household. I was really impressed by her level. I actually predicted her to lose against Alex Eala And she didn't.

sets after losing the first one. I think she did that convincingly in the end. Because she's been out of the game and been unwell for a little bit, I just wasn't expecting her to have the energy or even like the match fitness to be able to compete but she did

because her quarterfinal match in East bourne just a week before Wimbledon she she pulled out and didn't play her quarterfinal match so I was expecting just not the highest of levels but I thought she played very very well and her level was very high and in the end she did end up losing not because of her tennis but her body just let her down in that match against Navarro

And even though her body was shutting down against Navarro, she was still breaking back and keeping herself in the match and giving herself a chance to actually win it. So was sad to see her end up losing and even crying at the end of that match. I've heard some people say, she was faking it. I'm like, she is 29 years old. She's won two Grand Slams.

How is she going to fake an injury or an illness and then cry on court one? It's just, let's give people the benefit of the doubt, especially if you haven't been in a situation like that, you don't know how you'd react. But it was really, really, really disheartening to see her go out like that. But she put on a fight till the very, very end.

The next player that impressed me here was Jessica Bouzas-Maneiro. think she, I think her time is coming. Yeah, very attacking, aggressive player. Confident in what she does. I think her time is coming.

She played well French Open, played well Wimbledon, played well even Australian Open. She lost in the second round but again she was playing Sabalenka so it makes life a bit more difficult when you draw her but she played really well in that match as well. So Jessica's breakthrough which I think when you make the fourth round of her slam I think that's a breakthrough because you're in the second week of her slam

but I'm really impressed with her level and I'm just waiting for her breakthrough where...

most people, even casual viewers, will know her name.

And then second last player I was impressed with and I think it's hard to say I was impressed with them because I'll be honest I didn't even know of them was

Solana Sierra, who was actually a lucky loser, who ended up playing in the first round instead of Greet Minnen against Olivia Gadecki. And she took her opportunity. And with that, she found herself in the fourth round, where she eventually lost to Laura Sigmond. I was just impressed by her fight, especially in that match against Katie Balter in front of a home crowd on court one as well.

she was able to withstand that pressure.

So we'll just keep an eye out for her

But yeah, it's always nice to have new names, new people to look out for.

Okay and then finally the I won't talk about this player too much but I was really impressed by Mirra Andreeva level. I did not have any expectations for her going into this Grand Slam.

But yeah, been impressed by Mirra's level maturity and like her level headedness. Even her turnaround in terms of playing on the grass,

how she's improved but I think that's what happens with with the grass as well again because it's a very short season what we see of the players when they're still acclimating to it is probably not going to be the same as what we see them like their final evolution at Wimbledon so what I saw of Mirra before Wimbledon I was not impressed and then coming into Wimbledon because she's become more comfortable

Her game is better. So yes, always impressed with me. I always

Then finally just going to do a quick preview of the quarterfinal matches that we have. So I'll go through each one of them and just talk about each play a little bit and then give a prediction at the end see who I think will win.

Like I said, we've got four quarter matches, obviously. there's Aryna Sabalenka versus Laura Siegemund. Then we have Amanda Anisimova versus Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Then the third match we have is Mirra Andreeva versus Belinda Bencic. And the final match we have is Iga Swiatek versus Liudmila Samsonova. So to start us off, we'll go with the first match, which will be

Sabalenka versus Siegemund. They have played two times and Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 2-0 but the last meeting was in 2019 on clay and Sabalenka won that in straight sets. So it's kind of hard to take information from their last meeting because it was so long ago and both of them are different players. Probably Siegemund is a more similar player to what she was then.

But again, people evolved and it's been six years. So they both have evolved a lot.

So first looking at Sabalenka's path to the quarterfinals. She played Qualifier from Canada, Carson Branstine. Then played Marie Bouzkova world number 48. Then third round she played Emma Raducanu, world number 40. And the last round, fourth round, she played Elise Mertens, who was seeded 24th.

and all of those matches were won in straight sets but I don't think that tells a full story. They haven't been easy matches at all and she actually played three tie breaks.

for the last three matches. So except for the first round, each match she's played at least one tiebreak. In terms of actually Sabalenka's tiebreak record, she has won 14 consecutive tiebreaks. The last time she lost her tiebreak was in Qatar against Ekaterina Alexandrova. So she's been very clutch when the moment has come and she has to win something.

when games get tough she raises her level and we see that within the tie breaks I think. As well as these are just some quick stats as well as this is her 11 consecutive quarterfinal for Grand Slam and she's made nine semis and is looking to make a tenth out of those quarters and I will say about Sabalenka

She's winning based on her variety and her power obviously she overpowers basically everyone on the tour but she's winning because of variety and power and thinking through points and not rushing and she's winning on her return I would say her serve isn't as it was because of the shoulder injury that she had last year

which actually made her miss Wimbledon. I think she's had to incorporate other elements of her game to, to a guess.

to make up for those free points that she doesn't get as much anymore.

But will say something about Sabalenka It's better to play her in a final than any other round before in a Grand Slam. Because as we know, she's lost two Grand Slam finals, two consecutive Grand Slam finals. So it means getting there. That's not the hard part. The hard part for her is actually winning that final.

And as I've said before to win against Saba lenka in a grand slam you have to kill her. Yeah it's like slaying a giant that's what has to be done.

So those are all the points on Aryna. Then moving to Lara Sigamunds path. She played Peyton Stearns, world number 36. Then Leylah Fernandez, world number 29. Then Madison Keys, seeded sixth. And then lastly was Solana Sierra, who was the lucky loser and ranked 106.

just like Sabalenka, Siegemund won all her matches and straight sets and it's actually her best performance at Wimbledon. The best she's ever done before this year was round two so

It's nice to see players that have been around for a while still having new things to achieve in their career. I think it gives them drive to keep going.

And as well as this being her first Wimbledon final, it's her second ever quarterfinal in a Grand Slam.

One thing I'll say about Laura Siegemund she is a really frustrating player to play against. She frustrates her opponents. Even if you know what she's going to do, it doesn't mean you can stop it. Especially in the Madison Keys match, she was hitting drop shots on Madison's second serve. Even Madison's coach told her that

like Laura Siegemund is gonna hit a drop shot on your second serve and when she did Madison wasn't able to stop it even though she knew what was gonna happen. So she's very frustrating she has a lot of variety which could frustrate Sabalenka which I do think Sabalenka is prepared for but like I said you can be prepared for something but doesn't mean you can stop it. So for Siegemund to win this she has to be

playing the way she's played with variety and good serving. Because if her serves are like the way they've been in some of, especially her second serves in some of the past rounds, they will get eaten up for dinner. And another thing that I'll put against Laura is she celebrated like she'd won the tournament. And that's always like a red flag for me in tennis because it means this is probably like the biggest thing you've achieved and you're not going any further.

but she also celebrated like that against Madison Keys. So this is just what I think. I won't look too too much into it.

second quarterfinal we have is Amanda Anisimova versus Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Amanda is seeded 13th, whilst Pavlyuchenkova is ranked 50th. And their head-to-head record is in favor of Amanda Anisimova, 3-0. And the last time they met was in Washington, DC last year on hard court.

match was 3 sets.

So starting with Amanda, her path to the quarterfinals started with Putin Seva, who's ranked 33. Then Renata Zarazua, who is ranked 71. Then Dalma Galfi, who's 110. And then lastly, against Linda Nosková, who's seeded 30th.

the first two matches for Amanda I'll say were quite easy. She steamrolled her opponents, even double bagel to Putinseva in the first round, which was hard to watch. It's someone not winning a single game in a match is you never want that even as a viewer you don't want that. But her last two matches had been three set battles like that match against Dalma Galfi

she looked so out of it. Amanda looked so out of it during that to be honest the whole match but especially during that last set but she somehow was able to find her level and range and pull off the win and then again another battle against a player very similar to her in Linda Nosková which was also three sets and she had to had to fight so she's quite battle tested I would say.

Second time in the quarters at Wimbledon and it's really nice to see her make the quarters because last year she was playing qualifiers and didn't even make the the main draw.

And this year she has a really great record on grass, it's about 10-2. So she's had a lot of a lot of time to play on the surface and get comfortable and acclimated to it. And just some fun things, Amanda will be making the top 10 after this tournament regardless of the results so it's nice to see. As again she was ranked outside 150 this time last year so seeing the improvement and the hard work that's gone into.

into her tennis career.

And if Amanda wins this match, will be her second time making a Grand Slam semi-final.

And then her opponent's path Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova started round one against Aya Tomyanovic, who's ranked 79, then played Aisling Kruger, who seeded 31st, then Naomi Osaka, who's ranked 53rd, and then finally home favourite Sonay Kartal, who's ranked 51. And she, as in Anastasia,

has also been battle tested. She's played multiple three sets and her two set victories which have also occurred haven't been easy either. They included tie breaks meaning the match was essentially on a knife's edge. It could have gone either way when it gets to the point of a tie break but she battled through them and she's the one in the quarterfinal now.

this will be her eighth quarterfinal. She actually made a quarterfinal this year as well at the Australian Open but in saying that as this is Pavlichenkova's eighth quarterfinal she's only been past the quarterfinal once when she made the Roland Garros final in 2019. So

I feel like

When she gets to this stage, this is when she hits a roadblock or maybe when the players become a lot better. So it's harder to get past this level. But I also have a feeling that the moment won't overwhelm her because she's been here many times before and she's been playing for on the tour for about 20 years.

And because she's been on the tour for about 20 years, I don't think she'll take anything for granted and will probably play like this is her last shot of being able to win Wimbledon, even though she probably can play for quite a few more years.

But with this match is going to be a lot of hard hitting and

yeah lot of shorter rallies and people trying to get on top of the match and I think both players have to serve really well because if they give their opponent a chance at at a second serve it will get attacked and punished. They're very similar similar players I also think the ability to bring in add some variety will be

essential especially for Pavlyuchenkova to mess up Amanda's rhythm a lot.

So in saying all of that, I think I predict and in my original prediction as well, I had an SMOVA going through to the semi-finals. I just think there's this different kind of hunger in her at the moment.

And I think she wants an opportunity to play Sabalenka and get rid of the world number one,

But yeah, I think Anisimova to take out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. And I'm so sorry, I forgot to give you my prediction for the first round match. I think Sabalenka to take out Laura Siegemund. Laura does have some things that can frustrate Sabalenka, but I think she's become patient enough in her game.

to overcome Laura's variety but also I think Laura's serve is a weak point that Sabalenka will exploit.

Then moving on to our third quarterfinal.

So the third quarterfinal match we've got here is Mirra Andreeva versus Belinda Bencic. They have never played, which I think most of you could have guessed. So there's not a lot to go on. But I'll start with Mirra's path to the quarterfinal. She played Egyptian Maya Sharif in the first round, then Lucia Bronzetti second round, then third round she played Hailey Baptiste.

then lastly played 10th seed Emma Navarro in the fourth round.

and all of her matches were straight set victories and she's actually so far to get to the quarterfinal lost 22 games which is the lowest of any of the quarterfinalists but what I'm seeing from here right now is just she's getting more and more comfortable on the grass and is getting better each match each tournament it seems as the opponent gets more difficult she's getting better

I've heard some people say she's playing well but I don't think she's ready to win a Grand Slam or I don't think she's ready to win it. I think she's ready to win it all. There's no time waiting especially when you're that good. I don't think there's any time to say that to someone but I think she's ready to win it all. What I want to see is if the moment or the occasion will get to her but I don't think it will because she's had these moments and she's had these occasions before she's made Grand Slam.

semi-finals before by beating the world number two. She's won thousands of tournaments, no not thousands, she's won the thousand level tournaments, two of them this year and again she did that by beating the world number one.

the moment the occasion shouldn't get to her. It did get to her in Paris but I think that was mainly the crowd which is something she probably hasn't dealt with before. And in terms of her tennis she has she has it all.

Her service improved immensely.

And she's an old court player and she can do it all. So I'll be honest.

I think it will take a lot for Bencic to able to exploit any weaknesses if she does see them in Mirra's game.

Then for Belinda Bencic her path to the quarterfinals starting round one against world number 60 Alycia Parks then against French woman Elsa Jacquemot then against Elizabeth Cotchiareto then final fourth round was against 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova

One thing about Belinda that I want to say is I think she's playing better and a lot more aggressively than she did before maternity leave. I've been impressed by her level and her matches so far and I haven't watched too many of her matches as Wimbledon so I don't have too much to say.

but again she's an all court player and she moves very very well.

and she can withstand pressure in rallies.

I think Mirra will have to be quite creative in moving her around and winning points around the court. But I also think the occasion won't and shouldn't get to Belinda. She just seems calm at the moment, just doing what she has to do to win matches.

She has been on the big stage before, not a lot, not as much as you'd expect but she has so the occasion shouldn't get to her. I'm looking at these two players and how they've played to get to this point.

One more thing on Belinda, I think she's a fighter, she won't go down easily.

And I think she's quite battle tested as well. Which I will say Mirra is not. But looking at all of that, looking at how they're playing at the moment. I think it would take a lot for me to bet against Mirra Andreeva. So for this match I'll put my prediction forward as Mirra Andreeva to make the semi-final.

Then here we have our last quarterfinal, is Iga Swiatek vs Liudmila Samsonova. And Iga leads this head to head 4-0, with their last meeting being last year's US Open, where Iga won in straight sets. And looking at their past matches, all of the victories have been quite comprehensive for Iga, except like the first time they met.

which I'll be honest with you does not bode well for Samsonova. But let's just take a look into Iga's path to the quarterfinal. Firstly she played Polina Kudermetova who's ranked number 64. then she played world number 125 Catie McNally that one went to three sets and she played Danielle Collins

Then lastly played Clara Tauson in the fourth round and Clara seeded 23rd.

So most of the matches were pretty straightforward for Iga, except the match against Catie McNally where she had a bit of a wobble, but regained her composure and was able to see out the match pretty easily. And with this quarter final performance, she is matching her best performance at Wimbledon, which was making the quarters in 2023.

I will say looking at Iga right now, she looks really comfortable and confident and a lot of her performances have been quite convincing. I'm convinced because I think in the past like six months because Iga hasn't been having the best of years, anytime she's played well or has beaten people in straight sets

the media or people that watch tennis have said Iga's back blah blah blah blah and I haven't thought that based on watching her although she had won those matches there was something that just wasn't clicking but I feel like it is now.

And I think it's because now there's completely no pressure for her. I think leading up to Roland Garros there was still some kind of pressure, but

not winning again a title in over a year. I think that pressure is gone and she actually not counting the United Cup she made her first final in over a year

at Bad Homburg.

So it's nice to see, I guess that pressure being alleviated from her game. And I will say that she's also had time, like more time to be on grass as opposed to the previous years when she's won Roland Garros where she's had to do like media things and then straight away get on the grass and play Wimbledon. I think her not making it to the finals

just more time to get acclimated the grass.

and the different style you have to play when you're playing on that surface.

And looking at some of her performances, again, I haven't been able to watch all.

because it's really difficult when the matches sometimes start at 4am here in Australia. But from what I've seen, from the matches I have fully watched and the highlights.

her serve has improved big time and more specifically her second serve because I don't think her first serve was ever really a problem it was her second serve that people were taking advantage of attacking and exploiting and I think it's improved a lot as well

And you see that with the stats, she's won about 60 % or more on her second serve in all her matches except the Caden McNally match, which was at 56%. So even in the numbers, you're seeing that return.

So it's nice to see her getting comfortable. It might be Iga's time. I don't want to say it. I have this thing, actually, I should have said this at the start of the tournament. I am a jinx. I jinx players. Whenever someone, whenever I say, someone's playing well, I think it's their time, they go on to lose the next round. It always happens. Last year Wimbledon, I jinxed Madison Keys.

If it wasn't for me, she would not have gotten injured and she would have gone on to win the title if I had just kept my mouth shut. I don't want to jinx anyone. I have my favorites, but like I said, I try and remain as neutral as possible on the podcast. So I'm not going to tell you who my favorites are. If you know me in my personal life, then you know, but if you don't, hopefully you won't be able to figure out within the podcast.

But I'm just whispering, think Iga's playing well and it could be her time.

Then moving on from ego, we'll look at Samsonova path to...

of her path to the quarterfinal. She played her first round against Maya Joint.

who had just won Eastbourne and is ranked number 41. Then she played Yulia

Starodubtseva ranked number 68. Then third round she played against Daria Kasatkina who seeded 19th then finally fourth round she played Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and she's ranked number 62.

So Samsonova hasn't lost any sets during this tournament yet. And she's has the second lowest games dropped total out of all the quarter finalists with Mirra having the lowest amount. And I'm so happy for her. She's finally broken through the fourth round barrier. She's one of those players that are consistent and you see her throughout the year doing well, other tournaments or getting deep at other tournaments. And then when it comes to grand slams she

doesn't play to the same level that she would be playing other tournaments. So it's nice to see that that consistency is now coming into the Grand Slams because she made the fourth round off of the French Open but now she's broken through that barrier and has made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

she's been playing well, steady steady tennis. I think her last match against Jessica was a bit of a blip in terms of her serving. They just kept going back and forth breaking each other but in the moments that mattered Liudmila stepped up a level and stepped up a tennis so that was wonderful to see. But in saying that the caliber of opponent has just gone up.

from now having to play Iga and having a losing record against her.

But a little fun fact about Liudmila Samsonova is she doesn't like knowing who her opponent is. In her interviews, she just lets the journalists know, don't ask any questions about my opponent and we're all good. And her coach doesn't tell her who she's playing until about 24 hours before the match. So that's very interesting. Just a little fact there for you.

this match between these two, well their head to head is quite one sided. and recently, so it's not like it's been a few years. It was last year, their last meeting.

But have a feeling about Samsonova especially if she serves well and remains steady and doesn't let the moment get to her, which I think could be like the biggest factor in this match.

But I think...

I think it's time for Samsonova to be in the public conscience. Yeah, I think it's time for her to be known by casual watchers of tennis. Because I think they would have seen her name, but because she's never made a breakthrough at a Grand Slam, they wouldn't know her too well. I think this decision I'm making based off like feelings and wanting someone to do well, then tennis. Because the tennis and the history tells me Iga takes this one.

But my other predictions have gone with the favorite. So I am just going to Liudmila Simsonova to be Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon just to be different and quirky.

And that is the final match of the quarterfinals, meaning it is also the end of this episode. So again, thank you all for joining me and listening to everyone watches women's tennis. I hope you got something out of it. And if you want to talk to me or see any more content from me.

follow the Instagram which is EWWT Podcast as well as look us up on YouTube. I haven't posted any videos yet but they are in the works. Just the same name as the podcast. Everyone watches women's tennis. I hope you have a lovely rest of your day and I will see you right after Wimbledon.