US Open: Quarterfinals & Semifinals Preview

In this episode, I will provide an analysis of the upcoming women's tennis quarterfinals and semifinal at the US Open. Will Aryna Sabalenka make her 3rd Major final of the year. I'll discusses each player's journey to the quarterfinals, highlight standout and disappointing performances, and reflect on her pre-tournament predictions. The episode culminates in predictions for the quarterfinal matches and final thoughts on the tournament's progression.

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Transcript

Matipa Ruzive (00:06)
Hello everyone and welcome back 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.

I'm actually really nervous recording this episode because I've just lost my groove. So we'll see how I go. But thank you all for coming back to our seventh episode. Wow, we've made it to seven and there'll be lots more, promise. But yeah, thank you for joining me for this seventh episode.

Let's just get straight into it. We are in the midst of the US Open, the fourth major of the year, fourth and final major of the year. And things are hotting up because we've had two quarterfinals played and then we have two more that are being played. Well, I'm in Australia, so they're being played Thursday morning, but those in other countries, they're being played on Wednesday, Wednesday, day and night.

But anyway, I've just got a few things that I would like to just discuss. I hope this is a quick and fast episode because at the end of the tournament, that's when I'll really do a deep dive into certain things that I probably won't talk about now because it's relevant, but it takes a lot of dissection. And this is just a quick, fun episode for you to listen to before the rest of the finals that are upcoming.

and before we look forward to the quarterfinals and the semi-final, before I do a little preview for that, I wanna also go a bit backwards and

take look at my pre-tournament predictions and then also just some of the surprise performers and also disappointing performers and then I'll do yeah like I said predictions and a preview of the quarterfinals in the semi-finals

And before we get into all the tennis talk, I'm sure there are couple of people wondering where I've been for so long. I haven't been anywhere. I have been at home, but living in Australia and watching tennis, it does take a toll on you, on your sleeping habits, on your body, a lot of things. And I think I was just burnt out.

especially after doing French Open and Wimbledon back to back. It just, it catches up to you eventually and you have to be able to survive my normal life here which is like waking up at in the morning when everyone wakes up and doing things when everyone else does things. And then I've also just had like some family holidays and stuff so I haven't been 100 % on my tennis grind. And because I haven't been 100 % on my tennis grind

I don't like speaking about things that I haven't seen myself or analyzing things that I'm not fully aware of or matches that I haven't watched. I think it makes no sense to give my perspective on things that don't concern me because I didn't watch them. Which I will say, a lot of people need to take that advice because if you don't know about something

then you probably should be quiet about it. But that's me being shady, so maybe I'll cut this out. Anyways, so to get us started, I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm yelling. This is what I mean when I say I was nervous to record this episode because I am all over the place.

Oh yes, to get us started, we'll start with my pre-tournament predictions. Before the tournament started, when the draw came out, I did what I normally do. I filled out every, like I completed the draw, so I picked a winner from each round until the winner. So from round of 128 to the final, in total that's seven rounds.

I'm obviously not going to go through it all because some of that stuff is old news, old, old news. But I will go, I'll go up to the quarterfinals. So what I had listed for my quarterfinalists and then see if I was right or wrong. But you know, what can you do? All right. So we'll start with my quarterfinalists. So the eight people I had listed down making the quarterfinal, had Aryna Sabalenka, then I had Elena Rybakina.

Then second quarter finalists were Liudmila Samsonova and Victoria Mboko. Then third set of quarter finalists I had Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka. And final set of quarter finalists I had

I had Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek And I'm just going to quickly go through why I picked some of those people. Yeah. Because again, I didn't do a pre-tournament prediction so can't go through it in too much detail. But we'll just start with Aryna I mean that one's kind of self-explanatory. Like she's made like, I don't know, the last 12 or something quarterfinals.

the majors she's a defending champ world number one yeah not much else to say then for Elena and sorry back on Sabalenka her draw was difficult but not difficult enough for her not to win you know and then we've got and I also I just it's been a while since I remember her losing like early in a grand slam it's gonna happen sometime but

I know I didn't think it was this time and I was correct and then the player I had Sabalenka playing in the quarterfinal was Elena Rybaykina because she was playing well not her peak peak but she was playing well and I thought she was playing well enough to get through all the people in her in her quarter of the draw and for the she did up until round four where she lost to Vondrousova

⁓ which makes sense because she's been playing well but she keeps losing matches that are close three set matches or matches where she like where she loses a very close first set she then goes on to lose the second set easily so close matches have just been i don't know a mind-boggling thing for Elena at the moment and i'm not even going to touch on her old

coach Stefano Vukov being back in her box. That is a whole episode in it in and of itself. It needs its own episode. Then who was my next? Okay, I had Liudmila Tsimsonova. This I got very wrong, which to be honest, I don't think anyone would have predicted that she would lose to Priscilla Hon in the second round.

I thought it was again I put some son of a dare because she had a pretty good draw yeah she had a really good draw actually ⁓ and I think it was time for her to build on her performance in slams so building on her performance getting to the fourth round of getting to the fourth round of the french open and then quarterfinals of Wimbledon and

not playing that well at Wimbledon so I was thinking she'd you know want to rectify that but it also makes sense why she didn't go that far because she hasn't been playing well after Wimbledon in other tournaments so got that wrong. Then Victoria Mboko okay so for Victoria Mboko it was like a 50-50 because I was like if she got through her first round match which was against Babora Krejcikova I thought she would be able to make the run and that's

the quarterfinals and that's what I predicted but unfortunately she got a horrible horrible horrible first round match.

Yeah, I think she got a horrible first round match so made it a bit difficult. But in saying that she can beat anyone, it doesn't really phase her who's on the other side of the net. She just plays her game. So that's what I was basing it off and also just that confidence. That confidence off, you know, winning at home at Canada. And also I was hoping that the stats would back me up. Not even the stats, just like, you know, fairy tale thinking that the last

Teenager who won Canadian Open then went on to win the US Open which was Bianca Andreescu but this didn't happen. So let's keep pushing Then who was my next? Quarterfinalist this one. I'm sorry Come on guys, what was Madison Keys doing to everyone but especially me because I Madison making the quarterfinals She didn't even make it to the second round. I think her making the quarterfinals is kind of like self-explanatory

Well, why I had her making the quarterfinals is kind of self explanatory. she had a difficult draw, but I think she's had like enough time to recover from like a disappointing Wimbledon and disappointing performances in the pre US Open tournaments to come here and want to prove a point, but that didn't happen.

she's on home soil, she's performed well in the past, she's made semi-finals and she's made a final US Open as well. So I thought that could be maybe on the cards for her again but it wasn't. She was so nervous. It was yeah it was not a good match anyway. And then I thought her quarter finalist opponent would be Naomi Osaka and I was correct in that.

and yeah Naomi made the or is in the quarterfinals. The reason I got her making it to the quarterfinals is the first couple of matches pretty easy for her on paper and she also is now in her groove. She's doing her Naomi thing. She's on US soil. She is on hard court. She's made a final of a thousand tournament. She's seeded again. So everything's going for her and she looks confident, can beat anyone and has a point to prove that's

why I had her the quarterfinals. And then the last two quarterfinalists I had Elina Svitolina which was completely wrong. I can't even explain it because she has a really difficult draw and also looking at her most recent results they haven't been great. So I don't even know why I had her the quarterfinals. I still think it's crazy that Elina Svitolina has never been in slam final That's wild to me. But yeah got that wrong.

I have no... I'm not even gonna... I'm not even... I'm not even gonna try and defend that one, that was just bad. And then lastly we got Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, quarterfinals, which also I think that's pretty self-explanatory. She has a lot of momentum and confidence at the moment coming from that Cincinnati win. And...

yeah i don't have much else to say like and also she got a good draw actually no iga's draw was not the greatest but i thought she'd still be able to come through it and she has so three

Okay so after going on my reasoning of my pre-tournament predictions, I only got three out of eight of the current quarterfinalists. So to the other five, sorry for not believing in you, that's and Pegula

and Vondrousova. Sorry for not believing in you. You've done well. Anyway just before we finish my pre-tournament prediction because I told you who thought my quarterfinalists are and then I'll just go through who I thought would make it to the semis and then my finalists and my winner. But I did have on dark horse alert I had Naomi Osaka and Elena Rybakina

and still have one of those dark horse. I know it's hard to call Naomi a dark horse but she has to be. She's not seeded in the top 10. She you know hasn't until now made deep run to grand slam in a while so fair to call a dark horse. Elena Rybakina again I wouldn't have been surprised if she had made it to the semi-finals um but she just got handed a difficult draw in that one.

having von Drussova and Paolini all in her quarter. So I think but I still I have big dreams and wishes for Elena so it's hard to see where we are right now. She's playing well but she's not just like playing well enough to make semi-finals type of player. She should be a multi grand slam champion. And then I had on upset alert which I got

most of them correct except like two. I had Jasmine Paolini which is hard. Jasmine had a difficult draw

So Jasmine Paolini then Emma Navarro. Emma Navarro did do better than I thought. She ended up making it to the third round. I thought she would lose to Catie McNally but then lost to Barbora Krejcikova And then we had Oste Penko who I was correct. She lost to not who I thought she was gonna lose to but she still lost in the second round. Then Kasatkina who has been up and down but she's been more on the decline.

So for her to make the

So she made the third round which is actually better than I thought she would she would make and then Haddad Maia who also did better than I thought she made it to the fourth round But she was on my upset alert. Okay, and then quickly quarterfinalists

So had quarter finalists. This is remember this is my pre tournament prediction. So I had quarter finalists Sabalenka versus Rybakina and I had Sabalenka winning then Samsonova Mboko I had Samsonova winning then quarter finalists I had Madison Keys Naomi Osaka with Naomi Osaka coming out on top and Elena Svitolina versus Iga Swiatek and for some reason I had Elena Svitolina coming out on top. I don't know what's happening anyway, and then my semi finalists I had Aryna Sabalenka and

Liudmila Samsonova with Sabalenka coming out on top and the other semi-final I had Naomi Osaka and Lina Svitolina with Naomi Osaka on top and then my finalists which I will say could still happen. My final could still happen. I'm pretty confident in it but let me not say too much. So I had the final between Naomi Osaka and Sabalenka and I had Sabalenka as the champion. That is all. I'll be honest with you.

The reason I had Sabalenka as a champion is because she can't lose. She can't be losing a third final in a row, right? yeah, that's why I picked it. There's other reasons behind it, of course, but now that I think about it, looking at it probably should pick Naomi. But anyway, that's what I had. Let's see if it still comes true. We're very close to it.

so moving on, I'm going to do my disappointments and standouts for this tournament. I'll try and go through these really quickly, starting with the disappointments. So first I had Madison Keys.

I predicted her to make it to the quarters and then she went on to lose first round to Renata Zarazua who's ranked 82nd. Madison Keys by the way is, Yeah, sixth. Madison's a sixth seed. So she lost in three sets to Renata Zarazua. So seven, six, six, seven, seven, five.

she lost to Renata Zarizua in three sets, three really close sets, but it was not good from Maddie. She had 14 double faults and 89 unforced errors. I will say Zarizua played so well. She forced Madison Keys to keep hitting one more ball and then exploited those mistakes and forced her to make mistakes in some instances, but in other instances as well.

Maddie's racket was just flying off. It was off the handle. Anyway. And then the second person I had who disappointed me was Svitolina. I predicted a quarterfinal run for her as well. But then she lost first round to Anna Bondar and Elina was seeded

12th for this tournament and she lost to Anna Bondar who's ranked number 97. It was actually their third time playing each other this year at the majors. I'm sure Bondar did not want to lose three in a row so that makes sense of this result but still I was very very surprised. Again not the best game from Elina eight double faults.

And then she hit 23 winners to 41 unforced errors. So it's quite unbalanced and not a clean game that she can typically play, especially in the early rounds of Slams Then the third person who disappointed me was Liudmila Samsonova. I'm always rooting for her. Her and Ekaterina Alexandrova, I look at them as like a same player. I just need one of them to make at least a slam semi-final.

Anyway, so she lost second round to Priscilla Hon. I didn't watch this match so I don't have too much to say but unexpected, very very unexpected. And then a couple of special mentions for disappointing performances or disappointing runs at this US Open. I have Clara Tauson which I think is a bit unfair because she did have a difficult first round in playing Alex Eala and then

I Sofia Kenin again, difficult match against Ashlyn Krueger who is probably someone you don't want to play especially on hard court but still I have been saying that there's a Keninssaince on its way and it hasn't been happening so right now I'm looking like an idiot so I need Sofia to get it together for me please so my family and friends think I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to tennis

and the third person in the special mentions for disappointments was Mirra Andreeva. I'm just now expecting more. So it's hard to see her go away like that and to be so flat again and I really think the crowd that crowd element she needs to I don't know there's a lot she needs to do she's quite young so not too much pressure on Mirra and then last player who again I always wish the best for and then they

disappoint me especially in slams was Veronica Kudermetova She lost in the first round as well.

All right, then moving on to happier things. I've got some of the standouts for this year's tournament, starting with Priscilla Hon, who was a qualifier ranked currently 126 and is Australian. was her best major performance, making it to the round of 32 and she.

made it through qualifiers first and then she went on to beat Leola Jean-Jean in straight sets then she beat Samsonova in in three sets as well. She wasn't able to to capitalize on the draw opening up as well and ended up losing to Ann Li who's a home player so it makes sense but still great performance from Priscilla I'm very very proud.

Then the next player I had here as a standout was Marketa Vondrousova I get it she's a Grand Slam champion and she's made deep runs and slams other slams before other than Wimbledon

but she had a really difficult draw going into this US Open and she went into it ranked as 60th so obviously not seeded

She beat three seeds in a row to make it to the quarterfinals So that was McCartney Kessler Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina She ⁓ was playing really really smart tennis and that last match against Elena Rybakina her serving was insane it was like It was a stellar stellar serving performance, so hopefully

This injury that she does have is something minor and we can see a good start to the year for her next year. Or even a good end to the year because there's still a couple of more than a couple. There quite a few tournaments that still have to be played out.

Then the third player who was a stand-up to me I've got here is Taylor Townsend So last time Taylor made fourth round of major was US Open 2019 So this is her best performance in a major in a while and I'll also say her best singles result in a while as well She got to the fourth round by beating Antonia Ruzic 6464

Jelena Ostapenko 7-5-6-1 and then she beat Mirra Andreeva 7-5-6-2 and then eventually lost to Barbora Krejcikova A really difficult loss because she had eight match points and she couldn't convert at least one of them. But that's also down to her opponent who plays really smart tennis

⁓ but yeah proud to see Taylor and she's still she's still in the doubles as well with her doubles partner Siniakova and also she is currently holding the number one doubles ranking so proud of Taylor on the singles and the doubles front of her tennis

And then special mention as well is Babura Krejcikova. Won't talk too much about that. Made the quarterfinals, did that by saving eight match points against Taylor Townsend. So fabulous. And tennis is always better when you do have players like Vondrousova and Krejcikova playing really well.

it adds so much variety. I do think the women's game already has a lot of variety but you could always want more of it and see that there's different ways of playing tennis and still being successful. That still wins you tournaments and majors.

And then just some other quick happy standout news. We had Janice Tjen I'm so sorry, I did not learn how to pronounce her name before this.

But Janice, last name spelled T-J-E-N from Indonesia was the first.

Indonesian player in 22 years to win a main draw match for Grand Slam. So that's just some good news seeing countries that you don't always see in tennis being put on the map. And then same thing with Alex Eala.

So Alex Eala as well, she in the first round she beat Clara Tauson and became the first Filipino to achieve

match victory in a major tournament in the open era. again always nice to see countries that aren't so prevalent in tennis being uplifted and being put in the spotlight. So I hope that those two girls, two women carry the flag high for their countries and keep pushing as much as they can.

So we'll start with our quarterfinal previews. The first two quarterfinals have already been played. I did write my notes before they were played. So I'm gonna quickly go through them, what I thought would happen in the match and what actually happened. Then I'll do a preview of the semi-final that we have set.

then I'll do preview of the other two quarterfinals that will be played in about 12 hours or something actually less than that about nine hours. All right so we'll start with the first with the first quarterfinal here it was Jessica Pegula versus Barbora Krejcikova so Jess comes into this as number fourth seed and one number four and then Babs

That's when I say Babs I'm referring to Barbora So Barbora ranked number 62 and their head to head before the quarterfinal that was played today was 2-1 in favour of Krejcikova and they were all hardcourt matches as well. Again because this match has already been played I'm not going go too much into the journey of getting to the quarterfinals. I'll just have what I

had listed for my prediction and how the match was going to play out. I had my prediction of Jessica Pegula winning in straights the reason I had that is because

I Jess has had quite a quietly good tournament. hasn't she hasn't been on the court for long. She's just played some consistent and convincing tennis and for her to have beaten. But boy, she had to play her game, which is solid tennis and consistent ground strokes and kind of impose her game and not be taken in by krejcikova creativity and her.

and like her dynamism because she changes a lot of things throughout a match. She's quite intelligent in that way so that's what she did.

And yeah, and I think she wasn't... She didn't let Obora have time to get in the game and impose her game. Because once you do that, you can also get a bit confused and then you stop playing your game and you just focus on trying to not lose, but just play this game as someone who is apt to win. And that's what I thought would happen. So, got that right?

And then the second quarterfinal which we didn't get to see play out against world number one, Aryna Sabalenka versus Marketa Vondrousova who's currently ranked number 60. Their head-to-head is quite close. It's Aryna 5-4 and their last meeting was just a few weeks ago in Cincinnati where Sabalenka won 7-5-6-1 and she's also won their last four hard court meetings.

The match didn't happen so I'm not gonna go too much into it. Vondrousova pulled out before they got on court. The reports were saying she pulled something during training but I think she had pulled something in the match before and then when she went to training it became worse and she realized that she couldn't play. So hopefully she recovers soon because it's really fun having her on the tour. I really like her playing style.

I like her demeanor she's quite ⁓ quite like chill and like not much seems to bother her it might but not much seems to so I like different personalities on court yeah so that leaves Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka in the in the semi-finals and I will do a preview of that match after I've gone through the other two quarterfinals

Right and then the third quarterfinal we have is number 11 seed Karolina Muchova playing the 23rd seed and two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka. Their head-to-head is two a piece and their last meeting was at the Australian Open this year where Naomi Osaka won 1-6 6-1 6-3 and out of their four meetings three of them have been

three set matches. So that's something to keep in your mind in. Okay. So that's just something to keep in your mind. So I'll start with Karolina Mukhova. I have a couple things to say about Mukhova before we do this like little preview. It baffles me that she's only won one title and that it's not like a major title or like in a thousand.

I'm yeah it baffles me I I want her to have like a big title so much it's crazy how and she's 29 she just turned 29 which is you know okay anyway so Muchova got to the quarterfinals by beating Venus Williams in the first round that was three set match 6-3

2661 then she played Sorana Cirstea and she won that match 7-6 6-7 6-4 then Third round she played another Czech in Linda Nosková. She won that match 6-7 6-4 6-2 and then her last match in the fourth round was against Marta Kostyuk and that was a Three set match as well. That was 6-3 6-7 6-3

So all her matches so far have been three set matches and I think you can see it catching up to her especially in her last match against Marta in that second set she had a medical time out and she was she was barely able to move she wasn't she wasn't moving with like her full range of motion but she still came out to win that match so we're not sure how serious like the back thing could be

maybe it's something that just needs rest and then she can reset going to the match. So I am putting that into consideration, but maybe not too much because I don't want it to cloud my view of the game. And I also think if I was Naomi Osaka, I wouldn't be thinking that she's injured because then it kinda can maybe make you not as prepared or underestimate the opponent on the other side. Anyway.

But speaking of Muchova she's also made the semi-final the past two years here, so 2023 and 2024. So I'm sure she wants to make it to the semi-final again and make it two steps further by winning the title. And then looking at Naomi Osaka's journey to the final. Oh, sorry, her journey to the quarterfinal. She in the first round played Greet Minen. She won that 6-3-6-4.

Then second round played Hailey Baptiste won that 6-3-6-1. Third round played Daria Kasatkina. She won that match 6-love 4-6-6-3. And then last round, fourth round, played world number two, ⁓ sorry, world number three, Coco Gauff and she won that 6-3-6-2. So with Naomi, she is peaking at the right time. Her first two matches I say were easier matches.

And then the game against Kasatkina she was tested a little bit. And Kasatkina was asking her the questions of seeing how consistent she can be throughout the match. So she faulted a little by losing that second set, but still came back to win it. And then against Cori

she won 94 % of points on her first serve. Yeah, and a lot of the focus in the media has been on Cori not playing well or not serving well, which I agree she didn't. I think

It's a combination of things. So Naomi played so well, insanely well. Coco didn't play her best. She didn't, I wouldn't say she played like horrendously, but when you're serving like that and she's been serving like that for however long and especially the past few matches, eventually it catches up to you and you play someone who punishes you for that. But I don't think this was the worst serving performance.

but do think she wasn't serving in the same way. She wasn't serving as well as she can because she has matches where she serves really badly and then she has where she serves well where I think it was more so average and Naomi Osaka was able to capitalize on that.

Yeah was able to capitalize on just Coco's serve being reworked because she's changing it you know Yeah it was a match that had like two sides and I think with tennis it's never just this person was horrible or sometimes it is but the other person still has to serve well or has still has to

hold their games as well.

which I think I've said that before. As in someone can play badly but you have to do your part which is serve and hold games. Anyway, on Naomi still she has made four Grand Slam quarters and she's won four Grand Slams. So anytime she's made the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam she has won that Grand Slam. Ominous, who knows? Anyway,

With all of that being said, I...

I have Naomi Osaka winning this match. ⁓

I've not tried to bring how Muchova feeling physically into it but

might play a part so I do have to say something about it but

Yeah, think Naomi wins in three sets. I think if she serves well and shortens the points and doesn't give Muchova any time to be creative, then I think she wins this match. And I also think Naomi should try and win it in two sets. Even though I'm saying Muchova is, might not be feeling the best physically.

If does go to three sets, think Muchova is battle tested. But I also think mentally she's very good mentally. She's a very good player mentally. I think, so I think it's in, I mean, it's always in the best interest of the player to keep the game to two sets. But I think in this case for Naomi, just to make sure that those doubts don't creep in off matches that have been close.

then she's gone on to lose them like the Canadian Open as well but I also think she's confident it's got her groove back so we'll see

For Muchova to win, again my prediction is Naomi to win, but for Muchova to win she has to disrupt Naomi's rhythm. She has to mix up the type of balls that Naomi is receiving. She kind of just has to play the game that she normally plays but then couple it with serving well and moving well. And hopefully that will be enough to frustrate Naomi.

But as I said, think this is a match Naomi wins in three sets. Even though I'm saying she should win in two, I think she can still do it in three. Then the last quarterfinal that we have is

World number two Iga Swiatek playing Amanda Anismova who is seeded eighth and with these two their history is very very recent with only having ever played one match so their head-to-head is 1-0 in favor of Iga and that meeting was at Wimbledon as we all know and it was a six love six level win for her. So I think this match is very tense.

for one player in particular that's Amanda of course who has recovered well from that Wimbledon loss but you never know how fully recovered someone is until they play someone who beat them. So we'll see but we'll start with Iga's path to the quarterfinal. So in the first round she played Colombian Emiliana Arango and she won that 6-1 6-2 then

in the second round she had a bit of a stumble against Suzanne Lamens of the Netherlands. She won in three sets 6-1 4-6 6-4

Then third round she beat Anna Kalinskaya 7664. Then fourth round she had convincing victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova and that was 6361. So Iga is playing well, she's playing confidently. She has, I will say has had a couple of hiccups in that she lost the second set in her second round match. And then in her third round match

Honestly, she was making so many errors and Kalinskaya was up a double break and had two opportunities to serve out the set and wasn't able to do it. Kalinskaya in my opinion definitely should have at least won that first set. But I do think the fact that she's had those hiccups or those really close moments of difficult matches,

Iga can gain confidence from it because she knows she's come back from a bit of adversity. And if she can just keep playing her game, she'll be able to find her rhythm and end up winning. Because she's one of those players, her and like Sabalenka, Coco, Jessica Pegula if they play their game, their average is better than basically everyone's average. That's why they're the top players. So that's that on Iga. And then looking at Amanda Anisimova,

her path to the quarterfinals started against Australian Kim Birrell She won that 6-3 6-2 then played Maya joint another Australian that was 7-6 6-2 then third round she played Jacqueline Cristian she won that match in three sets was 6-4 4-6 6-2 and then fourth round match she convincingly beat Beatriz Haddad Maia and that was 6-0 6-3. So

Amanda's been serving really, really well. I do think there's been moments of her letting people back in the game with unforced errors. She did that against Maya Joint. Maya had a couple of opportunities to serve out the match and wasn't able to do it. And then she also lost the second set against Jacqueline Christian. So I think there's sometimes always an open door with Amanda Anisimova

terms of like the racket because the game is essentially she's very similar to Sabalenka in that she holds the game in her racket when she's playing players that are lower ranked and not as powerful as her. I think it becomes a bit different when she's playing the likes of Sabalenka and the likes of Iga where they also have the racket in their hand to win the match so it's trying to figure out that but in terms of these other matches

I'll criticize that part but she's come out on top and I think I said this already she's yeah serving serving really well

So going into the prediction or just the match against these two. I'm not too sure honestly. I've said that the type of player that gives Iga the most trouble is a hard hitting and someone who hits quite flat because she likes her ball with spin. Like that yeah that hard hitter flat ball archetype.

But she's still beat at Kalinskaya and Ekaterina Alexandrova. So she's had practice with that type of player, like the last two people she's played play in that manner. So going into the match with Anisimova, I think she would be confident that she can handle what Anisimova will throw at her. And also, like you have to think about Wimbledon. I think there's no pressure on Iga.

Essentially, she'll be like, okay, I just have to play my game and maybe Amanda will beat herself like last time But then on Amanda's side of things Amanda didn't say anything about revenge.

Obviously she wants to play better than she did in the final. And I think that's like a powerful motivation. I think revenge is a powerful motivation, especially in tennis. And if she has that like fire underlying, maybe something can come off it.

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she also will have the home crowd support and I think because of her because of her performance at Wimbledon a lot a lot of people will be cheering more than usual for her because they want her to I guess get one over on the person who beat her that way so she'll have that home soil advantage but I don't know I think it's hard for me not to not to back Iga

I Iga takes this one in... we'll say three sets. No, actually I think in straight sets for Iga. I'd say that though. But an upset could still be on the cards. Like I'm not doubting Amanda could win this match. It's not like it's 100 % in with Iga. It's like 70-30.

Yeah I saved 3 sets, I wanna see 3 sets, I wanna see how both players handle the pressure. But it's weird, I actually think there's more pressure on Anisimova than Iga. Anyway so yeah, from all I've said, Iga to win that match and it's also because I won an Iga and Naomi semi-final. I think that would be just a dazzling, dazzling match.

Matipa Ruzive (36:00)
Now that I've gone through the quarterfinals that are still upcoming, I'll also do a quick preview of the semi-final that's already set between Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula

So we'll start with their head-to-head of course. It is 7-2 in favor of Aryna Sabalenka and the last time that they played was on the hard courts of Miami and Sabalenka won that match 7-5, 6-2.

And then as we know, they also played last year at the US Open where Sabalenka won 7-5-7-5.

We'll start with Saba's path to the semi-final. First round she played Rebecca Masarova. She won that match 7-5-6-1. Then second round was against Polina Kudermetova She won that 7-6-6-2. Then against Leila Fernandez. She won 6-3-7-6. Then against Christina Busca She won that 6-1-6-4. And then the last match was meant to play

was a walkover because Marketa Vondrousova is injured.

So for this, I'm just gonna do pros and cons for and against for each player. So for Sabalanka, pros, she's won their last three hardcourt meetings, which have all been finals. So that that was Miami Open 2025, US Open 2024 and Cincinnati 2024. And then of course, like I said, they played

in the same slam last year.

So just like that mental aspect she's got. And Sabalenka's become quite the problem solver. And I think with Jess, like the way she plays is predictable, you know what she's gonna do. think that's like a puzzle Sabalenka can solve. And again, she's world number one for a reason. And she's also made five finals of the last six semis she's played.

So if you put that into the equation as well, she's quite experienced at this stage and level of the tournament. Cons, things that could go against her is just her mind. Usually Sabalenka beats herself. I've said often, the racket is in her hand, what she chooses to do with it. Secondly, the crowd.

I know she was able to handle the crowd last year when she did play Jess in the final, but there's also moments where she can't or where she hasn't been able to. So that could come up again. I'm not saying it will. I'd be surprised, but it still can. And then there's no preparation because she didn't play the quarterfinal match and she was going to play someone like a high level, really high level opponent.

So that would have been great preparation if she had won that match and then going into the semi-final. So I think her mind has to now mentally prepare for the step up in competitor.

then on the other side we've got Jessica Pegula Her path to the final was first round against Mayar Sherif She won that 6-love-6-4. Then against Anna Blinkova she won that 6-1-6-3. Then in the third round she beat Victoria Azarenka 6-1-7-5. Then fourth round she beat Ann Li 6-1-6-2. And then quarterfinal against Barbara Krejcikova.

She won 6363.

So pros for Jess, she has beaten Aryna before on hard court in like an important match that was 2023, the WTA finals. So it has been a while, but you know, you can take it all into consideration. And then she's on home soil and she's got the crowd support. And I think she has no pressure to be honest.

Based on her run before this US Open, people had low expectations for Jess. So I think she goes on to this match with no pressure, because

She's not the world number one. She's not the defending champion. People expect her to lose considering the head-to-head as well. I also think because she did play a quarterfinal match, she's in like flow state. She can just like keep it pushing and keep it moving. And she's been playing very well, very consistently. so the cons would be obviously Aryna superior head-to-head.

and also scar tissue from losing the not just the US Open final last year but losing US Open final then the Miami Open final and then the Cincinnati final in 2024 as well.

But again, that revenge element, she did mention it in her press conference. She said it'd be nice to get a bit of revenge. And I think sometimes I can light a fire and make it easier to beat your opponent.

So saying all of that, my prediction, hmm, because I did do a pre-tournament prediction and I had Arena going to the final, I have to pick it again because you can't just change your predictions, you know? So I've got Arena making it to the final and beating Jessica Pegula, but I think it'll be, it's either gonna be really, really difficult or very easy.

I stick with my pick of Arena Sabelink making the final. But as I am saying that, Arena, if you're not going to go on to win in the final, please just let Jess play another Grand Slam final.

I can't have you not win this final. I can't have you lose three major finals in a row. I can't have anyone. It's heartbreaking for basically any player. So please, please don't do it if you're not gonna win the entire tournament. That is my call out. Thank you.

Matipa Ruzive (41:00)
But that is all for today. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you for welcoming me back to your ears. Is that weird to say? Yeah, probably. Anyway, thank you guys for listening. Just before I go, I'll remind you to follow my Instagram at EWWT podcast as well as I haven't said this for the past few episodes.

But may you please follow whichever platform you listen to the podcast on. Can you please follow the podcast channel and then also download every episode you listen to. It does help me a lot. And share with your friends, any friends that like tennis, that want to know more about tennis and especially ones that love women's sport, just send it to them and maybe they'll learn something new. But again, thank you for your time. Bye.