The Miami Open tennis tournament has arrived at the women’s semifinals and that’s where we’ll continue our tennis picks. Looking back to Wednesday’s action, we had a wash of a day as we went 1-1 with our tennis picks. We had Simona Halep as our choice to edge out Johanna Konta, but after a hard-fought match, it was Konta who advanced. Halep actually won the first set and the two fought into a tiebreaker in the second set. However, once Halep lost the tiebreaker 9-7, she seemed to be discouraged by having to play another set. Konta took the third set 6-2. As for our other pick, we had Venus Williams to take care of business against Angelique Kerber and she did exactly that. Kerber, the World No. 1, didn’t put forth much of a fight as she lost in straight sets. Venus won 7-5 and 6-3.
Looking ahead to Thursday, only one player seeded in the top nine has gotten this far, at a tournament without Serena, Sharapova, Azarenka, and Kvitova. Some of these players will be back when the French Open comes, so this is a big opportunity for the players outside the top nine to make a move and register a big points pickup.
Venus Williams vs. Johanna Konta
At 36 years, 10 months, Venus Williams became the oldest WTA player to ever beat a world No. 1. Venus defeated Angelique Kerber in straight sets to reach the Miami Open semifinals. It amazing that even at this age, she can surprise the world by doing extraordinary things. What she is doing is unexpected but also truly remarkable. Before her round of 16 match in Miami, her previous 45 wins had come against non-top-10 members. Now, she has two top-10 scalps– Svetlana Kuznetsova and Angelique Kerber–in two days.
Her semifinal opponent is Johanna Konta, who fought adversity and a quality opponent in Simona Halep to come through in a grueling battle which lasted two and a half hours. Konta gave up the only break of the first set but stormed to a 3-0 lead early in the second before Halep recovered to force a tiebreaker. A topsy-turvy second set went in Konta’s favor after a ragged breaker. The Romanian, Halep, was shattered and her rhythm was lost. From then the Brit dominated the deciding third set and eventually won going away.
Konta will be buoyed by her comeback victory, but it doesn’t guarantee her a win against Venus. Although she fought and is confident, Venus is playing some sublime tennis. It’s going to be another tough battle for Konta, but her time spent on court against Halep could leave her spent in important moments against Venus. Take Williams with your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Venus in straight sets
Karolina Pliskova vs. Caroline Wozniacki
To everyone’s surprise, Karolina Pliskova lost to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the Australian Open quarterfinal from what had been an advantageous position in the third set. There was no such drama in Miami. Pliskova didn’t allow Lucic-Baroni to even settle for a minute. The Czech imposed herself from the start, avenging her Melbourne defeat in Tuesday’s quarterfinals by beating Lucic-Baroni in 72 minutes. Pliskova has been in great form, and this was her best match during the American spring swing. Even Lucic-Baroni felt Pliskova’s performance was close to flawless.
Next up in the semifinals for Pliskova is Caroline Wozniacki, who has beaten her three times in the past. However, the only time that Pliskova got the better of Wozniacki came recently in Doha, where the Czech star dominated her in straights. Wozniacki is playing a lot better now in Miami than she was then.
For Pliskova, it all comes down to how well she serves. If she doesn’t win free points on serve, Wozniacki will be hard to beat with her impenetrable defense. It’s tough to predict a winner but since Pliskova might have a nagging shoulder issue (not a big one, but she was wrapped with tape at the end of Indian Wells), Wozniacki has a slight edge in this contest. We’ll go with Woz for our tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Wozniacki in three sets
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