Safarova – Kvitova

Surprise semifinalist Lucie Safarova will hope to produce another upset and reach her first Grand Slam final when she meets her fellow Czech and former champion Petra Kvitova in the first match of the day on Center Court.

Safarova has been brilliant over the past 10 days, winning her matches without losing a single set. The most impressive thing about Lucie was the fact that she raised her level with each round that passed, and in the last two matches against Smitkova and Makarova she lost just 6 games. Indeed, she did not meet top class opposition aside from Cibulkova, who was not at her best level, but Safarova played great tennis and if she keeps it up against Kvitova, she will be in with a very good chance of at least taking it to the wire. There`s no reason to think she won’t given the steady progress she made in this tournament.

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

Kvitova is viewed by many as the main favorite to lift the trophy in the women’s competition this year, given her impressive results so far and more importantly the fact that she has tons of experience as a former champion here. However, even though Kvitova lost just one set until now, I was not particularly impressed with her level of tennis. Petra did not meet a single Top 30 player, she had such an open draw and her only decent opponent, Venus Williams, almost defeated her in a 3 set thriller. Kvitova has not been at her best for a while now and you get the feeling that she did not quite recover her best form.

One thing that will encourage Kvitova is the H2H: Petra leads 5-0 and also defeated Safarova in their only match on grass just two weeks ago at Eastbourne. However, it was very close, with Kvitova barely edging her compatriot in a 3rd set tiebreak.

Kvitova simply can not be trusted here at these kind of odds. She is an offensive player who can easily enter an erratic state and make unforced errors, which is what she has done a lot of times in the last few years. There`s no doubt that she had an easy draw and she did not prove that she regained her old form. Safarova is in great form, defeated tougher opponents and even in a more convincing manner, playing solid tennis. Kvitova’s quality and experience (along with the H2H record) still gives here the edge, but Safarova has her chances. This is close to a 50-50 match, so my tip is Safarova to win. You could go with all sorts of game or set handicaps on Lucie but I`m sticking with the best odds and the max value. Prediction: Lucie Safarova – Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-7 8-6.

Pick: Lucie Safarova
Odds: 3.15 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 6
Possible profit: 12.9
Event date: 3 July