CitiOpen has been a fun ride so far, but now it’s on to the business half of the tournament in the torrid humid weather that would put Houston or New Orleans to shame.
Nadia Petrova, who hasn’t broken a sweat or lost a set, has a draw that must make the World #32 Russian feel like Lou Ferrigno. She faces Bonita Jovanovski tomorrow and would face Irina Falconi or Virginie Razzano in the Saturday Semis.
Top seed Shahar Peer’s half of the draw includes her quarter-final match with Alberta Brianti and she would face either Stephanie Dubois or Tamira Paszek in her semi.
Take it to the bank: Petrova will beat Peer on Sunday, if they both make it to the last day of the carnival. To get there, Peer’s biggest obstacle would be Tamira Paszek (#42), while Peppermint Patti Nads Petrova’s would be…? Falconi is ranked #102, Razzano is #81, and Jovanovski is at #56.
On July 14, 2011, we showed our rookie colors by predicting the following winners: Peer, Chakvetadze, Dokic, Hercog and long shots Razzano and Oudin. In our high-powered legal defense, Hercog and Chakvetadze were scheduled but no-shows. We don’t even believe Petrova was on the College Park public’s Wild Card radar at that time. Dokic took ill (unforeseen), Oudin got bested by Paszek, and Razzano remains in contention.
For the sake of continuity, Peer and Razzano stay on the list. But, we must now begrudgingly respect the prediction of ThisWeekInTennis.com of Tamira Paszek, and add the one and only Petrova to our list to win the whole darn thing. The very likeable Dubois has played brilliantly, but Tamira Paszek may prove to be the reason to pack her bags and head to Vancouver.
UPDATED PREDICTIONS:
Semis: Peer v. Paszek, Petrova v. Razzano
Final: Peer v. Petrova (Patti in 3)
We can hardly wait to eat these words and wash them down with a fine Austrian beer and a bottle of Bordeaux.
Tennis Atlantic 
Return Serve?