Wimbledon Day 10 Preview and Picks
By Ricky Dimon
(1) SERENA WILLIAMS VS. PETRA KVITOVA (OVER/UNDER 18.5 GAMES)
Serena has not been at her best yet during this event, but she is still yet to drop a set and that includes wins over Maria Sharapova and Na Li. Sharapova and Li aren't world-beaters, but they are certainly more accomplished than Kvitova. And when Serena goes up against unproven, unprepared opponents, it rarely ends nicely.
Kvitova has come out of nowhere to reach the semifinals, as she had never won a single match at Wimbledon prior to this fortnight. The 20-year-old Czech was scary good in straight-set drubbings of Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki, but she is coming off a 4-6, 7-6(8), 8-6 marathon against Kaia Kanepi that lasted two hours and 39 minutes. Like Yen-Hsun Lu on the men's side, this Cinderella story will mostly like come to a crushing halt.
Pick: Under 18.5 games.
(21) VERA ZVONAREVA VS. TSVETANA PIRONKOVA (OVER/UNDER 21.5 GAMES)
Pironkova made her way through a soft section of the draw until running into Venus Williams in quarterfinal action on Tuesday. Well, she proved her run was no fluke by blasting Venus in straight sets. Don't sleep on the Bulgarian, who is better than her No. 82 ranking suggests and she dominated her only previous head-to-head meeting with Zvonareva, losing just two games last fall in Moscow.
If this one is close - and it should be - it will probably have more to do with Zvonareva. The Russian has arguably been the best player on the women's side through the Wimbledon quarterfinals. She did not come close to losing a set in her first four matches and on Tuesday she toppled Kim Clijsters in three sets. But Zvonareva is one of the biggest headcases on tour and it's hard to say how she will handle this huge occasion. Nerves should be obvious all over the place in this match, resulting in a hard-to-watch thriller.
Pick: Over 21.5 games.