WTA Family Circle Cup preview: Serena Williams once again the hot favourite

Serena Williams and Sabine Lisicki – could they face off in the Charleston final?

There’s no respite for the women! The tennis season is in full gear and the WTA players don’t have too much time off (just one day) after the Miami Masters. The tour now moves on to Charleston and Monterrey, staying in North America just before the European clay swing.

I will focus on the more prestigious of the events – the Family Circle Cup. Held in Charleston, this tournament is one for which many players have a soft spot. It promises to be another fun-filled edition, but who knows, it may just be another walk in the park for Serena Williams.

The draw of 64 has some high-profile names, but the favourite has got to be Serena.

Top half

The top half consists of the top seed Serena Williams and her American counterpart Sloane Stephens. The potentially tough Italian Sara Errani is the third seed, but she has been on a bit of a downward spiral. Williams could run into Melanie Oudin (remember her run at the US Open?) in the second round but shouldn’t face much trouble at least until the quarters, where she could run into a potentially tricky customer in Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

This half could also see Sloane Stephens face potential tough encounters in back-to-back matches against counter-puncher Sara Errani and then the hot favourite Serena Williams. But young Madison Keys of USA who is the 15th seed and slated to meet Errani in the third round, could have something to say about that; she could be very tricky, depending upon form.

Prediction: Williams vs Stephens in the semis, and Williams to enters the final with a straight sets win.

Bottom half

If Serena Williams is the clear favourite in the top half, then the bottom half is much harder to predict with plenty of hit-and-miss, inconsistent players who are capable of producing fireworks. The highest seed in the bottom half is the resurgent Jelena Jankovic. The Serb, however, has to contend with Eugenie Bouchard, Sabine Lisicki and Samantha Stosur. Bouchard, a fantastic young talent, may face a mouth-watering third round clash against old guard Venus Williams, who has been in good form. The Canadian can also face exciting US prospect Christina McHale in the second round.

Sabine Lisicki can run into another big-hitting and inconsistent German in Andrea Petkovic as the two oft-injured but talented Germans will hope to make deep forays into the draw. I don’t expect Stosur to reach the quarters; instead, I expect her to lose to the powerful and hard-to-beat Czech Lucie Safarova.

Prediction: This is a wild one but is possible if Venus continues her recent resurgence; I predict a Venus vs Lisicki semifinal, with Lisicki advancing in three sets.

Finals prediction: Williams d Lisicki in three sets.