Australian Open 2011 3rd Round Matches

Stosur Vs Kvitova

This is probably the match of the day, home favourite Samantha Stosur taking on Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. Stosur is ranked number 6 in the world and should be favourite however Kvitova is in good form and recently won the Brisbane International title 2 weeks ago. Kvitova also easily won the last meeting in Roland Garros in 2008. Both players have improved a lot since so this result is slightly irrelevant. Kvitova is a hard-hitting left hander while Stosur is a big server with a strong forehand. This match is hard to predict as both players struggle with consistency but I am going to pick Kvitova in 3 sets.

Jurgen Melzer Vs Marcos Baghdatis
One of the most interesting matches on the mens side, both these players are also plagued with inconsistency but at their best they are very dangerous. Melzer won his matches comfortably where Baghdatis struggled in his 1st round match and beat 2009 US Open champion Del Potro in his 2nd round match in 4 sets. They have never played each other before so it makes it harder to predict. Baghdatis has a good record at the Australain Open but Melzer has had short matches so will be more fresh for this one.
Prediction: Melzer in 5 Sets.

Other Match Predictions:
Flavia Pennetta v Shahar Peer                      Pennetta in 3 sets
Simona Halep v Agniezka Radwanska          Halep in 2 sets
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Iveta Benesova Benesova in 3 sets
Lucie Safarova v Vera Zvonareva                 Zvonareva in 3 sets

Rafael Nadal v Bernard Tomic                      Nadal in 3 sets
Marin Cilic v John Isner                                Cilic in 5 sets
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga   Dolgpopolov in 4 sets
Amdy Murray v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez      Murray in 3 sets