US Open Tennis 2015: Predicting Score, Results for Men, Women's Semifinals
Unseeded Roberta Vinci has done well to make it to the semifinals of the 2015 U.S. Open, but she's about to hit a brick wall, aka No. 1 seed Serena Williams. Vinci gutted out a three-set victory over No. 5 Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday.
As good as Kvitova is, she's no Serena.
Williams and Vinci will meet for the fifth time in their careers in one of the ladies semifinals on Thursday. After an emotional three-set win over her sister Venus Williams on Tuesday (6-2, 1-6, 6-3), Serena tweeted this heartfelt salute:
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Williams has won all four of the previous matches between her and Vinci.
The world No. 1 hasn't just won the matches, she has won every set. The two last met at the Rogers Cup in Toronto in August, and Williams won 6-3, 6-4. Expect a similar score as Williams marches into the finals.
| Matchup | Predicted Winner | Score |
| No. 1 Serena Williams vs. Roberta Vinci | Williams | 6-3, 6-4 |
| No. 2 Simona Halep vs. No. 26 Flavia Pennetta | Pennetta | 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 |
| Matchup | Predicted Winner | Score |
| No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 9 Marin Cilic | Djokovic | 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 |
| No. 2 Roger Federer vs. No. 5 Stan Wawrinka | Federer | 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 |
The other women's semifinals should be more competitive. The tough and scrappy No. 2 seed Simona Halep and No. 26 Flavia Pennetta have played four times. Pennetta has won three of those matches, but per WTA Insider, she still feels as though their next meeting will be a grueling battle.
Halep climbed a huge obstacle by beating No. 20 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Wednesday, but Pennetta is playing so well, she still gets the edge head-to-head.
Pennetta knows she cannot match power with Halep, so expect her to utilize a finesse style to upend yet another top-five seed en route to a meeting with Williams in the finals.
On the men's side, the action won't start until Friday. There figures to be one really good match and a one-sided contest. Addressing the latter first, No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic has owned No. 9 Marin Cilic in his career. Djokovic is a perfect 13-0 against Cilic, and most of the matches haven't even been close.
Cilic has managed to push Djokovic to five sets just once, and he's lost in straight sets nine times. Rarely will you see this type of dominance at this level of tennis. Even if Cilic is able to muster a better effort than what we're accustomed to seeing from him against Djokovic, he still won't win.
In what figures to be the match of the day, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 5 Stan Wawrinka will play in an all-Swiss battle. Federer has blasted his way through to the semifinals with ease. The future Hall of Famer hasn't lost a set in the tournament. Most recently, he destroyed No. 12 Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
Can he keep it rolling against Wawrinka?
At one point, Federer was head and shoulders above Wawrinka, but things have leveled out a bit of late. Federer has won 14 of the 17 matches, but Wawrinka won their only meeting this year in the quarterfinals of the 2015 French Open.
Wawrinka took down No. 15 Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-0. He has looked solid in the tournament, but not quite as sharp as Federer. The latter is my pick to not only reach the finals, but to beat Djokovic to claim his sixth U.S. Open title and 17th Grand Slam championship.
Head to head stats per Wettpoint.com
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