By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 4, 2016
Serena Williams beat Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final for her 22nd Grand Slam crown. The pair could run into each other again at the Rio Olympics.
Photo credit: ITF Olympic Tennis
The Williams sisters partner in pursuit of another doubles gold medal, but Venus and Serena won't meet in a golden singles showdown.
Draws for the Olympic tennis tournament were conducted in Rio today. See full draws here.
The Olympic tennis tournament starts on Saturday at the Olympic Tennis Centre and concludes on Sunday, August 14th. The complete Olympic tennis schedule is here.
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The Williams sisters sit atop the doubles draw and occupy the top half of the singles draw, which means they could clash in the semifinals.
The Williams sisters have won four gold medals apiece, including three doubles gold medals, and will try to become the first tennis players to medal at four different Olympic Games this month.
World No. 1 Serena Williams opens against fit and feisty Australian Daria Gavrilova. Williams crushed Gavrilova, 6-2, 6-1, in their lone prior meeting at the 2013 Doha.
Nemesis Alize Cornet, who has won three in a row against Williams, including a 2014 Wimbledon upset, could be waiting in the second round. Williams edged the counter-punching Cornet, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Potential quarterfinal opponents for the top seed include the enigmatic Petra Kvitova, Ekaterina Makarova, who owns a 2012 Australian Open win over Williams, and Roberta Vinci, who shocked Serena in the 2015 US Open semifinals denying her dream of completing the Grand Slam.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova could be tested by 44th-ranked Timea Babos, whom she outdueled, 6-4, 7-6 (5), on the grass of Eastbourne in June.
First Quarter Prediction: (1) S. Williams vs. (11) Kvitova
Reigning Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza, who has lost in the first or second round in seven of 12 tournaments this season, faces former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in the opening round.
Muguruza heads the second quarter of the draw, which includes 2015 Roland Garros runner-up Lucie Safarova and 2000 gold medal champion Venus Williams.
Sixteen years after sweeping singles and doubles gold in Sydney, Venus can expect to see plenty of slice backhands from first-round opponent Kirsten Flipkens. Should she prevail, Williams will face either Safarova or Karin Knapp in round two.
Miami semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky plays Shuai Zhang in the first round.
Bacsinszky's court sense and disorientating mix of slice and drive shots can be unsettling. Muguruza has been wildly unpredictable—She can look like a world-beater one match and totally disinterested in the next—but if she's striking with conviction and playing with passion she should be dangerous in this draw.
Second Quarter Prediction: (3) Muguruza vs. (12) Bacsinszky
Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and 12th-ranked Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro square off in a first-round match highlighting the third quarter of the draw. Two of their three meetings have gone the distance; Ivanovic is 2-1 lifetime vs. Suarez Navarro.
No. 4 seeded Agnieszka Radwanska faces 64th-ranked Chinese Sasai Zheng in round one. Four of Radwanska's five semifinal appearances this season have come on hard court. The question is: Can the woman with some of the softest hands in the sport finally play her best tennis at the Olympics where she's managed just one match win in two appearances?
Empowered by her first career hard-court final in Montreal, Madison Keys owns the explosive serve and dynamic forehand that play well on this surface, but Keys can struggle to point high-percentage points together. If Keys, who opens against 57th-ranked Danka Kovinic can play with the discipline she showed through much of her Montreal run, she can make a quarterfinal push in Rio.
Third Quarter Prediction: (4) Radwanska vs. (7) Keys
Could Brazil's Teliana Pereira pull off a first-round upset of 32nd-ranked Caroline Garcia? The pair reside in the bottom quarter of the draw that features three Grand Slam singles champions—Svetlana Kuznetsova, Samantha Stosur and second-seeded Angelique Kerber.
Australian Open champion Kerber backed up her run to the Wimbledon final reaching the Montreal semifinals where she lost to eventual-champion Simona Halep. The sturdy German opens against Mariana Duque-Marino, who won their lone meeting six years ago on clay.
Should Kerber advance, she'll play the winner of a marquee first-round match between 2014 Wimbledon finalist Genie Bouchard and American Sloane Stephens. The 22nd-ranked Stephens has split four meetings with Bouchard, who was a 7-5, 7-5, victor in their most recent clash at Indian Wells in March.
British No. 1 Johanna Konta arrives in Rio weeks after winning her first career title in Stanford. If 10th-seeded Konta can hold her nerve, the Australian Open semifinalist is one to watch in the bottom quarter of the draw.
Fourth Quarter Prediction: (2) Kerber vs. (10) Konta
Olympic Opening-Round Matches
Serena Williams (USA) vs Daria Gavrilova (AUS)
Johanna Larsson (SWE) vs Alize Cornet (FRA)
Heather Watson (GBR) vs Peng Shuai (CHI)
Andrea Petkovic (GER) vs Elina Svitolina (UKR)
Petra Kvitova (CZE) vs Timea Babos (HUN)
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) vs Cagla Buyukakcai (TUR)
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK) vs Roberta Vinci (ITA)
Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) vs Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
Nao Hibino (JPN) vs Irina Camelia Begu (ROM)
Mónica Puig (PUR) vs Polona Hercog (SLO)
Magda Linette (POL) vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) vs Shuai Zhang (CHN)
Laura Siegemund (GER) vs Tsevetana Pironkova (BUL)
Lucie Safarova (CZE) vs Karin Knapp (ITA)
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) vs Venus Williams (USA)
Madison Keys (USA) vs Danka Kovinic (MNE)
Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) vs Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)
Ana Konjuh (CRO) vs Annika Beck (GER)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) vs Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP)
Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)
Sara Errani (ITA) vs Kiki Bertens (NED)
Ons Jabeur (TUN) vs Darya Kasatkina (RUS)
Saisai Zheng (CHN) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs Qiang Wang (CHN)
Monica Niculescu (ROM) vs Verónica Cepede Royg (PAR)
Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs Teliana Pereira (BRA)
Stephanie Vogt (LIE) vs Johanna Konta (GBR)
Samantha Stosur (AUS) vs Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)
Misaki Doi (JPN) vs Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) vs Sloane Stephens (USA)
Mariana Duque Marino (COL) vs Angelique Kerber (GER)