As the 2015 Championships begin tomorrow, it seems that one player is head and shoulders above all others – Serena Williams. The Florida resident racked up her twentieth Grand Slam at Roland Garros by defeating Lucie Safarova, and is intent on becoming the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Majors in a calendar year.

This article will look at some of the players outside the top 10 who reach the latter stages.

Belinda Bencic

The Swiss prodigy only turned 18 this year, but has already achieved much. In the last nine months she has reached three WTA tour finals. The first of those was a straight-sets defeat to Alison Riske on the Tianjin hard courts in October 2014. She has gone from strength to strength this year, progressing to two grass-court finals in two weeks. After defeating Kristina Mladenovic and Jelena Jankovic, she came up short in the final of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships against Camila Giorgi. However, at the Aegon International in Eastbourne it was a case of third time lucky for the youngster, who saw off Madison Keys and last year’s Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard (who ultimately had to retire injured), before holding her nerve after a second set wobble to smash Agnieszka Radwanska in the decider 6-0. At 5’9’’, she has height on her side, good control on her two-backhand and can volley well, whilst also possessing a willingness to come into the net. She is bound to cause a lot of problems during the fortnight, and could match her best performance at a Grand Slam, which was a quarter-final appearance at last year’s US Open.

 

Agnieszka Radwanska

The Pole has had a stellar career, and, despite the loss of form which has seen her drop out of the top 10 in 2015, she is still a threat to anyone in the draw. Her only Grand Slam final so far came at the All England Club back in 2012, when she lost in three sets to Serena, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. She is not a ‘power player’, and is very comfortable with playing finesse shots, drawing her opponent around the court; ideal attributes on grass. The Krakow-born player is also known her low unforced error count. Despite her defeat to Bencic, her run to the final did include victories over World No.11 Karolina Pliskova and promising American Sloane Stephens, demonstrating that she could still return to the kind of form which saw her become World No.2 in July 2012, following her success at SW19. A succession of early exits at several tournaments this year is bound to have dented her confidence, but she still has the quality to produce when it matters.

Sabine Lisicki

The German seems to have a particular love for the grass courts of Wimbledon. During her career, she has reached or gone beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam five times, and on very occasion this has taken place at the All England Club. She is a tall player (5’10’’), and has been able to utilise that her height effectively. She currently holds the women’s serve record for the fastest ever recorded serve, and has very powerful groundstrokes. She reached her only Grand Slam final in 2013, but it ended up being a chastening experience, as Lisicki was overawed by the big occasion and was defeated by Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-4. However, up until then the tournament could barely have gone any better. The then-23-year-old had knocked Sam Stosur in the third round, before putting in the performance of her life to take the prize scalp of Serena Williams, and thereby knocking out the tournament favourite. The giant-killing did not stop there, as she disposed of Radwanska in three nailbiting sets, before coming up short against Bartoli. If she can play like she did against Williams and Radwanska, and not like she did against Bartoli, she can go all the way.

Camila Giorgi

The 23-year-old’s career has undergone an upturn in fortunes in the last eighteen months, in what has undoubtedly been her best period on the women’s tour. She has reached four tour finals in that time. The first three all took place on hard courts and all ended in disappointments (the vanquishers were Karolina Pliskova, Alize Cornet and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova respectively). However, she prevailed at the fourth time of asking, beating Bencic on grass in the Netherlands. Aside from her tour-level title, she was claiming the scalps of some big names in big tournaments, including Indian Wells against Maria Sharapova, who was going into the tournament to defend her title. Despite being 5’6’’, her serve and forehand pack a punch, and she is an excellent returner. If she can bring these ingredients to the table, then there is no doubt that she can match or even improve on her run to the fourth round in 2012.

Ana Konjuh

The youngest player in the top 100, the Dubrovnik-born player is making waves in the women’s game. She got her life on the main tour off to a flying start, defeating top-20 player Roberta Vinci in Auckland in January 2014. She also showed that she had an appetite for the grass courts, making it to the third round at SW19 last year, which included a win over 2009 US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer. Prior to this tournament, she was still only just placed inside the top 200. However, her ranking was to improve massively. The Wimbledon run pushed her up 50 places, and a strong performance in Istanbul, where she reached the semi-finals, took in wins over Magdalena Rybarikova and Elina Svitolina to move her within touching distance of the top 100. This was duly achieved in October, and despite some indifferent displays, she has continued to show signs of progress. This was illustrated most clearly when she wrapped her first title on the tour, on the grass courts in Nottingham. She displayed considerable maturity in beating top-50 opponents Alison Riske and Casey Dellacqua en route to the final, where she overcame Monica Niculescu. This result proved that the Wimbledon run the year before was no fluke. Her big forehand is her main strength, but she does have the ability to mix things up and use the slice, as well as come into the net and volley. Underestimate her at your peril.

 

 

Alex Bowmer

 

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