I nearly put a sneaky tiny bet on Chakvetadze as an outsider cos I know she did well at the AO and is up and coming, but I knwo little about her and wondered if anyone can tell me about her game and her chances?

Also as Safarova who I would not have bet on has quietly snook through, what's the low down on her?

thanks :D

Chakvetdaze has a superb game IMO. She hits the ball really early, racquet always in front and has superb timing. Deceptively good mover as well, and can play well at the net. Serve is a bit of an issue though.

Safarova is a huge ballstriker, takes massive swings and hits it very flat. Has a great lefty first serve. Not much variety but effective nonetheless.

There you go SB :D roflmao

Cheers dl roflmao

Well I think I might like to see Chakvetadze but Safarova sounds about as dull as ditchwater of you ask me! :D Hopefully they will show Chakkie (can't be arsed to type her name :D ) in her next match on the BBC digital.

Yeah, her name is a bit of a mouthful roflmao

i just call her mini-pierce, looks so much like Mary :o

I always thought that Chakvetadze's game is similar to Myskina's (when she's in top form); deceptively powerful and fluid movers :)

I feel Myskina is better moving across the baseline though, but then i feel Anna is better moving up the court. Polar opposition and all that :lol:

Their contact points, especially on the backhand are very similar.........

And both dodgy serves at times :blink:

That's for sure :lol:

Yeah both can collapse on the second serves, no acceleration through the ball at all :wacko:

I agree with dl’s assessment of Chakvetadze’s game. I saw her playing at Wimbledon 2005 and was really taken by how cleanly she was striking the ball. I also saw her play in a mixed doubles in which she was quite relaxed, having fun, perfectly happy and confident at net and moving well. I commented to my son at the time that I thought we’d hear more of her.

But she really needs to do something about that serve!

I think Chakvetadze is playing some of the best tennis of the field, and I picked her to upset Sharapova in the predictions contest. I seem to be alone in that prediction so far, though. I will probably be proven wrong. :rolleyes:

I don't think either Anna or Maria will get past Clijsters, though . . . .

I want Anna to win, partly because i like her, partly because i dislike Ms-Ego :rolleyes: roflmao