Venus Williams should make it through the first three rounds of Wimbledon 2011, however Vera Zvonareva and Petra Kvitova promise to be tough challenges.
Venus Williams, who turned 31 years old earlier this week, is the 23rd seed at Wimbledon 2011 as the grass court Grand Slam tournament quickly approaches.
While Williams (
7/1 to win the title; bet365) has only recently made a return to the WTA Tour, the fact that she has made eight Wimbledon finals and has won five of those finals, clearly implies that the American is a force to be reckoned with on the grass court surface.
Williams, playing in her fifteenth straight All England Club draw, does not have the luxury of a high seed like she had in many years from the past. However the American still did not get that bad of a draw at Wimbledon 2011.
Through the first two rounds she will face Akgul Amanmuradova and then either Katie O'Brien or Kimiko Date-Krumm.
O'Brien is a British national who would enjoy home crowd support should she face Williams however that's very unlikely to phase the American veteran. Date-Krumm is a former Wimbledon semifinalist however that result came in for the forty year old in 1996 and in her two appearances since that year, the Japanese veteran has no wins.
In the third round Williams could face no one better than the struggling Jelena Jankovic, the tournament's 15th seeded player and a player who has been dipping in the rankings lately.
While Williams should best Jankovic, the fourth round and the quarterfinals is where Williams may meet her match. Vera Zvonareva, the tournament's two seed, could be waiting in the round of 16 while Petra Kvitova (
10/1 to win Wimbledon, bet365), a semifinalist from last season, might provide very stiff competition in the round of eight.
Williams' is not the Wimbledon title contender that she once was however she's still capable of a deep run. She could be very hard-pressed to duplicate her quarterfinal appearance from last season however as the 31 year old will now have to run with players who are 5 to 10 years younger than her in the late rounds.
