Clijsters over Wozniacki

That’s my prediction for tomorrow’s title match at the 2010 WTA Championships in Doha.

Why? Well, it seems as though Kim Clijsters righted herself a bit in today’s semi-final against Samantha Stosur, for starters. Although she double-faulted numerous times in earlier matches, she had just two today. On the flip side, the 27-year-old Belgian served six aces against her Australian opponent.

If she can keep that up in the final–and keep her unforced errors to a minimum, too–she should be able to topple Caroline Wozniacki, whom she defeated rather routinely in last year’s US Open final (their only previous match), once more.

The 20-year-old Dane has improved a lot in the ensuing year, however, so I expect her second match against the Belgian to be a much more competitive affair than her first.

Still, I predict Clijsters will take it in three and end her up-and-down year on a very high note.

Clijsters over Stosur, Zvonareva over Wozniacki

Those are my predictions for tomorrow’s semi-final matches at the 2010 WTA Championships in Doha.

That said, I’m not all that confident about either pick.

Although Kim Clijsters has never lost to Samantha Stosur–they’ve played four times since 2006 and the 27-year-old Belgian won all but the last match, at the 2010 US Open, in straight sets–she’s lacked consistency and looked vulnerable (especially while serving) throughout this year-end tournament.

If she can cut down on the double-faults–not to mention the overall lapses in concentration–I think Clijsters will pull out the win. If she can’t, well, I think Stosur will earn her first win against the No. 4 player in the world.

The semi-final between Vera Zvonareva and Caroline Wozniacki is a similar toss-up, especially since they’ve split their past six matches.

Worth considering: Neither player has been able to win two matches in a row against the other, and the 20-year-old Dane won the most recent (the title match at the 2010 China Open).

That fact, along with the knowledge that Zvonareva has yet to lose in Doha, leads me to believe the Russian will win this time around–although I fully expect her to have to go the distance.