Petra Kvitova
P. Kvitova (Q)

Our favourite 24 year old Frenchwoman will play teenager Petra Kvitova in the next round. This is Marion’s first meeting with the Czech prodigy, who is something of an unknown quantity.

One point of interest may be just how well recovered Marion is after her epic match on Tuesday.

Petra Kvitova is a 6'0" lefty content to hit from the back of the court. She wields a big forehand and two-handed backhand. Add to the fact her best performance so far was a fourth round at Roland Garros, a picture of a powerful player with counter-punching credentials begins to come into focus. However she is equally capable of approaching the net and finishing with a convincing smash if invited to do so.

She first came to the attention of tennis fans after defeating Venus Williams in Memphis earlier in the year. If you're going to beat a player like Venus then it certainly helps to have the attributes of power and wingspan. Kvitova ticks these boxes.

There is a video of Kvitova on YouTube that has a wiff of Sharapova about it. Not just in the obvious tall blonde physique, but in the way she swings that forehand and lets the racquet and ball enjoy an intimtely pleasing sweet-spot moment. But any allusions to Sharapova are used advisedly, as this young lady's goals will be a little more modest than the dizzy heights reached by Maria Sharapova at the same age.

Eye-catching wins over Venus Williams, Patty Schnyder, and a solid season on the WTA and ITF circuit have seen Kvitova rise a hundred places in the rankings. This week Kvitova made her top 50 debut.

Marion could have played Kvitova at the US Open this year. But in what remains one of her more surprising defeats, the 18 year old lost after being a set and a break up over veteran doubles specialist Ruano Pascual. Perhaps that result on that day points to the triumph of experience over youth, diversity of play over the baseline comfort-zone. Ironically Marion beat Ruano Pacual in the next round in straight sets.

However, today’s win over another young talent Tamira Paszek shows that Kvitova will be up for it tommorrow - Having had no qualms about affronting the affections of the home crowd by shunting the teenage Austrian out of the tournament in straight sets.

Marion has put many babies to bed before, as long as her wonderfully awkward game is on, those trademark net-skimming aggressive Bartoli returns, and as long as she puts 10 percent on her first serve from that achieved in Tuesday's effort, then our strong and brave Marion will have too much for this one.

A minor consideration is that wrist which received attention on Tuesaday. No one wants to see a repeat of the tendinitis which affected Marion from Rome and throughout early summer. However at this time there is no adverse news on this front. So she should be ok.

Good luck Marion. Do the business girl.

Edit: 10:50 10/23/08