Bud Collins

WIMBLEDON, England - The many unexpected results from a highly surprising first half of the fortnight at the All-England Club should lead to an extremely interesting second week on the London lawns – one that I believe will conclude with Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal as singles champions.

Both draws have worked out very differently than I and many others anticipated. This major is proving to be one of the more intriguing Wimbledon’s in a very long time.

Gazing into my crystal ball let's look at what I see for Wimbledon's second week starting with the ladies.

Heading into fourth-round play (all the round-of-16 matches for both the ladies and men are scheduled for Monday) there are those I expected to still be in the mix -- Venus and her younger sister Serena, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and even Anna Chakvetadze and Elena Dementieva.

But there’s also a group of others who are at least a bit surprising in that they are still alive in the draw such as the young Agnieszka Radwanska, Agnes Szavay, Nadia Petrova, Nicole Vaidisova and Shahar Peer.

And I never anticipated that Jie Zheng, Bethanie Mattek, Alla Kudryavtseva, Alisa Kleybanova and Tamarine Tanasugarn would still be in action.

After things shake out and it’s down to two for the ladies title next Saturday on Centre Court those two will be Venus and Serena – an all-in-the-family for all the marbles matchup I envisioned before the first ball was struck at these Championships.

When it comes to crowning queens at Wimbledon this decade-- except for when Maria Sharapova won in 2004 and Amelie Mauresmo won in 2006 -- the deed to the ladies’ singles title has belonged to the Williams sisters. Since 2000 Venus has won four times (2007, 2005, 2001 and 2000) and Serena twice (2003 and 2002 – beating Venus in both those finals).

Zheng should be proud of the wonderful job she did in beating the top seed, world No. 1 and French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in three sets in the third round. But I see the rising Chinese star losing to the 15th-seeded Hungarian Szavay in the fourth round.

Szavay has abundant talent but in the quarterfinals I believe she will run up against eighth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who has had a tough year but seems to be finding her form again here on the grass and Chakvetadze will send Szavay packing. A semifinalist at the U.S. Open last year, this would be the first Wimbledon quarterfinal for Chakvetadze.

Staying in the top half of the draw my feeling is that No. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova gets upset in the fourth round by Radwanska, the No. 14 seed. While Kuznetsova holds a 4-1 edge over Radwanska, the former U.S. Open champion lost their encounter the only time they played at a major, which was at this year’s Australian Open. As her reward for knocking out Kuznetsova, Radwanska will get to stare across the net from Serena in the quarterfinals.

The sixth-seeded Serena will make the fourth round the end of Mattek’s terrific showing here but Mattek should pat herself on the back for how wonderful she’s been playing the last couple of months -- a real boost for American women’s tennis. Mattek is a wild and crazy lady and always a delight to have around but it’s too tall an order for her to overcome Serena, who will also prove too much for Radwanska in the quarterfinals.

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Turning to the bottom half of the draw for a while it’s looked as if Elena Dementieva was losing her knack for consistency, which is something which has taken her far in her career. But the fifth-seeded Russian seems to have corrected the problem and that will enable her to take out Peer in the fourth round and reach her eighth quarterfinal at a major.

I’m expecting the new kid on the block, Alla Kudryavtseva, who stunned Sharapova in the second round, to outlast the frequently fragile Petrova in their fourth-round encounter

Kleybanova doesn’t have the arsenal of shots needed to upset Venus when they square off in the fourth round and Jankovic will meet up with and fall to Venus in the quarterfinals after the second-seeded Serb eliminates Tanasugarn.

In the semifinals Venus shows the door to the survivor of the Dementieva- Kudryavtseva quarterfinal while sister Serena does away with Chakvetadze setting up Venus vs. Serena but this time – unlike the two previous times they played for the Wimbledon title – it’s older sis who prevails.

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