So today at Wimbledon - day 7 was highly entertaining as we saw the tournament progress into its second week and the fourth round for the mens and ladies singles matches. And as expected the players met up against some very tough resistance.
Starting with the ladies there were two massive upsets, as the Williams sisters have both been put out of Wimbledon, and it marks the first time in, well years since neither of them have won in the final. Serena Williams was the first casualty as she tried to battle against a very much on form Marion Bartoli, who raced her way through the first set in 6-3 and then took the 2nd in a tiebreaker 7-6(3), this marks the 2nd time that the French woman has managed to advance to the quarter finals, so I was really pleased to see her get through. Also Venus suffered an even bigger shock loss as she was defeated in straight sets by Tsetvana Pironkova, who defeated her last year too, but to go out in 6-2, 6-3 was a real shock. So that's us in a Williams-less quarter finals, which actually makes the game more exciting and that bit more unpredictable. Although I still predict Maria Sharapova to be a firm favourite to win the title as she has been really on form once again.
But I was disappointed to see Caroline Wozniacki go out early in another Grand Slam again as she was beaten by the pint size Dominika Cibulkova in 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, it was a better result than the French Open but it does raise the question of her ranking once again. Caroline seems to be more the World No.1 on paper and points than in achievement, her next best shot is the US Open and even there she will be up against the likes of Kim Clijsters and Li Na, so its probably going to take a while before she can achieve her main goal. Ironically Marion Bartoli who said after her defeat to Caroline at Indian Wells that she knew that Caroline's main goal was to win a grand slam and she was sure she will win one soon, yet Bartoli has done so much better at the slams this year than Caroline has! Marion is already in the quarter finals at Wimbledon and reached the semi finals at Roland Garros, so it seems more likely that Marion Bartoli could win one before the Wozzer can!
So tomorrow we see the ladies quarter final matches take place, so there will be plenty of good stuff to look forward to there, and the men are lucky as they get a day off tomorrow and will be in play on Wednesday. On the womans quarter finals here's a wee summary of them with my predictions just to variate the massive paragraphs I keep typing up!
Dominika Cibulkova vs Maria Sharapova - Sharapova in straight sets maybe 6-4, 6-4, or maybe 3 sets who knows??
Sabine Lisicki vs Marion Bartoli - tough one to call, possibly Bartoli in 3 sets, but Lisicki's athletism might edge it.
Tamira Paszek vs Victoria Azarenka - more inclined to say Azarenka maybe in 2 or 3 sets, not sure, there will be plenty of girly grunting though!
Petra Kvitova vs Tsvetana Pironkova - very very tough to call, both really good players, most likely 3 sets, definitely could go either way, possibly Kvitova could edge it.
Onto the mens tennis today we saw Rafa take on Del Potro in a terrific 4 set battle, where Rafa played his toughest match yet at SW19 with the big un making life difficult for Rafa with his mammoth serve. It took till the 4th set before Rafa could finally break Del Potro after that he sealed out the match in 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. It was good to see Rafa go through but it was also a terrific performance from Delpo as he showed tremendous grit being out there so long, in fact it makes you wish that Andy could play Rafa like that at Wimbledon as he is yet to! In their previous 2 meetings Rafa has beaten Andy in straight sets (albeit tight ones) but it would be great to see Andy battle Rafa more on the grass and take it to 4 or 5 sets should they meet in the final. Speaking of Andy's match, despite a much expected tough match up with Richard Gasquet, he ended easing his way past the Frenchman after a tight first set tiebreak which Andy won, he secured the break early in the 2nd and after that it was easy street, as he won in 7-6, 6-3, 6-2. It was good to see Andy secure a straight sets win as it will leave him more refreshed for the quarter finals when he faces Feliciano Lopez, the unseeded Spaniard, who took out Andy Roddick and beat a qualifier today. Lopez is going to be a trickier customer I think cos he has a big serve and also serves up many aces, so it will take a really good performance from Andy to get past him.
Other matches today saw Federer who also had a bit of a scare against the Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who pushed Roger to 4 sets, after losing the first set in a tiebreak, he then took control and won in 7-6, 6-3, 6-3,6-3. However Djoko had no such problem against Michel Llorda whom displayed some entertaining serve and volley, but he ended up making too many mistakes, making things very easy for Djoko who won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. So all the top 3 seeds have now dropped a set each (and Andy 2) from here things should get tougher.
Anyway that's enough tennis blabbing fer now, its exhausting all this sitting around and watching Wimbledon you know!
Fin, end.
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