So that's the final grand slam of the year well under way now, the US Open now in its 3rd day, we've already seen some pretty good tennis and some early upsets too.
Starting with the ladies there have been quite a few upsets, particularly on the first couple of days (well all three actually) as the first casualty was Petra Kvitova who went out in straight sets after a very poor performance against Alexandra Delgharu in 6-7, 3-6. And on day two Li Na followed suit after going out in 2-6, 5-7 against Siimona Halep. So this is two grand slam champions that have fallen at the first hurdle, and both of them have been playing poor tennis ever since they won their respective slams in Wimbledon and the French Open. It just makes you wonder what is going on in their minds? Naturally you think after playing great tennis to win a major that they will continue to play great tennis, but obviously it must be a case of the pressure and expectation gets to them after such a title win. I think Djokovic said the same thing after he won the Australian Open the first time 3 years ago, that he felt far more pressure and expectations put on him and he struggled to try and win one after that (until this year of course!). But I hope for Li Na and Petra's sakes that they pick up their tennis again and play better for the rest of the tour.
In other ladies matches, another top seed went out in another upset as Marion Bartoli was put out by American newcomer Christine McHale, who had already claimed a few scalps previously as she had defeated Caroline Wozniacki a few weeks back, as well as some other top players such as Ailsa Kleybanova (name right???) and Svetlana Kuznetsova. However some of the top seeds are still in as Vera Zvonareva is through in her 2nd round match, Andrea Petkovic and Julia Goerges also have advanced in their matches. And its also really good to see that Elena Baltacha is still in the draw also as she had a tough 1st round match against American Jamie Hampton who eventually had to retire near the end of their match. So Elena next up faces Svetlana Kuznetsova, which should be a real tough one but I hope Elena can come through as she could well do it and it would be great if she did. Although I was disappointed for Laura Robson who went out today in her 2nd round match against Medina Garrigues of Spain who outplayed and outpaced her winning in 6-2, 6-3. But of course the match of the tournament on the ladies so far has to have been the clash between Maria Sharapova and the British No.3 Heather Watson, who put on a gutsy display by taking the mighty Russian to a 3 set battle, which the mighty Pova won in 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Heather deservedly got alot of credit after the match as she played a terrific game against one of the world's best players, although Sharapova herself didn't play her best, but take nothing away from Heather's achievement, as despite her loss she went and played a great match from start to finish.
Anyway onto the men so far no upsets on the top seed side of things, apart Robin Soderling who has had to pull out due to illness. To start off Federer got through his match in straight sets, Djokovic who was up against Irishman Conor Niland breezed past the man in 6-0, 5-1 after Niland had to retire due to food poisoning. This would be a blessing for Djokovic no doubt who would want to avoid a real match in order to preserve his shoulder, which he said was fine anyway, not that Conor could have bothered him much! Nadal though in a way not surprisingly had a much tougher against Andrev Gubolev who surprised the former World No.1 with some stunning shots, although he couldn't do enough in the end to beat Rafa, who managed to close out the match in straight sets, eventually winning in 6-3, 7-6, 7-5. Rafa actually did play quite well in the match although he did drop his serve quite a few times, but despite that Rafa did what he needed to do to get the straight sets win. But it still does show a few worrying signs for the Spaniard, but hopefully as he progresses he will get better.
So onto the other top seed, Andy Murray who took on the talented Indian Somdev Devvarman, who proved quite a test in the opening set, with the Muzza even dropping his serve in the first game! But Muzza broke back and soon they played a very even pegged first set, which the Muzza closed out in the tiebreak. After this Andy put on a powerful display of forehand hitting, which saw him pulversing his shots down the court which allowed him to hit many winners. It was quite an impressive display, but what I still found troubling was that his first serve percentage was still off, a point in case was when he had a chance to serve out for the match at 5-2, but then he double faulted to hand a break back to Devvarman. But fortunately for Somdev he couldn't do anything with the break and Andy seized the chance to win the match 7-6, 6-2, 6-3. Its great to see Andy play with more aggression and power on court, and it could be one of the keys to secure his first grand slam win at the US Open, but its a matter playing consistently well with that level of aggression. I just keep thinking of how he played against Rafa at Wimbledon, he hit like that for one set brilliantly and then it went south, and he didn't come back into the match. So if he can maintain that level over the next two weeks then this will stand him in good stead, but his 1st serve is still a big concern, and he might be able to get away with throwing away free points to lower ranked players but not against the top 3 guys.
However its a good solid start to Andy's campaign, a straight sets win is always good, his next opponent is Robin Haase though, who could prove to be very tricky, as he played Rafa last year and took him to 5 sets at Wimbledon, so it could be a stern test for the British No.1. But I'm sure Andy will prevail one way or another.
So I will leave it there. More to follow........
No comments:
Post a Comment