Its been a wee while since I've done a tennis post so here goes, there has been few tournaments on of late for both the men and ladies. The men's titles were a few smaller ones but I will get to them soon enough but now for ladies, as the Pan Pacific Open took place last week in Toyko with most of the top seeds in play.
So starting with the Pan Pacific open, the defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, made another early exit as Kaia Kenepi defeated her in 3 sets. This is a worrying trend in Caz's year so far, the first half of the year was great for her, and she did very well at the US Open getting to the semis, but she has been losing out quite early on in a few tournaments, and this is another one which she was defending that she lost in. Its a shame for her in a way as it will keep bringing her No.1 ranking into question every time she loses and hasn't won a slam, maybe all the time she is spending with her beau Rory McIlroy is distracting her from her game, who knows?? Anyway with the China Open this week, let's hope Caroline plays better.
However onto the final of the Toyko WTA tournament, which was between Vera Zvonareva and the very much in form Agnieszka Radwanska, who put in an inspired performance throughout the week, defeating Angelique Kerber, Kaia Kenepi, Victoria Azarenka on her way to the final where she defeated the Russian in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, to clinch the biggest singles title of her career to date. Radwanska has definitely been showing signs of promise throughout the year, but in the last couple of months she really has come into her own, and has been dispatching some top seeds quite impressively. It makes me think that Radwanska could potentially take it even further and who knows just maybe she could become another contender to win a major. But we'll see, it definitely marks a very promising time in her career. Watching the award ceremony though when Vera accepted her runner up dish she seemed bizarrely emotional, as if she was half smiling and crying at the same time!
One player on the ladies tour who is going through a really bad patch just now is Li Na, the Chinese No.1 who only back in June won her first grand slam title at the French Open, but is now going out early in just about every tournament. At the US Open she went out in the first round and yesterday she went out in the first round again at the China Open, falling to Monica Niculescu in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. This is quite a worrying time for Li Na who said after the match that she felt her confidence had gone completely, but she hoped to take a break and prepare to get ready for next year. I guess the pressure and expectation of winning a slam is too much for some players to take on their shoulders and this certainly seems to be the case with Li Na, who has always had confidence issues at some point. However it was good to see Sam Stosur, fresh from winning the US Open, despite losing her first match in Tokyo last week, managed to win her first match in China against Tvsetana Pironkova winning in 6-4, 6-0, so it is great to see her rebound quickly.
So onto the men's briefly, out in the Thailand Open in Bangkokh, Andy Murray for the first time in 6 years came back to the event to try and seal a win for the first time after losing in the finals the last time against Federer. Andy naturally being the top seed, was the favourite to win the title, and largely along the way his progress was pretty smooth, despite a fairly tough match against the talented Frenchman Gilles Simon, he managed to breeze through the final against the young yank Donald Young who he trounced in 6-2, 6-0. This was Andy's 3rd title of the year and his 19th overall, which actually marks the start of Andy's mission to try and become the World No.3 by the end of the year. This is in part because Federer is taking time out which may let him get his nose ahead, assuming he can get by Rafa as they may be due to meet in Toyko and Shanghai which they are both playing in. With Djokovic still out the picture just now due to his back injury, this gives Andy the perfect time to try and win against the competition, but is his biggest barrier, and he even said himself he has to be a bit more realistic in his expectations. But it would be great if Andy could win Tokyo and Shanghai, as that would put right in the World No.3 seat, and from there who knows how things could pan out for him. But so far its been a very impressive start to the Eastern leg of the tour and long may it continue for the Muzza.
Also briefly I was pleased to see the Serb Janko Tipsarevic win his first ATP title out in Kuala Lumpar, as he defeated the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, a great effort for Janko who has been improving his ranking as well as his play drastically lately, having hit the top 20. In fact next up for Tipsy will be Andy in Tokyo, so I don't know if I fancy his chances there but it should be a good match.
Anyway the China Open for WTA is on this week, and men's in Tokyo of course as well, so more to follow.
So that eeeet for now.
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