Its amazing to think that we are now near the end of October, and not only that it is almost the end of the WTA ladies tennis season, and this week we have the big finale, the WTA Championships, which is held at the end of every year, this year its in Istanbul. The WTA Championships basically consists of the top 8 players in the world who compete against each other in attempt to try and win the title, in the process the 8 players are split into two groups, the red group and the white group, which consists of four players each. So today was the first day and what it a day it was, so here's a bit more about that...
So to start off with the World No.3 Petra Kvitova took on the World No.6 Vera Zvonareva, and from the start Petra dominated the match, in the second set, Vera broke to make it even at 4-4, but she was broken on her serve to let Petra serve out the match at 6-2, 6-4. Petra has come into the year end championships in fine form, as she had previously won the title in Linz earlier in the month, which gave her a boost, especially after hitting a slump post-Wimbledon. But Petra is definitely looking pretty strong as a possible contender for the title, so we will see how it goes for her. Also did I mention before that Petra looks good when she's dolled up???? Because she does, as I saw another picture among the other top 8 players, all dressed up, and yep she looks good (which is funny when you see some of the faces she pulls on court in mid-shot!).
But anyhoow onto the next match, which was the match of the day between the current World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and the newly christened World No.8 Agnieszka Radwanska, who secured her place in the tournament after Marion Bartoli retired from the Kremlin Cup last week. In one of their previous meetings in Stuttgart back in April, they played one of the best matches of the year, and this was similarly terrific, as both players provided some outstanding tennis, as they battled it out, which finally saw Caroline prevail 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, after 2 and a half hours. I was pleased to see Caroline win, especially after she got off to such a ropey start, she turned it around, although she got a bit of help from Radwanska's shoulder injury. But the 3rd set provided some terrific rallies and incredible tennis from the World No.1, and it would be terrific if Caroline could win this title, as it would really help cement her ranking and give her a boost to take it to the next level.
And now onto the last match of the day, which was between the current US Open champion Sam Stosur, and the World No.2 Maria Sharapova (also a former US Open champion!). And Sam Stosur came out in fine form, which was similar to her form at the US Open as she played a pretty solid match from start to finish. Sharapova on the other hand misfired quite badly in the first set, make a series of unforced errors, but in the second she turned it around and produced some fine tennis, to make it a gripping contest, before Stosur broke at 6-5, to win the match. This was also Sam's first win over Sharapova in their 10 meetings, and its great to see she has kept her form up form the US Open, and there is no doubt she could well be a strong contender to win this title. After winning in Flushing Meadows it really looks like Stosur has brought her game to the big occassions which is great to see, and it will be exciting to see where her game is at for the rest of the week.
Soooo that's it for now, as tomorrow there will be some more potentially terrific tennis on the way, with three matches as Sam Stosur takes on Victoria Azarenka (should be a noisy one!), Sharapova takes on Li Na, and Caroline takes on Vera Zvonareva. So it all sounds really good. Li Na's match with Sharapova should also be quite interesting, as despite being in the top 8, Li Na's form has really dropped off quite badly over the past few months. Despite winning the French Open, since then Li Na has struggled with her confidence and her game, but just perhaps maybe she can pull it together in Istanbul. But one thing is for sure, this week is gonna be a real treat in terms of ladies tennis, and its already got off to a great start.
Rrrrright that's enough the now. More to follow.
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