So here's another update on the WTA Championships from Istanbul, which sees the top 8 ladies tennis players go at it for a chance to be crowned the year end Champion of the WTA tour.
Starting with Day 2 (on Wednesday, my least favourite day to spell!) we saw Victoria Azarenka come into play as she took on Sam Stosur, who the other day was in great form, but she had never won a match let alone a set against Vika in their previous meetings. And this one was no different as Stosur struggled to hold serve, or get anything going against Azarenka who was unstoppable in her quest, and surged to victory winning in 6-2, 6-2, in just under 1 hour 20 minutes. In the following match Li Na, played her first match against Maria Sharapova, who failed once more to win a set or take a match, which saw her bow out in straight sets 7-6, 6-4, to the Chinese No.1. This will give Li Na a bit of a boost as this was the first match she won in nearly 2 months. And finally it was Caroline Wozniacki against Vera Zvonareva, of which Caz looked to be the favourite, but unfortunately for her, her game wasn't on and she took a loss against the Russian in 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. This result meant it would hold her staying in the tournament in the balance on the results of how she played on Day 3.
So this brings me onto Day 3, which started off Victoria Azarenka playing against Li Na, who again came out all guns firing, as Vika dismissed Li Na, once again in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, although to Li Na's credit, she played a fairly good match, but in the end she was outplayed. So this now means that Victoria Azarenka will advance into the semi finals on Friday (Day 4), where she will play Marion Bartoli, who is the substitute for Maria Sharapova who pulled out earlier this week. Victoria really looks on fire coming into the tournament so I do think she will be a hot favoruite to win the title, as going by her form she will be really hard to stop. In the second match, we saw Caroline Wozniacki play Petra Kvitova, and this was a must-win match for Caroline in order to progress to the semis. But unfortunately for her, she seemed to be suffering from fatigue, as she looked under the weather and put in a sub-par performance (no pun intended Rory!). Also in between the 2nd set Caroline took a medical timeout to have her blood pressure checked as she looked to be pretty tired out, and in that set she could do little against a dominant Kvitova who cleaned up to seal her place in the semi finals, winning 6-4, 6-2.
And in the final match, which was the best one of the day, Vera Zvonareva battled against Agnieskza Radwanska for a place in the semis too. And despite being the in form player for the most part, Vera soon found herself fighting breaks of serve in the deciding set, and despite having 3 match points, she couldn't close the door on the tricky Pole, who soon broke Vera at 6-5, and closed it out to secure a place in the semi finals, winning in 1-6, 6-2, 7-5. I was a bit disappointed for Vera having come so close only to lose out, but Radwanska definitely deserves credit for her tenacious performance, as she refused to go away, it was like watching the Djokovic v Federer US Open semi final, where Fedora had a match point against Djokovic but he couldn't take it. And you never know just maybe Radwanska could pull through this one and go a few steps further to lift the trophy. But she has a tough match in Petra Kvitova in front of her tomorrow, which promises to be a really good one.
But I am disappointed for Caroline Wozniacki most of all, as she had another opportunity to cement her No.1 ranking by winning the year end championships. For me she is fast becoming the Andy Murray of woman's tennis, in that she may never win a grand slam, and she always comes up a little short on the big occassions, which is a great shame for her. And while its good to see she has finished the year still ranked as No.1, its not been an entirely satisfying year for her all round, the first half was very good, as she played really well and won 6 titles, notably big ones in Dubai and Indian Wells. But in the second half of the season, post French Open, and Wimbledon and the second leg of the hard court season, she has struggled badly in the big tournaments. She did very well though at the US Open though in getting to the semi finals, and it was a pity that she faced Serena Williams in great form, which was ironic that she wasn't in great form in the final! ;-).
But like it is for Andy Murray, she will always face big obstacles in her way to prevent her getting her hands on the major prizes. I hope they both get there one day, and Caroline has more time on her side being a few years younger, so here's hoping 2012 is a brighter year for her. The girl has plenty more to offer and show, and despite having a suspect forehand (well what do I know about tennis really???!) and not being the best vollier, her game is pretty solid.
But anyways onwards and onwards the WTA Championships goes, and I'll have more on the next matches as they come up.
Also a wee update on the ATP men's tour, as Andy Murray has confirmed he will take part in the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland, along with two other fairly well known players Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, so should be a scoosh! ;-) Andy is keen of course to keep his 15 match winning streak going, but here is the question can he out-Djokovic Djokovic???? Or outdo Federer on his home turf???? Its going to be fun finding out!
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrighhhht that'll do the now.
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