Soooooooo its the end of another interesting week of tennis on the ATP/WTA tour, which has seen some excellent matches from both sexes, with the men in Shanghai and the ladies in Osaka and Linz.
In fine tradition its ladies first, starting in Linz Germany, we were treated to some excellent matches, and it also saw the return to form of Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who dominated the play throughout the tournament. Although the highlight of the tournament was Petra's match with Jelena Jankovic, which from the get go was a terrific scrap, filled with some amazing points and great rallies. It was also good to see Jelena return to form, despite her loss to Petra, she put up some fight, as the Czeck edged past her in 4-6, 6-4,6-3. After this it was the final with Dominika Cibulkova, the pint sized Slovakian who after a tight first set, succombed to the very much on form Kvitova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. This marks a definitely much needed step in the right direction for Petra who after her win at Wimbledon, took a big dive in confidence and made early exits in quite a few tournaments, particularly at the US Open. But unlike Li Na, Petra has definitely bounced back and I definitely think she is a future contender for winning many grand slams, as she has a terrific game and as well as the calm composure that must be crucial to win the major silveware.
So briefly to Osaka which featured some of the top 10 seeds, particularly Sam Stosur, the US Open champion and Marion Bartoli, who faced each other in the Osaka final, but it was Marion who won this time, as she defeated Stosur with ease in 6-3, 6-1. Its funny how certain players can beat other players, as an example, Bartoli has taken Stosur apart the last two times they played, meanwhile Stosur can always beat Vera Zvonareva, but has never beaten Maria Sharapova. Regardless of the outcome, its another title for Marion Bartoli which is always a good thing, and she's definitely one of my favourite players on the WTA tour, with her unusual balletic serve, two handed forehand and backhand game, not to mention her ridiculous jumping up and down in between points. She's another character in woman's tennis which again is always something good, so well done lass.
Nowwwww onto the men's tennis, which this week was the Shanghai Masters, which saw the very much in form Andy Murray demolish his way through the opposition, (well apart from Stan Wawrinka in the 3rd round) to get to the final where played David Ferrer. Their previous meeting was a straight forward affair with the Muzza winning quite easy in 6-2, 6-3, this time however it was a bit tougher as Ferrer pushed Andy round the court, as they engaged in some great long rallies, with 30+ shots. But it was once again Andy that prevailed in another final, as he got past Ferrer in straight sets winning in 7-5, 6-4 in a very entertaining match lasting 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was hoping Ferrer would give Andy a match and thankfully for the most part he did just that, although I did feel a bit sorry for Ferrer that he lost out, but ultimately with those other 3 guys at the top out of commission just now, Andy is currently the world's best player. And who knows, just maybe he can maintain this form for the rest of the year, it would be great if he could. I certainly think having won 3 titles in a row, and having been christened as the new World No.3, will instill Andy with a great deal of confidence, and his game and even his serve has been very impressive of late.
So it really remains to be seen just how his game will stack up once Federer and Djokovic return to the scene, and even if Djokovic is still out by the time the ATP World Tour Finals arrives in London next month, then this increases Andy's chance of winning even more. And with Andy's current form, could this be the making of him as a player????? Well I sincerely hope so, its been quite a long time for Andy to make a breakthrough into winning a major, and if he wins the title at the o2 in London, it will signal not only the biggest win of his career, but also the perfect starting point to take it that step further. But even if Djokovic and Federer are still out by the time we hit London next month, there is still Rafa of course, and yes he has had a bad run of late, but I think its a safe bet he will do everything he can to ensure he is back on form by then, and then Andy's current form will really be put to the test.
But in the meantime well done, Andy lad, no doubt you deserve a rest after a long and very successful 3 weeks in Asia. 21 titles, 5 of them in 2011, and he has also won the second most this year also (just behind Djoko's 10). So its looking bright for the British No.1. Next up it may be Basel in Switzerland, Roger's hometown tournament (not sure if its his actual hometown!) and after that the Paris Masters. Andy hasn't stated which tournament he might play in next, but he did joke in his post match Sky Sports interview "I'll probably play in whichever tournament Sky Sports covers!". So it would be great if he could pull off another hattrick, with maybe Basel, Paris and London under his belt, buttttt that's all ahead of him.
That'll do her for now.
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