Well the tennis season is over for now, but I can't resist but say a bit more about a rivalry in the men's game that is taking shape very nicely in 2012, and it promises to become an even better one in future years to come. I am talking about the rivlary of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, both men were born in 1987, just separated by a week apart in their age (Andy on 15 May, and Nole on 22 May) and they grew up together on the tour circuit, having met in Spain where they trained with one another and they played friendly rival matches together.
However early on in their rivalry, it was Djokovic that made faster strides in his career as he defeated Andy four times in a row in so many meetings, and he made his breakthrough maiden grand slam victory at the Australian Open back in 2008, after he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. Djokovic also went on to win the Olympic bronze medal in Beijing and finished the year with victory at the ATP Masters Cup final. However Andy has also had a few one ups over Djokovic in the past, especially when it came to Masters tournaments, as he won his first ever Masters title in Cincinnati in 2008, where he defeated Djokovic in straight sets 7-6, 7-6. He also went on to defeat Djokovic in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in 2009, where he defeated Novak again in straight sets with a 6-2, 7-5 win. It looked to be like they were starting to even out in their rivalry.
In 2011 though Djokovic started his incredible run of form and he made an emphatic statement to the tennis world when he thrashed Andy in straight sets in the Australian Open final, with a bruising 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win. And he carried on with an incredible winning streak that was finally ended by Roger Federer with their thrilling match at the French Open semi final. But during that streak, while Djokovic was demolishing players left, right and centre, there was only one man other than Federer, that came even close to beating him, and that was Andy Murray. This was highlighted in one of the best matches of 2011, where Andy and Novak faced each other in a 3 hour battle at the Rome Masters semi final. In the match Andy fought back from a set down to level the match, and he at one point in the 3rd was even serving for it, although a loose service game let Djokovic back in, and before we knew it the Serb emerged victorious yet again. But in this match this is where we saw their rivalry start to really take shape and showed us all glimpses of what could be in the future, as it was toe to toe stuff, and it also showed just how good Andy Murray really could be.
After this match however the two men would not meet again until the Cincinnati masters final, where it promised to be another cracking match. Unfortunately though, after a promising 1st set, Djokovic succumbed to injury as he was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury, which saw Andy lift his second title in Cincinnati. It could have been a great match and it was disappointing to see it end the way it did, and after this the two men would not play again until 2012. And what little did we know we would all soon by in for a treat.
When 2012 kicked off, Andy had appointed his new full time coach, Ivan Lendl, who helped him immensely throughout the year with his mental focus and on improving his consistency as a player. So when the first grand slam of the season came along, the Australian open in Melbounre, Andy and Novak were drawn on the same side together, and there were probably underlying fears that it would be the same story as last year. However their semi final proved to be anything but, as we suddenly saw an Andy Murray we had never seen before, as he really took it to Djokovic and pushed him to the limit over 5 sets, before falling to the Serb once again. It was a tough loss, coming so close, but it showed that Andy was getting that bit closer, and that as a player, he had finally turned a corner. Novak himself would then go and win his 3rd Australian open title by beating Nadal in an incredible 6 hour long 5 set epic, which considering the fact he had just played a five hour match with Andy, showed incredible almost superhuman endurance from the Serb.
As 2012 carried on, Andy and Novak met up again, and this time it was Andy that got his revenge in Dubai, as he snapped Nole's three year winning streak at the event, and beat him for the first time in a proper full match since the Sony Ericsson Open final back in 2009! Again we saw Andy step it up as a player, playing really aggressively and taking it to Djokovic all the way, breaking him twice in the opening set, and making the decisive break in the 2nd set to clinch the victory, although he would go on to lose to Federer in the final. In March 2012, Andy and Nole faced each other again in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open, except this time the tables were turned, as it was Nole that emerged the victor, playing the better tennis by far, and he won the title without even dropping a set! After such a momentous match in Melbourne it was a bit of letdown this one, but the two men still traded some great rallies in the 2nd set. Again we saw just how Novak was and is one of the greatest hard court players to have played the game, and that he was fast emerging as one of the all time great players also.
Their next meeting wasn't until August at the Olympics, in which they played a terrific and exciting match in front of a full capacity crowd on centre court at Wimbledon. Throughout the match Andy played his best tennis, but Nole put up some great resistance, but despite his best efforts, he was unable to break down Andy's defences, and his dream to win the Olympic gold medal was shattered after Andy defeated the Serb in straight sets to reach the final. This showed Andy's growing maturity as a player, and his ability to handle playing the big matches and the big points superbly, especially as he took one step closer to realising one of his dreams as an athlete to win an Olympic medal for his country. And after this they met in the momentous final of the US Open, the last grand slam of the season, in which the two men faced off each other in an epic battle on Arthur Ashe stadium. The windy conditions at times took away the ryhthym of the play, and made it sluggish to watch as well at points, but there were also some terrific moments and great points from both players. And in this match we saw again Andy Murray's sheer determination and self belief really come through, as he finally achieved his main goal to win a grand slam title, and beating one of the best players to have played the game in doing so. In this match, Andy really showed that he truly is one of the top four, and not like as the cynics might have said, the top three and Andy, in this tournamnet, he made that leap and surely more grand slams will follow.
In their penultimate meeting of the year in the Shanghai Rolex Masters final, the two men played their best match of the year, which was also arguably the match of the year, which saw Nole triumph, coming from a set down and saving 5 match points against Andy. In this final, we saw Andy and Novak's rival really blossom into something special and amazing to watch, as both men traded some incredible points, and produced some magnificent shot making which stunned the Chinese crowd. It was a match that was almost good enough to eclipse anything that Roger and Rafa have served up over the years together in their rivalry. It was also such a great match simply because it was so entertaining as well as enthralling, and there was alot of fun to be had watching these two men at the peak of their games. And in their final match of the year at the ATP world tour finals in London's o2 Arena, both men yet again put on a terrific display of exciting and aggressive tennis for the fans. And despite Andy's best efforts, it was Novak that won again, as he firmly re-established his foothold as the world's best player, and he went on to win the title there, by dethroning Roger Federer in the final. And the only set he conceded in the whole tournament was when he played Andy Murray in their match.
So there you go, in 2012 men's tennis has really been given something fresh and exciting to watch in the growing rivalry of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Based on what we've seen this year, their rivalry promises to get even better in 2013, which is scary thought when you think about it, as what we have seen this year has been astounding. And hopefully next year we will see Andy and Novak fighting it out in at least one of the grand slam finals of the season, and here's hoping that the Scot will have a chance to win one more, and no doubt Nole will win at least one too (maybe even all four!). So let's hope in 2013 we continue to see the building up of an incredible contest between two friends and two superb competitors, which will hopefully become one of the best rivalries in the history of tennis. And if it carries on like it has, there's no doubt it will.
And on that note, I will leave it there for now.
Monday 3 December 2012
Sunday 25 November 2012
Top 10 WTA/Grand slams matches of 2012: Part 2
OK so now onto Part 2 of my top 10 favourite matches from the WTA tour and I think I've hopefully picked some of the best uns of the year, as there is definitely plenty of great tennis to be found in them, so here we go from 5 down to 1.....
5. US Open quarter final, Victoria Azarenka d. Sam Stosur, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(5).
This quarter final clash between Vika and Sam Stosur had mixed expectations, especially since Stosur had never beaten Victoria, and had not even managed to take a set off her (I think!) especially as their last meeting in Doha earlier this year was a thrashing for Stosur. However this match proved quite the opposite, with Sam, the defending champion, giving her all to try and hold onto her title. After a very one-sided first set to Victoria, this looked like yet another routine straight set win, however things soon changed in the 2nd set as Sam rose her game and broke Victoria to go and win her first ever set against the Belarusian. In the 3rd set the players traded breaks (as is quite often the case in these sorts of matches!) but they both eventually wound up even pegged as the match went into its deciding tiebreak. But in the breaker, Azrenka re-established her authority and took the crucial minibreak to seal the deal after an exhaustive 2 hours and 24 minutes. Despite the fears of this being a doddle for Victoria, it was a pleasant surprise that it turned into quite an epic struggle for them both, and Stosur also deserves alot of credit for pushing Azarenka as hard as she did, especially in taking her first ever set off the World No.1, and it was a pity her title defence ended, but at least she went out with a bang and not one of those whipers. Great stuff.
4. Kremlin cup final, Caroline Wozniacki d. Sam Stosur, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
In the Kremlin cup final we were given a real treat, despite the asbence of the top 8 players, who all took the week to prep for the WTA Championships, instead we had the World No.9, Sam Stosur, and the former World No.1, Caroline Wozniacki (now World No.11) go at it for the Kremlin cup. From the start of the match, Caroline played some effective and aggressive tennis, breaking Stosur twice to go and clinch the opening set. In the second however, the play dipped a little as both players traded breaks, but Stosur raised her level and managed to hold onto her serve to finally get the break she needed to bag the 2nd set, to level things at a set apiece. And in the 3rd and final set, the tennis increased in quality dramatically, and although Caroline went a break down straight away, she soon broke back, and after that it was all good as both women fought it out to try and win the title. And at 6-5, with Sam serving to take the match to a final tiebreak, it was Caroline that took the initiative and broke Sam for the last time to grab her 2nd title of the year, and end it on a real high note with an important victory, which saw her re-establish herself as a top player. This was a great match and despite the odd dip here and there, it got better and better as it went on, and it was terrific to see Caroline get back on form, as she looked like a revitalised player, especially after struggling for the most part of 2012, she turned it around and has become a more aggressive player who is willing to take it on more. As for Stosur, well it was a pity she lost, as she had her chances in that 3rd set, especially as she was a break up and she nearlt was in a position to serve it out but unfortunately she just wasn't able to take her chances. But regardless of that, it was a great final in the last Premier event of the WTA tour in 2012.
3. US Open final, Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
In recent years, the US Open ladies finals have generally always been won in straight sets, so it was a breath of fresh air, that for the first time in 16 years, we finally got a 3 setter, and it couldn't have featured two better players than here, with Serena going for her 4th US Open title, and Victoria her first. The match started off with Serena, who had been in imperious form throughout the tournament, serving with effortless ease and precision, as she broke Victoria twice in the opening set. In the 2nd set however, we had a rare turnaround as Serena's level dipped as she struggled with her serve, and Vika took the initiative to break her twice and getting her own back to grab the 2nd set she won against her in all their meetings. In the decider Vika managed to break Serena again, and it looked like things were going to go her way as she had a chance to serve for the title at 5-4, but then Serena showed her grit and went on to break her back to level 5-5. And after an effortless hold for Serena, Vika struggled with hers and in the end it was the American who went on to shut down the World No.1, winning her 4th US Open title. This was a great final for the last grand slam of the year, and it was great to see it be the longest ladies final in the last couple of years, clocking in at just under 2 hours and 20 minutes (which is long for a ladies final trust me!). The level of play from both women was great for the most part of the match, and it just went to prove that even though Serena isn't still yet the World No.1 in the rankings, she is very much the World No.1 for real. And despite Azarenka's loss, it showed she is the best player in the world next to Serena and hopefully they will continue many more high quality matches like this one in the future.
2. French Open 1st round, Virginie Razzano d. Serena Williams, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Over the years tennis has had some great upsets in the history of the sport, however they didn't get much bigger than this one, when at the French Open, despite going in as the hot favourite to win it, Serena went on in a shock first round defeat to a home players, Virginie Razzano, who was then ranked 111 in the world. In the match, Serena came in off having just won 17 matches in a row, and on paper this sounded like a doddle for the former champion. But Razzano had other ideas as she put up an incredible fight against Serena, coming from a set down she went on to level the scores at a set all. And something appeared to be really up with Serena emotionally, as she cried at certain points in the match, and she went 5-0 down, before fighting back to win the next 3 games. But the last game of the match was an unbelievable effort from Razzanno, who not only battled Serena but also cramp, as she was even docked a couple of points for crying out during points from the pain. However none of this dampened her spirits, as the racuous French crowd backed their player to win the match, and after 8 match points she did just that and pulled one of the biggest upsets in the history of tennis by defeating Serena Williams. This was a superb match, not only for its incredible play from the Razzano but also the amazing atmosphere, generated by the French crowd, who were naturally very partisan. Serena showed some uncharaceristic signs of crumbling throughout but she also did her best given the circumstances to hang in there as long as she could, especially against an inspired opponent. But it was Razzano's match and no doubt its one she will never forget, just like I'm sure Lukas Rosol won't have at Wimbledon, who defeated Rafa in another big upset. Wonderful stuff.
1. WTA Championships round robin, Victoria Azarenka d. Angelique Kerber, 7-6(13-11), 6-7(2-7), 6-4.
In the last WTA event of the season, featuring the top 8 players in the world, it was an event that needed some real top tennis to suit it, and they sure got it in this match, which for me is undisputedly the ladies match of 2012. The first set alone featured some of the greatest tennis you will ever see from anyone on a tennis court, as neither player held back and went for their shots, and the 1st set tiebreak, was nothing short of astonishing, which Kerber won. In the 2nd set it was even pegged again, with both players fighting hard, and in the 2nd tiebreak, Vika levelled the scores to one set all. In the final set though, it was Azarenka that made the vital break and went on to serve out a classic match after an epic 3 hour 6 minute slog. If there was ever an advert for the quality of women's tennis, then this match would be it, as the level from both players was simply staggering, the first set particularly has to rank as one of the finest sets on a tennis court. Keber once again showed why she is in the the top ten as she gave it her all to stay in the match and fought to the end. And as for Victoria well it showed once again her fighting spirit and champion qualities, who surely will go on to become a multiple grand slam champion in the future, and she is also great to watch in action (even despite her opera-esque grunting!). Just terrific stuff all round, and a great way to round off anyone's top 10 (and if it isn't anyone elses, then there's something wrong with them. Just kidding!) ;-).
So that's it for my top 10 list of the best ladies matches from the WTA tour and the grand slams this year. Hope its been enjoyable.
Until the next post, bye the now.
5. US Open quarter final, Victoria Azarenka d. Sam Stosur, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(5).
This quarter final clash between Vika and Sam Stosur had mixed expectations, especially since Stosur had never beaten Victoria, and had not even managed to take a set off her (I think!) especially as their last meeting in Doha earlier this year was a thrashing for Stosur. However this match proved quite the opposite, with Sam, the defending champion, giving her all to try and hold onto her title. After a very one-sided first set to Victoria, this looked like yet another routine straight set win, however things soon changed in the 2nd set as Sam rose her game and broke Victoria to go and win her first ever set against the Belarusian. In the 3rd set the players traded breaks (as is quite often the case in these sorts of matches!) but they both eventually wound up even pegged as the match went into its deciding tiebreak. But in the breaker, Azrenka re-established her authority and took the crucial minibreak to seal the deal after an exhaustive 2 hours and 24 minutes. Despite the fears of this being a doddle for Victoria, it was a pleasant surprise that it turned into quite an epic struggle for them both, and Stosur also deserves alot of credit for pushing Azarenka as hard as she did, especially in taking her first ever set off the World No.1, and it was a pity her title defence ended, but at least she went out with a bang and not one of those whipers. Great stuff.
4. Kremlin cup final, Caroline Wozniacki d. Sam Stosur, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
In the Kremlin cup final we were given a real treat, despite the asbence of the top 8 players, who all took the week to prep for the WTA Championships, instead we had the World No.9, Sam Stosur, and the former World No.1, Caroline Wozniacki (now World No.11) go at it for the Kremlin cup. From the start of the match, Caroline played some effective and aggressive tennis, breaking Stosur twice to go and clinch the opening set. In the second however, the play dipped a little as both players traded breaks, but Stosur raised her level and managed to hold onto her serve to finally get the break she needed to bag the 2nd set, to level things at a set apiece. And in the 3rd and final set, the tennis increased in quality dramatically, and although Caroline went a break down straight away, she soon broke back, and after that it was all good as both women fought it out to try and win the title. And at 6-5, with Sam serving to take the match to a final tiebreak, it was Caroline that took the initiative and broke Sam for the last time to grab her 2nd title of the year, and end it on a real high note with an important victory, which saw her re-establish herself as a top player. This was a great match and despite the odd dip here and there, it got better and better as it went on, and it was terrific to see Caroline get back on form, as she looked like a revitalised player, especially after struggling for the most part of 2012, she turned it around and has become a more aggressive player who is willing to take it on more. As for Stosur, well it was a pity she lost, as she had her chances in that 3rd set, especially as she was a break up and she nearlt was in a position to serve it out but unfortunately she just wasn't able to take her chances. But regardless of that, it was a great final in the last Premier event of the WTA tour in 2012.
3. US Open final, Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
In recent years, the US Open ladies finals have generally always been won in straight sets, so it was a breath of fresh air, that for the first time in 16 years, we finally got a 3 setter, and it couldn't have featured two better players than here, with Serena going for her 4th US Open title, and Victoria her first. The match started off with Serena, who had been in imperious form throughout the tournament, serving with effortless ease and precision, as she broke Victoria twice in the opening set. In the 2nd set however, we had a rare turnaround as Serena's level dipped as she struggled with her serve, and Vika took the initiative to break her twice and getting her own back to grab the 2nd set she won against her in all their meetings. In the decider Vika managed to break Serena again, and it looked like things were going to go her way as she had a chance to serve for the title at 5-4, but then Serena showed her grit and went on to break her back to level 5-5. And after an effortless hold for Serena, Vika struggled with hers and in the end it was the American who went on to shut down the World No.1, winning her 4th US Open title. This was a great final for the last grand slam of the year, and it was great to see it be the longest ladies final in the last couple of years, clocking in at just under 2 hours and 20 minutes (which is long for a ladies final trust me!). The level of play from both women was great for the most part of the match, and it just went to prove that even though Serena isn't still yet the World No.1 in the rankings, she is very much the World No.1 for real. And despite Azarenka's loss, it showed she is the best player in the world next to Serena and hopefully they will continue many more high quality matches like this one in the future.
2. French Open 1st round, Virginie Razzano d. Serena Williams, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Over the years tennis has had some great upsets in the history of the sport, however they didn't get much bigger than this one, when at the French Open, despite going in as the hot favourite to win it, Serena went on in a shock first round defeat to a home players, Virginie Razzano, who was then ranked 111 in the world. In the match, Serena came in off having just won 17 matches in a row, and on paper this sounded like a doddle for the former champion. But Razzano had other ideas as she put up an incredible fight against Serena, coming from a set down she went on to level the scores at a set all. And something appeared to be really up with Serena emotionally, as she cried at certain points in the match, and she went 5-0 down, before fighting back to win the next 3 games. But the last game of the match was an unbelievable effort from Razzanno, who not only battled Serena but also cramp, as she was even docked a couple of points for crying out during points from the pain. However none of this dampened her spirits, as the racuous French crowd backed their player to win the match, and after 8 match points she did just that and pulled one of the biggest upsets in the history of tennis by defeating Serena Williams. This was a superb match, not only for its incredible play from the Razzano but also the amazing atmosphere, generated by the French crowd, who were naturally very partisan. Serena showed some uncharaceristic signs of crumbling throughout but she also did her best given the circumstances to hang in there as long as she could, especially against an inspired opponent. But it was Razzano's match and no doubt its one she will never forget, just like I'm sure Lukas Rosol won't have at Wimbledon, who defeated Rafa in another big upset. Wonderful stuff.
1. WTA Championships round robin, Victoria Azarenka d. Angelique Kerber, 7-6(13-11), 6-7(2-7), 6-4.
In the last WTA event of the season, featuring the top 8 players in the world, it was an event that needed some real top tennis to suit it, and they sure got it in this match, which for me is undisputedly the ladies match of 2012. The first set alone featured some of the greatest tennis you will ever see from anyone on a tennis court, as neither player held back and went for their shots, and the 1st set tiebreak, was nothing short of astonishing, which Kerber won. In the 2nd set it was even pegged again, with both players fighting hard, and in the 2nd tiebreak, Vika levelled the scores to one set all. In the final set though, it was Azarenka that made the vital break and went on to serve out a classic match after an epic 3 hour 6 minute slog. If there was ever an advert for the quality of women's tennis, then this match would be it, as the level from both players was simply staggering, the first set particularly has to rank as one of the finest sets on a tennis court. Keber once again showed why she is in the the top ten as she gave it her all to stay in the match and fought to the end. And as for Victoria well it showed once again her fighting spirit and champion qualities, who surely will go on to become a multiple grand slam champion in the future, and she is also great to watch in action (even despite her opera-esque grunting!). Just terrific stuff all round, and a great way to round off anyone's top 10 (and if it isn't anyone elses, then there's something wrong with them. Just kidding!) ;-).
So that's it for my top 10 list of the best ladies matches from the WTA tour and the grand slams this year. Hope its been enjoyable.
Until the next post, bye the now.
Top 10 WTA/Grand slam matches of 2012 Part 1:
Right well I've done enough on the guys best matches of the year, now I thought I would so something on the ladies, as there have been plenty of excellent matches this season with some incredible stuff throughout. Because I thought I would combine all the surfaces to avoid having to do a separate post each and instead I've picked 10 matches throughout the year, so this post will be in two parts, for the top 10-6, and then 5-1 (you get the idea). Right with no further ados, let's get on with it. By the way this is going to be tough and take some digging arounf but hopefully I'll get there!
10. Sony Ericsson Open 4th round, Victoria Azarenka d. Dominika Cibulkova, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5.
This was quite an extarordinary match to open the proceedings with as Vika came into this match on an unbeaten 25 match winning streak, as she appeared to be doing a Djokovic. However the first real signs of her fatigue started to set in, in this match, as Victoria struggled badly on her serve, whereas Cibulkova started off the match with some amazing tennis, blasting winners left, right and centre off Victoria's ailing serve and return game, as she confidently went on to take the first set 6-1. In the 2nd set, it was more of the same where Vika struggled with herself on court, showing signs of emotion (nearly in tears at one point) and she went a double break down. However it wasn't before long with Cibulkova serving for the match to end Vika's unbeaten run at 5-1, that Vika broke back and rattled off the next 4 games to level the score, and the 2nd went to a tiebreak, which Vika eventually won to take the match into the decider. In the decider both players traded breaks with Cibulkova still game throughout, however she eventually faltered on serve at 5-6 to hand Vika her 26th match in of the season, after an incredibly hard fought 1-6, 7-6, 7-5 win. This really was quite a Houdini-esque performance from Victoria Azarenka here, as she clearly for the first half of the match struggled with her emotions on court, as well as feeling the fatigue of her success. But the tennis from Cibulkova was superb for the most part, especially the aggressive way she went about it, and she came mighty close to ending Vika's winning streak, but she just came up short at the very end. But she did the hard work to try and end the run, but in the next match it was Bartoli that finished her off, but that's another match and another post, and this was a great one to start with.
9. Wimbledon 1st round, Tamira Paszek d. Caroline Wozniacki, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.
In a first round match in a grand slam, its quite common that you can get some incredible encounters, and this one certainly fit the bill, as the former World No.1, who came into this tournament having suffered a serious slump in her form took on the in form Tamira Paszek, who had just won her grass court title in Eastbourne the week before. The quality play throughout the match was excellent and Caroline got off to a stronger start by sealing a break at 6-5 to take the first set. In the 2nd set the high quality play continued as it was even pegged and play went into a tiebreak, with Tamira's tenacity seeing her come through to level the match. In the 3rd set however, Tamira got the break to go 5-3 up, but not before Caroline broke back to make it 4-5, but on her next service game it was Tammy's aggressive play that saw her edge the Wozza and to take her place in the 2nd round after a terrific 3 set battle. This was an exciting match especially, and as can be the case the 1st round matches can sometimes even prove to be the best, and Tamira Paszek showed throughout just how good a player she can be, and she then went on to reach the quarter finals before falling to Victoria Azarenka. As for Caroline, well unfortunately, despite her quality of play, it saw her with her earliest exit from grand slam in a few years, and afterwards saw her form dimish further, as she clearly was outhit by Paszek's aggressive groundstrokes here. Regardless however overall this was quite a match and well worth catching the highlights if you haven't already seen it.
8. Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome Open) final, Maria Sharapova d. Li Na, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
The final of the Rome Open (which let's face it is easier to type than the Italian version above!) was between two big hitters, the former French Open champion Li Na, and Maria Sharapova, so you could expect some real brutal rallies. And we certainly got plenty of those, and despite the up and down standard of the tennis, partly due to the heavy rainfall, it remains a fascinating battle between two French champions (Li last year, and Sharapova this year). With Sharapova's form going up and down at certain moments, Li Na played the better tennis in the first set, breaking to get the 1st set. In the 2nd set however, Sharapova showed her warrior qualities and battled back from 4-1 down, to eventually go on close the set to level. In the 3rd set it was more topsy turvey but it remained an intruiging watch, and the level of play rose as it went on, with a terrific game from Sharapova who faced a couple of match points, which she saved with some gutsy returning. The 3rd set tiebreak finally saw after a massive see-saw, Sharapova triumph winning the breaker 7-5, both women shared a laugh at the net as they couldn't believe the swings and roundabouts they faced in this remarkble match.
7. Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart quarter final, Victoria Azarenka d. Mona Barthel, 6-4, 6(3)-7, 7-5.
In 2012, Victoria Azarenka had her fair share of battles with some players, but this one came just about as close any of them ever could against the talented and rising German star, Mona Barthel, who played the World No.1 on her home soil (or clay to be accurate). The quality of play throughout this match was stunning, particularly from Barthel, whom despite some erratic serving, blasted 61 winners past Azarenka as she played at full throttle. But Victoria showed her just why she is the World No.1 as she dug deep against the in form German an eventually made her to way to victory, with the help of a double fault from Mona, who capitulated on serve at 5-6 to try and take the match into a final set tiebreak. The Porsche tennis grand prix WTA event has often proved to be popular with the ladies players on tour and its easy to see why in this match, and the home crowd also provided a terrific atmosphere for this match, with its incredible twists and turns, it ranks as one of the most entertaining of the year, and also how Mona Barthel is definitely a player to watch in the future.
6. 2012 Wimbledon quarter final, Angelique Kerber d. Sabine Lisicki, 6-3, 6(7)-7(9), 7-5.
The final 8 at Wimbledon in the ladies or the mens matches always promises to provide some really exciting tennis and this match undoubtely provided exactly as the top two German players hammered it out to reach the semi finals in epic clash. It was Kerber that made the better start as she broke Lisicki to go a set up in the first, however after going a break down in the 2nd, Lisicki fought her way back into the match and took the 2nd set to a tiebreak, where they traded breaks and it was Lisicki who pushed it to a 3rd set. In the 3rd there were more breaks of serve with Liscki finally getting a chance to serve it out for a place in the semis at 5-3, however she wasn't able to close it out as Kerber managed to break to get back on serve, who eventually broke Lisicki to go 6-5, and went on to seal the deal to reach her first Wimbledon semi final. This was a terrific battle from both players, under the closed roof of centre court, and neither player for the most part giving the other an inch, and it was an impressive fightback also from Lisicki after being a set down. But it just shows how good a player Angelique Kerber has become in 2012, as she has reached a career high No.5 in the world, and in this match she showed just why she is in the top 10.
Right so that's it for Part 1, Part 2 is on the way!
10. Sony Ericsson Open 4th round, Victoria Azarenka d. Dominika Cibulkova, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5.
This was quite an extarordinary match to open the proceedings with as Vika came into this match on an unbeaten 25 match winning streak, as she appeared to be doing a Djokovic. However the first real signs of her fatigue started to set in, in this match, as Victoria struggled badly on her serve, whereas Cibulkova started off the match with some amazing tennis, blasting winners left, right and centre off Victoria's ailing serve and return game, as she confidently went on to take the first set 6-1. In the 2nd set, it was more of the same where Vika struggled with herself on court, showing signs of emotion (nearly in tears at one point) and she went a double break down. However it wasn't before long with Cibulkova serving for the match to end Vika's unbeaten run at 5-1, that Vika broke back and rattled off the next 4 games to level the score, and the 2nd went to a tiebreak, which Vika eventually won to take the match into the decider. In the decider both players traded breaks with Cibulkova still game throughout, however she eventually faltered on serve at 5-6 to hand Vika her 26th match in of the season, after an incredibly hard fought 1-6, 7-6, 7-5 win. This really was quite a Houdini-esque performance from Victoria Azarenka here, as she clearly for the first half of the match struggled with her emotions on court, as well as feeling the fatigue of her success. But the tennis from Cibulkova was superb for the most part, especially the aggressive way she went about it, and she came mighty close to ending Vika's winning streak, but she just came up short at the very end. But she did the hard work to try and end the run, but in the next match it was Bartoli that finished her off, but that's another match and another post, and this was a great one to start with.
9. Wimbledon 1st round, Tamira Paszek d. Caroline Wozniacki, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.
In a first round match in a grand slam, its quite common that you can get some incredible encounters, and this one certainly fit the bill, as the former World No.1, who came into this tournament having suffered a serious slump in her form took on the in form Tamira Paszek, who had just won her grass court title in Eastbourne the week before. The quality play throughout the match was excellent and Caroline got off to a stronger start by sealing a break at 6-5 to take the first set. In the 2nd set the high quality play continued as it was even pegged and play went into a tiebreak, with Tamira's tenacity seeing her come through to level the match. In the 3rd set however, Tamira got the break to go 5-3 up, but not before Caroline broke back to make it 4-5, but on her next service game it was Tammy's aggressive play that saw her edge the Wozza and to take her place in the 2nd round after a terrific 3 set battle. This was an exciting match especially, and as can be the case the 1st round matches can sometimes even prove to be the best, and Tamira Paszek showed throughout just how good a player she can be, and she then went on to reach the quarter finals before falling to Victoria Azarenka. As for Caroline, well unfortunately, despite her quality of play, it saw her with her earliest exit from grand slam in a few years, and afterwards saw her form dimish further, as she clearly was outhit by Paszek's aggressive groundstrokes here. Regardless however overall this was quite a match and well worth catching the highlights if you haven't already seen it.
8. Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome Open) final, Maria Sharapova d. Li Na, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
The final of the Rome Open (which let's face it is easier to type than the Italian version above!) was between two big hitters, the former French Open champion Li Na, and Maria Sharapova, so you could expect some real brutal rallies. And we certainly got plenty of those, and despite the up and down standard of the tennis, partly due to the heavy rainfall, it remains a fascinating battle between two French champions (Li last year, and Sharapova this year). With Sharapova's form going up and down at certain moments, Li Na played the better tennis in the first set, breaking to get the 1st set. In the 2nd set however, Sharapova showed her warrior qualities and battled back from 4-1 down, to eventually go on close the set to level. In the 3rd set it was more topsy turvey but it remained an intruiging watch, and the level of play rose as it went on, with a terrific game from Sharapova who faced a couple of match points, which she saved with some gutsy returning. The 3rd set tiebreak finally saw after a massive see-saw, Sharapova triumph winning the breaker 7-5, both women shared a laugh at the net as they couldn't believe the swings and roundabouts they faced in this remarkble match.
7. Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart quarter final, Victoria Azarenka d. Mona Barthel, 6-4, 6(3)-7, 7-5.
In 2012, Victoria Azarenka had her fair share of battles with some players, but this one came just about as close any of them ever could against the talented and rising German star, Mona Barthel, who played the World No.1 on her home soil (or clay to be accurate). The quality of play throughout this match was stunning, particularly from Barthel, whom despite some erratic serving, blasted 61 winners past Azarenka as she played at full throttle. But Victoria showed her just why she is the World No.1 as she dug deep against the in form German an eventually made her to way to victory, with the help of a double fault from Mona, who capitulated on serve at 5-6 to try and take the match into a final set tiebreak. The Porsche tennis grand prix WTA event has often proved to be popular with the ladies players on tour and its easy to see why in this match, and the home crowd also provided a terrific atmosphere for this match, with its incredible twists and turns, it ranks as one of the most entertaining of the year, and also how Mona Barthel is definitely a player to watch in the future.
6. 2012 Wimbledon quarter final, Angelique Kerber d. Sabine Lisicki, 6-3, 6(7)-7(9), 7-5.
The final 8 at Wimbledon in the ladies or the mens matches always promises to provide some really exciting tennis and this match undoubtely provided exactly as the top two German players hammered it out to reach the semi finals in epic clash. It was Kerber that made the better start as she broke Lisicki to go a set up in the first, however after going a break down in the 2nd, Lisicki fought her way back into the match and took the 2nd set to a tiebreak, where they traded breaks and it was Lisicki who pushed it to a 3rd set. In the 3rd there were more breaks of serve with Liscki finally getting a chance to serve it out for a place in the semis at 5-3, however she wasn't able to close it out as Kerber managed to break to get back on serve, who eventually broke Lisicki to go 6-5, and went on to seal the deal to reach her first Wimbledon semi final. This was a terrific battle from both players, under the closed roof of centre court, and neither player for the most part giving the other an inch, and it was an impressive fightback also from Lisicki after being a set down. But it just shows how good a player Angelique Kerber has become in 2012, as she has reached a career high No.5 in the world, and in this match she showed just why she is in the top 10.
Right so that's it for Part 1, Part 2 is on the way!
Wednesday 14 November 2012
ATP Best Hard Court Matches of 2012
OK the tennis season maybe as good as over (bar the Davis cup) but I couldn't resist but look back at some of my favourite matches from this year from the hard court season. I've already done grass and clay, but as the hard court season continues after Wimbledon I thought I would update it a bit. So here they are....
5. ATP World Tour Finals final, Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer, 7-6(6), 7-5.
In what was the last match of the ATP tour season, it promised to be a real cracker, which saw the world no.1, Novak Djokovic take on Roger Federer, the defending year end champion. And the match itself proved to be just that as they both produced some scintallating tennis in front of 17,800 crowd at the o2 London arena. Roger started out the stronger of the two as he broke Nole to take a 3-0 lead, before Novak broke back himself to level the scores. The first set continued to have breaks of serve, and it lead into a terrific tiebreak, which saw Federer pull off an amazing retrieving shot to level the score at 6-6, before handing another set point to Djokovic who took it to seal the set. In the 2nd set the match dipped slightly in quality at the start, but it rose again as Federer went a break up, Djokovic eventually battled his way back to level at 5-5, just as Fed was to serve for the 2nd set. But at 5-6, with Fed trying to level to make a 2nd set tiebreak, it was Djokovic that took the initative and secured his 2nd year end championship with a superb backhand passing shot. This was a real high octane, fast paced match, and both guys were terrific pretty much throughout, despite the odd lull, the matchplay was of the highest quality you can imagine. It also saw Djokovic restamp his authority as the world no.1 once more, after losing the ranking to Federer for 3 months, he not only re-took it, he backed it up with a significant victory at the year end championships. And no mistake can be made that Nole is back and that he is the best player in the world.
4. Australian Open final, Novak Djokovic d. Rafael Nadal, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
In what turned out to be the longest grand slam final in the history of the open era, the 2012 Australian Open final was quite a historic encounter the world's two best players, Rafa and Novak. Going into this match Novak had the advantage over Rafa having won the last six of their meetings, the majority of which he won with relative ease. However this meeting turned out to be anything but easy, as Rafa ran the World No.1 ragged round the Rod Laver arena, as the two of the battled it out in an epic 5 set match which lasted nearly six hours. In the match Rafa started off the better by breaking Nole, who then broke back, but Rafa went on to take the 1st set. In the 2nd and 3rd however, Novak established his authority in the match by taking a 2 sets to 1 lead. But in the 4th set, with Rafa facing break points at 3-4, he battled his way back in and push the match to a decider, after winning a thrilling tiebreak. And in the 5th set, Rafa despite going a break up, was unable to maintain it as Novak broke back once again, and he went on to make the curcial break at 6-5, and served it out for his 3rd Australian open title. One of the most remarkable things about this match was not only did Novak spend nearly five hours before that on court in an intense battle against Andy Murray in the semis, he also found the reserve energy to outlast Rafa in this incredible encounter (who had two full days rest, as opposed to Nole's one!). And with this win, Novak really continued to cement his No.1 ranking. And Rafa also deserves alot of credit for playing his part in such a match, and despite the match being a rather slow burner, by the time we hit the 4th set it really took off as both men played some immense stuff for the crowd. So the 2012 Aussie open final was an excellent one as much as it was entertaining, it also set itself rightfully in the history books as the longest final ever.
3. US Open final, Andy Murray d. Novak Djokovic, 7-6(10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.
Well this match is one that can't be forgotten in a hurry, simply because of its historic value in that it saw Great Britain's 76 year wait for a British men's singles grand slam champion finally come to an end. In an intense and lengthy epic battle, two of the best players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray went at it on Arthur Ashe stadium in a memorable final, which saw Andy clinch his first ever grand slam title. Due to the windy conditions however, the match at times lacked pace, as it looked like the two men were trying to play tennis in quicksand at some points, but there were also some great points as well between Murray's amazing retireving skills and Djokovic's flashy volleying at the net. However what made the match so fascinating was how the two men had to adapt their game to the conditions, and as the match progressed, the level of play increased in quality. The first set tiebreak also was a big highlight, which had nothing but twists and turns and with a final 12-10 score, it was the longest tiebreak in the US Open final history. With Andy having gone two sets to love up, Novak started to fight back in the 3rd as he broke twice and he also continued his dominance in the 4th to level the match. And in the 5th set after levelling, Novak looked surely to be the favourite, however Andy refused to go down like he did in his four previous slam finals, and hung in there and fought it out, to pull off his ultimate goal, to win his first major title. This match more than anything really showed how Andy has matured as a player throughout 2012, and it showed that all the hard work he put in with his new coach Ivan Lendl, had well and truly paid off. Novak played his part in the match aswell, and he fought really well to try and keep a hold of his US Open title. And its full credit to Andy that he was able to beat one of the best players to have to played the game to win that elusive major, and I'm sure more will follow next year.
2. Davis cup final, deciding rubber, Radek Stepanek d. Nicolas Almagro, 6-4, 7-6(0), 3-6, 6-3.
In what proved to be the very last match of the season we were expected to be in for a treat, with the Davis cup final from Prague, as the host nation, the Czech Republic took on the defending champions, Spain. This was the deciding match for the title as coming into this final rubber, David Ferrer managed to level the scores to 2-2 for Spain so it was literally all to play. And with the weight of the nation on his shoulders, it looked like an extremely daunting task for Radek Stepanek, ranked the world no.37, against Nicolas Almagro, ranked the world no.11. However the 33 year old Czech didn't fold under pressure, quite the opposite as he thrived off the energy from the racuous crowd who cheered their man on all the way, as he put on a terrific display from the home audience. Throughout the match, Stepanek looked the stronger player, but Almagro played his part too, and after a shaky start, he also played some great tennis to challenge the Czech fella. However Stepanek stepped it up (no pun intended) and proceeded to step on Almargo's neck, after going 2 sets to 1 up, he made the decisive break in the 4th, and soon went on to serve it out for the Czech Republic's second Davis cup triumph in over 30 years. This was a great match to finish off an incredible 2012 season of tennis, and Radek Stepanek, became the unlikely hero of the final, as he put in a superb, gutsy performance and he was backed up considerably by an immense crowd, who must have blown the sound barrier with all the noise they made. It was a pity for Almagro, who tried his best and fought so hard to try and stay in the match, but for the Czechs all the credit must go to Stepanek and Tomas Berdych who between secured their nation's triumph at the Davis cup. And it was a fitting finale for a great season.
1. Shanghai Rolex Masters final, Novak Djokovic d. Andy Murray, 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3.
I just had to put this match at the top of the list as not only did it contain some of the most magnificent stuff you will see all year on a tennis court, it also was further proof that tennis has a new exciting rivalry in Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. And throughout this match these two players proved why they are the best around just now, with not much to separate them both in the first set, except a break at 6-5, which saw Djoko angrily smash his racquet, before Andy took the 1st. In the 2nd it went by serve until Andy broke to go 5-4, serving for the championship however, he faltered on serve, and Djoko fought back to level 5-5, and the two of them battled on into another incredible tiebreak, which Djokovic won (which saw Andy uncharacteristically smash his racquet after also!). In the 3rd set, despite dropping his serve, Andy still produced some incredible resistance to Djokovic's near imperious performance, but in the end it was Novak that came through to win his 3rd Masters title of the season, with an incredible 3 set victory. There are times in this match where the tennis reached near magical heights, with some of the shot making both men produced, in fact it was so good it threatened to put Novak's rivalry with Rafa to shame, and that is saying something. On the negative side there was no doubt about it that Andy had five match points and plenty of chances to put Nole away, but he just couldn't quite do it, as let's face it Nole is the toughest player in the game to try and finish off, and he certainly proved it here. So for me this is the top match of the season, just incredible stuff, and it shows just how great the Djokovic vs Murray rivalry can and will be.
So that's it for my hard court fav matches of the season, I noticed that Novak Djokovic features in four of them, but with the guy being that good its hard to not include him is it???? And that Andy Murray isn't too bad either it has to be said.
And with that, that's it!
5. ATP World Tour Finals final, Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer, 7-6(6), 7-5.
In what was the last match of the ATP tour season, it promised to be a real cracker, which saw the world no.1, Novak Djokovic take on Roger Federer, the defending year end champion. And the match itself proved to be just that as they both produced some scintallating tennis in front of 17,800 crowd at the o2 London arena. Roger started out the stronger of the two as he broke Nole to take a 3-0 lead, before Novak broke back himself to level the scores. The first set continued to have breaks of serve, and it lead into a terrific tiebreak, which saw Federer pull off an amazing retrieving shot to level the score at 6-6, before handing another set point to Djokovic who took it to seal the set. In the 2nd set the match dipped slightly in quality at the start, but it rose again as Federer went a break up, Djokovic eventually battled his way back to level at 5-5, just as Fed was to serve for the 2nd set. But at 5-6, with Fed trying to level to make a 2nd set tiebreak, it was Djokovic that took the initative and secured his 2nd year end championship with a superb backhand passing shot. This was a real high octane, fast paced match, and both guys were terrific pretty much throughout, despite the odd lull, the matchplay was of the highest quality you can imagine. It also saw Djokovic restamp his authority as the world no.1 once more, after losing the ranking to Federer for 3 months, he not only re-took it, he backed it up with a significant victory at the year end championships. And no mistake can be made that Nole is back and that he is the best player in the world.
4. Australian Open final, Novak Djokovic d. Rafael Nadal, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
In what turned out to be the longest grand slam final in the history of the open era, the 2012 Australian Open final was quite a historic encounter the world's two best players, Rafa and Novak. Going into this match Novak had the advantage over Rafa having won the last six of their meetings, the majority of which he won with relative ease. However this meeting turned out to be anything but easy, as Rafa ran the World No.1 ragged round the Rod Laver arena, as the two of the battled it out in an epic 5 set match which lasted nearly six hours. In the match Rafa started off the better by breaking Nole, who then broke back, but Rafa went on to take the 1st set. In the 2nd and 3rd however, Novak established his authority in the match by taking a 2 sets to 1 lead. But in the 4th set, with Rafa facing break points at 3-4, he battled his way back in and push the match to a decider, after winning a thrilling tiebreak. And in the 5th set, Rafa despite going a break up, was unable to maintain it as Novak broke back once again, and he went on to make the curcial break at 6-5, and served it out for his 3rd Australian open title. One of the most remarkable things about this match was not only did Novak spend nearly five hours before that on court in an intense battle against Andy Murray in the semis, he also found the reserve energy to outlast Rafa in this incredible encounter (who had two full days rest, as opposed to Nole's one!). And with this win, Novak really continued to cement his No.1 ranking. And Rafa also deserves alot of credit for playing his part in such a match, and despite the match being a rather slow burner, by the time we hit the 4th set it really took off as both men played some immense stuff for the crowd. So the 2012 Aussie open final was an excellent one as much as it was entertaining, it also set itself rightfully in the history books as the longest final ever.
3. US Open final, Andy Murray d. Novak Djokovic, 7-6(10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.
Well this match is one that can't be forgotten in a hurry, simply because of its historic value in that it saw Great Britain's 76 year wait for a British men's singles grand slam champion finally come to an end. In an intense and lengthy epic battle, two of the best players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray went at it on Arthur Ashe stadium in a memorable final, which saw Andy clinch his first ever grand slam title. Due to the windy conditions however, the match at times lacked pace, as it looked like the two men were trying to play tennis in quicksand at some points, but there were also some great points as well between Murray's amazing retireving skills and Djokovic's flashy volleying at the net. However what made the match so fascinating was how the two men had to adapt their game to the conditions, and as the match progressed, the level of play increased in quality. The first set tiebreak also was a big highlight, which had nothing but twists and turns and with a final 12-10 score, it was the longest tiebreak in the US Open final history. With Andy having gone two sets to love up, Novak started to fight back in the 3rd as he broke twice and he also continued his dominance in the 4th to level the match. And in the 5th set after levelling, Novak looked surely to be the favourite, however Andy refused to go down like he did in his four previous slam finals, and hung in there and fought it out, to pull off his ultimate goal, to win his first major title. This match more than anything really showed how Andy has matured as a player throughout 2012, and it showed that all the hard work he put in with his new coach Ivan Lendl, had well and truly paid off. Novak played his part in the match aswell, and he fought really well to try and keep a hold of his US Open title. And its full credit to Andy that he was able to beat one of the best players to have to played the game to win that elusive major, and I'm sure more will follow next year.
2. Davis cup final, deciding rubber, Radek Stepanek d. Nicolas Almagro, 6-4, 7-6(0), 3-6, 6-3.
In what proved to be the very last match of the season we were expected to be in for a treat, with the Davis cup final from Prague, as the host nation, the Czech Republic took on the defending champions, Spain. This was the deciding match for the title as coming into this final rubber, David Ferrer managed to level the scores to 2-2 for Spain so it was literally all to play. And with the weight of the nation on his shoulders, it looked like an extremely daunting task for Radek Stepanek, ranked the world no.37, against Nicolas Almagro, ranked the world no.11. However the 33 year old Czech didn't fold under pressure, quite the opposite as he thrived off the energy from the racuous crowd who cheered their man on all the way, as he put on a terrific display from the home audience. Throughout the match, Stepanek looked the stronger player, but Almagro played his part too, and after a shaky start, he also played some great tennis to challenge the Czech fella. However Stepanek stepped it up (no pun intended) and proceeded to step on Almargo's neck, after going 2 sets to 1 up, he made the decisive break in the 4th, and soon went on to serve it out for the Czech Republic's second Davis cup triumph in over 30 years. This was a great match to finish off an incredible 2012 season of tennis, and Radek Stepanek, became the unlikely hero of the final, as he put in a superb, gutsy performance and he was backed up considerably by an immense crowd, who must have blown the sound barrier with all the noise they made. It was a pity for Almagro, who tried his best and fought so hard to try and stay in the match, but for the Czechs all the credit must go to Stepanek and Tomas Berdych who between secured their nation's triumph at the Davis cup. And it was a fitting finale for a great season.
1. Shanghai Rolex Masters final, Novak Djokovic d. Andy Murray, 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3.
I just had to put this match at the top of the list as not only did it contain some of the most magnificent stuff you will see all year on a tennis court, it also was further proof that tennis has a new exciting rivalry in Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. And throughout this match these two players proved why they are the best around just now, with not much to separate them both in the first set, except a break at 6-5, which saw Djoko angrily smash his racquet, before Andy took the 1st. In the 2nd it went by serve until Andy broke to go 5-4, serving for the championship however, he faltered on serve, and Djoko fought back to level 5-5, and the two of them battled on into another incredible tiebreak, which Djokovic won (which saw Andy uncharacteristically smash his racquet after also!). In the 3rd set, despite dropping his serve, Andy still produced some incredible resistance to Djokovic's near imperious performance, but in the end it was Novak that came through to win his 3rd Masters title of the season, with an incredible 3 set victory. There are times in this match where the tennis reached near magical heights, with some of the shot making both men produced, in fact it was so good it threatened to put Novak's rivalry with Rafa to shame, and that is saying something. On the negative side there was no doubt about it that Andy had five match points and plenty of chances to put Nole away, but he just couldn't quite do it, as let's face it Nole is the toughest player in the game to try and finish off, and he certainly proved it here. So for me this is the top match of the season, just incredible stuff, and it shows just how great the Djokovic vs Murray rivalry can and will be.
So that's it for my hard court fav matches of the season, I noticed that Novak Djokovic features in four of them, but with the guy being that good its hard to not include him is it???? And that Andy Murray isn't too bad either it has to be said.
And with that, that's it!
Monday 12 November 2012
2012 ATP World Tour Finals Part 5: Top dog
So so so this is the final part of my posts on the ATP World Tour Finals from the o2 in London, and its been quite a week of tennis with some excellent matches, but it has now drawn to a close, and in this post I'll look at the final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
The final promised to be quite an encounter as Djoko and Fed have meet on 28 occassions prior to this, with Roger leading their head to head 16-12, and in this match he was looking for a record 7th year end championship title, whereas Novak was looking for his second. As for the match itself it very much lived up to its billing, as from the first set we were treated to some scintillating tennis from both men. But it was Federer that made the stronger start as he broke Djokovic straight off, and come out firing really strong to take a 3-0 lead. However after holding serve, Djokovic went on to win the next 2 games to level the scores, and after that he secured a break to make it 5-4, but on serving for the set, Federer broke back once again, and the match went into a thrilling tiebreak, with more breaks of serve, and despite saving a set point with an amazing shot, Federer went on to hand a set point to Nole who gladly accepted and took it to win the set. In the 2nd set, after a scrappy first game Novak was broken by Federer who maintain his break, but at 5-4, serving for the set, he let Djokovic back in, and at 6-5, with Fed serving to stay in the match, Djokovic broke Federer a final time to clinch his 2nd season end championship title, with a 7-6(6), 7-5 victory.
This was an excellent finale to a great year of tennis, and both players played some incredible tennis for the 17,500 strong crowd, although I do get the impression there were more Roger fans than Novak ones! As it could well have been 12,000 Federer fans and 5,000 Djokovic fans for all we know! And I have to say I really thought that Federer would win this one, as he started out really strong and he appeared to keep saving break points. But in the end its credit to Djokovic's tenacity that he was able to hang in there and keep plugging away, applying pressure on Federer's serve, which shockingly dropped to about 36% at one point in the 2nd set! But despite all that Federer has had a great season, as he aimed to become the World No.1 again, and for three months or so, he did just that, he also claimed 6 titles, one of which being his 7th Wimbledon title, and his 17th grand slam overall. So I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Federer and we can never write him off, despite this loss, I'm sure he will be back next year.
As for Djokovic well with this win he has really has re-established himself as the World No.1 and he is certainly that, make no mistake, and come 2013 we can expect more greatness for him, and I personally think he will win the Australian open next year for starters. And I think its safe to say that he can remain at the top of the game for quite a few years yet to come, and its no coincidence or a one-off that he had an incredible 2011, as he is the real deal, and he is here to stay at the top. But despite all that, it has to be said there is now one man that remains a real threat to Djokovic, and that is Andy Murray, who has already proven this year that he can beat Djokovic in the big matches, and by winning the US Open title, he beat one of the greatest hard court players to have played the game in doing so. And that says alot about Andy, and throughout 2012 we have seen them develop a terrific rivalry, which I hope carries on into 2013, and it may yet become one of the great rivalries in the sport, so I look forward to seeing how that progresses. But in the meantime Djokovic deserves a big congratulations for his victory and ending what has been an excellent season for him in style.
And that's just about it for men's 2012 tennis season, all that really remains now is the Davis cup final which takes place this weekend, which will see Spain and the Czeck Republic battle it out to win the prestigious team cup title, with David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych being the top singles players respectively, so that promises to be quite a tie.
So its been a great season for the ATP tour in 2012, and we have seen some superb tennis throughout, and let's hope 2013 get's even better. And that's it for now, I will possibly post up another entry about the Davis cup final, but until then that's it for my tennis posts.
So bye for now!!
The final promised to be quite an encounter as Djoko and Fed have meet on 28 occassions prior to this, with Roger leading their head to head 16-12, and in this match he was looking for a record 7th year end championship title, whereas Novak was looking for his second. As for the match itself it very much lived up to its billing, as from the first set we were treated to some scintillating tennis from both men. But it was Federer that made the stronger start as he broke Djokovic straight off, and come out firing really strong to take a 3-0 lead. However after holding serve, Djokovic went on to win the next 2 games to level the scores, and after that he secured a break to make it 5-4, but on serving for the set, Federer broke back once again, and the match went into a thrilling tiebreak, with more breaks of serve, and despite saving a set point with an amazing shot, Federer went on to hand a set point to Nole who gladly accepted and took it to win the set. In the 2nd set, after a scrappy first game Novak was broken by Federer who maintain his break, but at 5-4, serving for the set, he let Djokovic back in, and at 6-5, with Fed serving to stay in the match, Djokovic broke Federer a final time to clinch his 2nd season end championship title, with a 7-6(6), 7-5 victory.
This was an excellent finale to a great year of tennis, and both players played some incredible tennis for the 17,500 strong crowd, although I do get the impression there were more Roger fans than Novak ones! As it could well have been 12,000 Federer fans and 5,000 Djokovic fans for all we know! And I have to say I really thought that Federer would win this one, as he started out really strong and he appeared to keep saving break points. But in the end its credit to Djokovic's tenacity that he was able to hang in there and keep plugging away, applying pressure on Federer's serve, which shockingly dropped to about 36% at one point in the 2nd set! But despite all that Federer has had a great season, as he aimed to become the World No.1 again, and for three months or so, he did just that, he also claimed 6 titles, one of which being his 7th Wimbledon title, and his 17th grand slam overall. So I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Federer and we can never write him off, despite this loss, I'm sure he will be back next year.
As for Djokovic well with this win he has really has re-established himself as the World No.1 and he is certainly that, make no mistake, and come 2013 we can expect more greatness for him, and I personally think he will win the Australian open next year for starters. And I think its safe to say that he can remain at the top of the game for quite a few years yet to come, and its no coincidence or a one-off that he had an incredible 2011, as he is the real deal, and he is here to stay at the top. But despite all that, it has to be said there is now one man that remains a real threat to Djokovic, and that is Andy Murray, who has already proven this year that he can beat Djokovic in the big matches, and by winning the US Open title, he beat one of the greatest hard court players to have played the game in doing so. And that says alot about Andy, and throughout 2012 we have seen them develop a terrific rivalry, which I hope carries on into 2013, and it may yet become one of the great rivalries in the sport, so I look forward to seeing how that progresses. But in the meantime Djokovic deserves a big congratulations for his victory and ending what has been an excellent season for him in style.
And that's just about it for men's 2012 tennis season, all that really remains now is the Davis cup final which takes place this weekend, which will see Spain and the Czeck Republic battle it out to win the prestigious team cup title, with David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych being the top singles players respectively, so that promises to be quite a tie.
So its been a great season for the ATP tour in 2012, and we have seen some superb tennis throughout, and let's hope 2013 get's even better. And that's it for now, I will possibly post up another entry about the Davis cup final, but until then that's it for my tennis posts.
So bye for now!!
Sunday 11 November 2012
2012 ATP world tour finals Part 4: Adios 2012, Andy
Well well well its been an interesting weekend's tennis as the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals is almost at an end, and now we are finally down to the last two men, but more on that in the minute, as first here is an update on the matches from yesterday and today.
OK so to start off with we had on the Saturday, Roger Federer take on Juan Martin Del Potro, who has become something of a nemesis for the Swiss fella over the last short while, as the big man defeated Roger also back in Basel last month. And in this match it promised to be quite a stern test for the former World No.1, and it turned out to be just that as Roger battled with the Argentine, who took the first set on a tiebreak. Roger however came bounding back in the 2nd set as he broke to level the match, but in the decider it was Delpo who made the killer blow and went on to break the mighty Fedster, and serve it out to defeat him for the first time at the ATP WTF in two years, with 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win. This was quite a surprising defeat for Roger although in a way we knew that Delpo already had the chops to beat Roger anywhere as he proved in Basel and also at the 2009 US Open final where he dethroned Rog of his major crown at that time. Anyway so this match let Delpo make his way into the semis, and it saw the door shut on David Ferrer's chances to make it to that stage.
Which brings me onto David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic's match, which was basically a dead rubber as neither of them were guaranteed a place in the semis. And with nothing to lose Tipsarevic went out and got off to the better start as he broke Ferrer twice, before Ferrer broke back once, but Tipsy went on to take the 1st set. In the second set however, Ferrer found his range and broke the Serb and closed it out, and in the decider it was all about Ferrer who played with ruthless efficiency, breaking Tipsy in half (or twice should I say!) before serving it out to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. It may have been a dead rubber, but the match did have an impact on the results of who would play who in the semi finals, and as a result with Ferrer winning, Andy would play Roger, and Novak would play Delpo on Sunday.
So now we go onto Sunday, which first up saw Novak Djokovic play against Del Potro, and it promised to be quite a tough affair, and it certainly proved to be just that. Delpo however got off to the stronger start as he broke Nole to take opening set, but in the 2nd set despite Delpo going a break up, he was unable to consolidate the break, and before we knew it Nole broke straight back to level proceedings, and soon manufactured a break of his own to take 2nd. In the decider, Delpo started to show signs of wavering as Djokovic displayed his athleticism around the court, and before we knew Djokovic broke twice and went on to seal his place in the final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Which leads me onto the second and most anticipated semi final of the night between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Going into the match, the two men had met each other four times already this year, with both of them 2 wins each. And with Andy in the form of his life just now it looked likely that he could pulled off an upset victory to take his place in the final. However despite a very tight and entertaining first set, once the match got into the tiebreak, Andy made an unforced error in the tiebreak, which handed the initiative to Roger and quick as a flash the set was Rog's. In the 2nd set, Andy appeared to be frustrated with himself and it wasn't long before the old ugly mistakes started to creep in, with bad service games, and not getting his first serves in once again. And by this time Roger had upped his level and put on a stellar display to overpower Andy, breaking him twice with effortless ease, and he went on to serve it out for a place in his 8th ATP world tour finals final with a 7-6(5), 6-2 score.
This was a match of two halves really, well actually the first half was longer than the second, but the first set had some terrific tennis in it from both players. Andy looked to start off as the stronger of the two as he broke Federer straight away, but you just knew it wouldn't be long before Federer did his magic and got back into the match, and once it went to the tiebreak, I just knew Roger would win it. And in the 2nd set I just felt Andy had almost given up after playing that sloppy service game at 1-1, to hand over the break to Federer. The crowd however also played a small part in maybe distracting Andy in the tiebreak when they booed him for changing his racquet after he angrily swiped the ground with it when he missed a key shot to give the minibreak to Federer. Whether or not this affected him in the 2nd set, who knows, but I do think the crowd were a bit out of order when they booed him for showing frustration and getting a new racquet. But there you go. But from the 2nd set onward Federer was the better player and his extensive indoor hard court record spoke volumes in this match, so in the end there was really only one winner.
So that's the final set for tomorrow night, as we will have a showdown between Roger Federer, the 6 time year end champion, and Novak Djokovic, who has won it once back in 2008. It promises to be a real cracker, but who will win it??????? Well if I'm being honest I have to go with Federer, as I think his record at this event speaks for itself, and while I think Nole has a good chance of winning, Federer will always find that edge just when he needs it, and that quite often is what sets him apart from everyone else in the game. But whichever way it goes, I'm sure it will be a great final.
And as for Andy Murray, well that's his 2012 season drawn to a close, which has easily been the best season of his career, having won the Olmypic gold medal, by dismantling Federer in the final, and his first grand slam at the US Open by beating Djokovic in an epic 5 set match, as well as reaching the Wimbledon final. Its a bit disappointing that he lost the match tonight, but despite all that, Andy has shown great progress in producing consistent results since winning at the US Open, where he has only had one early exit at the Paris Masters, other than that he has made the latter stages of all the tournaments he has played. And to make the semi finals again at the world tour finals this year isn't too shabby a result, and it shows that he has played to his world ranking of No.3, which is another great effort in that he has finished up in the position he aimed to last year, even if Rafa is missing from the tour just now. Andy has also more importantly become a much more focused and aggressive player this year as well, going for his shots more, and not holding back, and win or lose that attitude has helped him immensely this year. By his own admission Andy however did say that he felt he still needs to reign in when to go for the shots and when not to, as well as work on his consistency throughout the year on the tour, which no doubt he will.
And I'm sure in 2013 that Andy will win at least one grand slam, and hopefully if its just the one I think it will be Wimbledon, and if he wins that, well he really will start the building blocks towards becoming one of the greats in the game. But if there is one man that deserves credit for getting Andy to this point then its Ivan Lendl, and after the doubts over their partnership working earlier this year, they have both totally turned that on its head, as Andy's decision to appoint Lendl as his coach has payed off brilliantly for him so far. And come 2013 Andy can continue to improve his game and his consistency, and if he does then he is sure to become the world no.1 at some point. In the meantime I'm sure he will be ready for a well earned break, and next up for Andy will be the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, the Mubadala world tennis championships, at the end of December, but that's a good bit off yet.
But anyway that's it for now, more to follow once the result is in for tomorrow's ATP WTF final.
Till then bye now!
OK so to start off with we had on the Saturday, Roger Federer take on Juan Martin Del Potro, who has become something of a nemesis for the Swiss fella over the last short while, as the big man defeated Roger also back in Basel last month. And in this match it promised to be quite a stern test for the former World No.1, and it turned out to be just that as Roger battled with the Argentine, who took the first set on a tiebreak. Roger however came bounding back in the 2nd set as he broke to level the match, but in the decider it was Delpo who made the killer blow and went on to break the mighty Fedster, and serve it out to defeat him for the first time at the ATP WTF in two years, with 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win. This was quite a surprising defeat for Roger although in a way we knew that Delpo already had the chops to beat Roger anywhere as he proved in Basel and also at the 2009 US Open final where he dethroned Rog of his major crown at that time. Anyway so this match let Delpo make his way into the semis, and it saw the door shut on David Ferrer's chances to make it to that stage.
Which brings me onto David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic's match, which was basically a dead rubber as neither of them were guaranteed a place in the semis. And with nothing to lose Tipsarevic went out and got off to the better start as he broke Ferrer twice, before Ferrer broke back once, but Tipsy went on to take the 1st set. In the second set however, Ferrer found his range and broke the Serb and closed it out, and in the decider it was all about Ferrer who played with ruthless efficiency, breaking Tipsy in half (or twice should I say!) before serving it out to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. It may have been a dead rubber, but the match did have an impact on the results of who would play who in the semi finals, and as a result with Ferrer winning, Andy would play Roger, and Novak would play Delpo on Sunday.
So now we go onto Sunday, which first up saw Novak Djokovic play against Del Potro, and it promised to be quite a tough affair, and it certainly proved to be just that. Delpo however got off to the stronger start as he broke Nole to take opening set, but in the 2nd set despite Delpo going a break up, he was unable to consolidate the break, and before we knew it Nole broke straight back to level proceedings, and soon manufactured a break of his own to take 2nd. In the decider, Delpo started to show signs of wavering as Djokovic displayed his athleticism around the court, and before we knew Djokovic broke twice and went on to seal his place in the final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Which leads me onto the second and most anticipated semi final of the night between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Going into the match, the two men had met each other four times already this year, with both of them 2 wins each. And with Andy in the form of his life just now it looked likely that he could pulled off an upset victory to take his place in the final. However despite a very tight and entertaining first set, once the match got into the tiebreak, Andy made an unforced error in the tiebreak, which handed the initiative to Roger and quick as a flash the set was Rog's. In the 2nd set, Andy appeared to be frustrated with himself and it wasn't long before the old ugly mistakes started to creep in, with bad service games, and not getting his first serves in once again. And by this time Roger had upped his level and put on a stellar display to overpower Andy, breaking him twice with effortless ease, and he went on to serve it out for a place in his 8th ATP world tour finals final with a 7-6(5), 6-2 score.
This was a match of two halves really, well actually the first half was longer than the second, but the first set had some terrific tennis in it from both players. Andy looked to start off as the stronger of the two as he broke Federer straight away, but you just knew it wouldn't be long before Federer did his magic and got back into the match, and once it went to the tiebreak, I just knew Roger would win it. And in the 2nd set I just felt Andy had almost given up after playing that sloppy service game at 1-1, to hand over the break to Federer. The crowd however also played a small part in maybe distracting Andy in the tiebreak when they booed him for changing his racquet after he angrily swiped the ground with it when he missed a key shot to give the minibreak to Federer. Whether or not this affected him in the 2nd set, who knows, but I do think the crowd were a bit out of order when they booed him for showing frustration and getting a new racquet. But there you go. But from the 2nd set onward Federer was the better player and his extensive indoor hard court record spoke volumes in this match, so in the end there was really only one winner.
So that's the final set for tomorrow night, as we will have a showdown between Roger Federer, the 6 time year end champion, and Novak Djokovic, who has won it once back in 2008. It promises to be a real cracker, but who will win it??????? Well if I'm being honest I have to go with Federer, as I think his record at this event speaks for itself, and while I think Nole has a good chance of winning, Federer will always find that edge just when he needs it, and that quite often is what sets him apart from everyone else in the game. But whichever way it goes, I'm sure it will be a great final.
And as for Andy Murray, well that's his 2012 season drawn to a close, which has easily been the best season of his career, having won the Olmypic gold medal, by dismantling Federer in the final, and his first grand slam at the US Open by beating Djokovic in an epic 5 set match, as well as reaching the Wimbledon final. Its a bit disappointing that he lost the match tonight, but despite all that, Andy has shown great progress in producing consistent results since winning at the US Open, where he has only had one early exit at the Paris Masters, other than that he has made the latter stages of all the tournaments he has played. And to make the semi finals again at the world tour finals this year isn't too shabby a result, and it shows that he has played to his world ranking of No.3, which is another great effort in that he has finished up in the position he aimed to last year, even if Rafa is missing from the tour just now. Andy has also more importantly become a much more focused and aggressive player this year as well, going for his shots more, and not holding back, and win or lose that attitude has helped him immensely this year. By his own admission Andy however did say that he felt he still needs to reign in when to go for the shots and when not to, as well as work on his consistency throughout the year on the tour, which no doubt he will.
And I'm sure in 2013 that Andy will win at least one grand slam, and hopefully if its just the one I think it will be Wimbledon, and if he wins that, well he really will start the building blocks towards becoming one of the greats in the game. But if there is one man that deserves credit for getting Andy to this point then its Ivan Lendl, and after the doubts over their partnership working earlier this year, they have both totally turned that on its head, as Andy's decision to appoint Lendl as his coach has payed off brilliantly for him so far. And come 2013 Andy can continue to improve his game and his consistency, and if he does then he is sure to become the world no.1 at some point. In the meantime I'm sure he will be ready for a well earned break, and next up for Andy will be the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, the Mubadala world tennis championships, at the end of December, but that's a good bit off yet.
But anyway that's it for now, more to follow once the result is in for tomorrow's ATP WTF final.
Till then bye now!
Saturday 10 November 2012
2012 ATP World Tour Finals Part 3: Fading and qualifying
Ok well now its time for part 3 of the ATP WTF posts that I've been doing, and it will cover the events of day 4 and day 5, so let's get on with it.
Right well starting with Roger Federer who took on David Ferrer in their B group match, which promised to be quite an intruiging one, especially as Ferrer is in great form just now, and came into the word finals having won his biggest title in Paris the week before. And the match itself proved to be a fairly testing one for Roger who faltered on serve in the 1st set gifting Ferrer the chance to beak back, however Fed hung in there to go on and win the set. The 2nd set was far more even keeled with Ferrer pushing Rog to a tiebreak, and Federer was in trouble having been 5-2 down he managed to serve his way to victory with a 6-4, 7-6(5) win. This victory sees Roger safely into the semi finals, and he has managed to do it without even dropping a set so far, and with this form he will be very tough to stop. In the other match of day 4 we had Del Potro take on Janko Tipsarevic, however poor Tipsy was in no great condition, as he clearly struggled on court to get anything going against the big Argentine, as Delpo handed him a bagel in the 1st set. In the 2nd set, Tipsy suffered an early break but he managed to keep it to the single break before Delpo went on to win 6-0, 6-4. So this will see Roger and Delpo play each other next which will prove to be a tough one, and may certainly be Roger's first big test, but I can still see Rog come out on top.
So this brings me onto day 5 (Friday) and first up we had Novak Djokovic who played the big Czeck, Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi finals, and it promised to be quite a tough match, and last year Nole narrowly escaped defeat as he saved a match point against Berdy in a 3 set battle. This year however it proved to be quite different as Nole dominated the big Czeck fella in the 1st set, breaking him twice to take the opening set. In the 2nd set, Berdy managed to tighten up his game, and took the set to a tiebreak, where he went 6-3 up, however he failed to capitalise on his set points as Djoko stormed back and went on to clinch the breaker and the match, and also his place in the semi finals, with a 6-2, 7-6(6) win. So this means that Djokovic is now the winner of Group A, which means he will play the runner up of Group B, which will be determined on Saturday when the concluding Group B matches are played out.
And now we get on to Andy Murray who was aiming to look for his 3rd semi final at the year end championships, and in his way was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, last year's finalist. However this year things were quite different for the Muzza, with last year Andy failed to make it past the round robin stage, and this year we had Tsonga who had a very slim chance of staying in the tournament, but only if he could beat Andy in straight sets would he go through. As for Andy all he needed to do was win a set against Tsonga in order to qualify for the semi finals, this was mostly thanks to Novak for beating Berdych in straight sets (its very confusing this round robin format it has to be said!). So all that confusing stuff aside, as for the match well in the 1st set it was very much one-way traffic, with Andy in full control, playing aggressive tennis and dominating a flailing Tsonga, who made a host of unforced errors, and he went on to secure his semi final qualification by taking the first set. In the 2nd set, Tsonga went a break down but at 4-3, with Andy serving to make it 5-3, Andy played a sloppy service game, letting Tsonga level it 4-4, and the matchplay quality rose for the next few games where Tsonga brought aggressive serve and volley to the proceedings. Tsonga also nearly secured the 2nd set, when Andy faced a break point on his serve at 5-6, but a loose return from Tsonga saved it, and Andy went on to hold serve and go into a tiebreak, in which Andy took control and cemented his semi final spot with an ace, to win 6-2, 7-6(3).
Sooooooo this sees the completion of the round robin Group A matches with Andy having qualified as the runner-up of the group, who will go on to play the winner of Group B, which depending could be either Roger or Del Potro, but that will be decided on Saturday. Whichever way it goes, it will be a tough test for Andy to negotiate, although the better of the two options would be to play Delpo as he has never won this event, although he reached the final back in 2009, and he has an excellent head to head over Del Potro with a 5-1 record. However I think we would all love to see another Andy vs Roger showdown, although if they do meet I would really have to side with Roger winning it, as his record at this event speaks for itself, having won the ATP WTF tite six times already, and he has been the defending champion the last two years running in London. However Andy will have his chances and he has already beaten Federer in a big match this year at the Olympic gold medal final, so its not beyond the realms of possibility that he could beat the Swiss fella, but we will just have to wait and see how Saturday and Sunday pans out!
Right so that is it for now, we are getting down to the business end of the tournament now, and I will report back on Sunday with more results.
Till then bye the now!
Right well starting with Roger Federer who took on David Ferrer in their B group match, which promised to be quite an intruiging one, especially as Ferrer is in great form just now, and came into the word finals having won his biggest title in Paris the week before. And the match itself proved to be a fairly testing one for Roger who faltered on serve in the 1st set gifting Ferrer the chance to beak back, however Fed hung in there to go on and win the set. The 2nd set was far more even keeled with Ferrer pushing Rog to a tiebreak, and Federer was in trouble having been 5-2 down he managed to serve his way to victory with a 6-4, 7-6(5) win. This victory sees Roger safely into the semi finals, and he has managed to do it without even dropping a set so far, and with this form he will be very tough to stop. In the other match of day 4 we had Del Potro take on Janko Tipsarevic, however poor Tipsy was in no great condition, as he clearly struggled on court to get anything going against the big Argentine, as Delpo handed him a bagel in the 1st set. In the 2nd set, Tipsy suffered an early break but he managed to keep it to the single break before Delpo went on to win 6-0, 6-4. So this will see Roger and Delpo play each other next which will prove to be a tough one, and may certainly be Roger's first big test, but I can still see Rog come out on top.
So this brings me onto day 5 (Friday) and first up we had Novak Djokovic who played the big Czeck, Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi finals, and it promised to be quite a tough match, and last year Nole narrowly escaped defeat as he saved a match point against Berdy in a 3 set battle. This year however it proved to be quite different as Nole dominated the big Czeck fella in the 1st set, breaking him twice to take the opening set. In the 2nd set, Berdy managed to tighten up his game, and took the set to a tiebreak, where he went 6-3 up, however he failed to capitalise on his set points as Djoko stormed back and went on to clinch the breaker and the match, and also his place in the semi finals, with a 6-2, 7-6(6) win. So this means that Djokovic is now the winner of Group A, which means he will play the runner up of Group B, which will be determined on Saturday when the concluding Group B matches are played out.
And now we get on to Andy Murray who was aiming to look for his 3rd semi final at the year end championships, and in his way was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, last year's finalist. However this year things were quite different for the Muzza, with last year Andy failed to make it past the round robin stage, and this year we had Tsonga who had a very slim chance of staying in the tournament, but only if he could beat Andy in straight sets would he go through. As for Andy all he needed to do was win a set against Tsonga in order to qualify for the semi finals, this was mostly thanks to Novak for beating Berdych in straight sets (its very confusing this round robin format it has to be said!). So all that confusing stuff aside, as for the match well in the 1st set it was very much one-way traffic, with Andy in full control, playing aggressive tennis and dominating a flailing Tsonga, who made a host of unforced errors, and he went on to secure his semi final qualification by taking the first set. In the 2nd set, Tsonga went a break down but at 4-3, with Andy serving to make it 5-3, Andy played a sloppy service game, letting Tsonga level it 4-4, and the matchplay quality rose for the next few games where Tsonga brought aggressive serve and volley to the proceedings. Tsonga also nearly secured the 2nd set, when Andy faced a break point on his serve at 5-6, but a loose return from Tsonga saved it, and Andy went on to hold serve and go into a tiebreak, in which Andy took control and cemented his semi final spot with an ace, to win 6-2, 7-6(3).
Sooooooo this sees the completion of the round robin Group A matches with Andy having qualified as the runner-up of the group, who will go on to play the winner of Group B, which depending could be either Roger or Del Potro, but that will be decided on Saturday. Whichever way it goes, it will be a tough test for Andy to negotiate, although the better of the two options would be to play Delpo as he has never won this event, although he reached the final back in 2009, and he has an excellent head to head over Del Potro with a 5-1 record. However I think we would all love to see another Andy vs Roger showdown, although if they do meet I would really have to side with Roger winning it, as his record at this event speaks for itself, having won the ATP WTF tite six times already, and he has been the defending champion the last two years running in London. However Andy will have his chances and he has already beaten Federer in a big match this year at the Olympic gold medal final, so its not beyond the realms of possibility that he could beat the Swiss fella, but we will just have to wait and see how Saturday and Sunday pans out!
Right so that is it for now, we are getting down to the business end of the tournament now, and I will report back on Sunday with more results.
Till then bye the now!
Wednesday 7 November 2012
2012 ATP World Tour Finals Part 2: Narrow margins.....
Oh well its time for the second part of my ATP world tour finals posts and it sees the action from day 3 get take place at the o2 arena in London, where the players in Group A went at it, so let's have a look at them.
Starting with the most anticipated match of the day, which was Andy Murray taking on Novak Djokovic, the world no.3 vs the world no.1 (respectively). This was to be their 7th meeting of the year, which was remarkable in itself that they have met so many times already, and throughout the year they have developed an exciting rivalry which promises to carry on hopefully for a few years yet to come. But anyway on to the match itself, which thankfully added to their collection of high quality, exciting and entertaining matches they have put out in 2012 so far. And it was Andy that got off to the stronger start as he played some blisteringly aggressive tennis, breaking Nole straight away and he went on to close out the 1st set. In the 2nd however the momentum shifted towards Djokovic who broke Andy and went on to seal the 2nd set to take the match into a decider, where the two men traded breaks, but it was Djokovic that made the crucial break to make it 6-5 to serve it out, and despite Andy having two break points to break back to take the match into a tiebreak, Nole showed his nerves of steel and sealed Andy's fate with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
This was quite a match from what little I've seen, with arguably the two best players in the world right now just going at it full pelt, producing some incredible tennis for the full capacity 17,000 strong crowd. And the fact that they continue to do it time after time is just remarkable in itself, and for Andy it has to be said he wasn't overly careless in this match, it was just a case of a few points here and there that made the difference, with Andy missing the margins on key points, and it just went Novak's way at the end. So even though Andy lost, he is by no means out of it yet, as has another match ahead of him against Tsonga, which he must win in order to stay in the tournament. Thankfully Andy has a 6-2 head to head over the Frenchman, and he hasn't been beaten by him since the Australian Open back in 2008, and given his form so far in the tournament, its seems unlikely that Tsonga will stage an upset, but you never know. There is more at stake here for Andy though, as if he wins this match he will go through to the semi finals, so he will need to win it, and if he doesn't well it all depends on how the other match with Djokovic and Berdych will go on Friday. So its all up in the air for now!
As for the Berdych and Tsonga match tonight, well it was another entertaining match, with both men capable of great firepower and big serves, and there was plenty of that I think (although I haven't seen it yet). And it was Berdych that go off to the better start, breaking Tsonga take the first set 7-5, in the 2nd set however Tsonga started to find his feet, breaking Berdy and he went on to take clinch the set 6-3 to go into the decider. However Berdych soon stamped his authority again in the 3rd set, and he broke Tsonga twice, dominating the Frenchman who made a rash of errors, while the Czeck breezed through his service games to clinch a much needed win to keep his hopes alive in the tournament, winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. So this sets up a match between Djokovic and Berdych, and straight away I would say that Djokovic will be the favourite to win, especially considering Berdych has only beaten Djokovic once! But anything can happen so you can never tell which way the matches will go, for all we know it could be Berdych and Tsonga emerging victorious on Friday, but I sort of doubt it.
So that's it for day 3 at the ATP WTF and tomorrow we will have Roger Federer and co back in action, as Roger takes on David Ferrer, whom he has a terrific winning record over, i.e. he has never been beaten by Ferrer, with a very healthy 13-0 record in the Swiss's favour, so that's great in itself! Also in action will be Juan Martin Del Potro who is set to take on the Serb no.2, Janko Tipsarevic, which promises to be quite an interesting match, but I would favour the big Argentine to win that one, as he leads their head to head 3-0. So plenty of good stuff tomorrow, but I can easily see Roger and Delpo being the winners here, but its hard to tell so we will just have to wait and see.
And that's it for now, except to say quickly on the doubles, that the Brit Jonathan Marray and his partner, Freddie Nielsen have secured their place in the semi finals, after defeating the top seeds and defending champions, Daniel Nestor and Max Myrni with a hard fought 7-6, 4-6, 12-10 victory. So they may yet achieve another fairytale ending by winning the title, and if Andy doesn't win at least we might have another British champion at the tournament.
So that is all the now, more to follow tomorrow after Roger, Ferrer, Delpo and Tipsy do their stuff.
Bye for now!
Starting with the most anticipated match of the day, which was Andy Murray taking on Novak Djokovic, the world no.3 vs the world no.1 (respectively). This was to be their 7th meeting of the year, which was remarkable in itself that they have met so many times already, and throughout the year they have developed an exciting rivalry which promises to carry on hopefully for a few years yet to come. But anyway on to the match itself, which thankfully added to their collection of high quality, exciting and entertaining matches they have put out in 2012 so far. And it was Andy that got off to the stronger start as he played some blisteringly aggressive tennis, breaking Nole straight away and he went on to close out the 1st set. In the 2nd however the momentum shifted towards Djokovic who broke Andy and went on to seal the 2nd set to take the match into a decider, where the two men traded breaks, but it was Djokovic that made the crucial break to make it 6-5 to serve it out, and despite Andy having two break points to break back to take the match into a tiebreak, Nole showed his nerves of steel and sealed Andy's fate with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
This was quite a match from what little I've seen, with arguably the two best players in the world right now just going at it full pelt, producing some incredible tennis for the full capacity 17,000 strong crowd. And the fact that they continue to do it time after time is just remarkable in itself, and for Andy it has to be said he wasn't overly careless in this match, it was just a case of a few points here and there that made the difference, with Andy missing the margins on key points, and it just went Novak's way at the end. So even though Andy lost, he is by no means out of it yet, as has another match ahead of him against Tsonga, which he must win in order to stay in the tournament. Thankfully Andy has a 6-2 head to head over the Frenchman, and he hasn't been beaten by him since the Australian Open back in 2008, and given his form so far in the tournament, its seems unlikely that Tsonga will stage an upset, but you never know. There is more at stake here for Andy though, as if he wins this match he will go through to the semi finals, so he will need to win it, and if he doesn't well it all depends on how the other match with Djokovic and Berdych will go on Friday. So its all up in the air for now!
As for the Berdych and Tsonga match tonight, well it was another entertaining match, with both men capable of great firepower and big serves, and there was plenty of that I think (although I haven't seen it yet). And it was Berdych that go off to the better start, breaking Tsonga take the first set 7-5, in the 2nd set however Tsonga started to find his feet, breaking Berdy and he went on to take clinch the set 6-3 to go into the decider. However Berdych soon stamped his authority again in the 3rd set, and he broke Tsonga twice, dominating the Frenchman who made a rash of errors, while the Czeck breezed through his service games to clinch a much needed win to keep his hopes alive in the tournament, winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. So this sets up a match between Djokovic and Berdych, and straight away I would say that Djokovic will be the favourite to win, especially considering Berdych has only beaten Djokovic once! But anything can happen so you can never tell which way the matches will go, for all we know it could be Berdych and Tsonga emerging victorious on Friday, but I sort of doubt it.
So that's it for day 3 at the ATP WTF and tomorrow we will have Roger Federer and co back in action, as Roger takes on David Ferrer, whom he has a terrific winning record over, i.e. he has never been beaten by Ferrer, with a very healthy 13-0 record in the Swiss's favour, so that's great in itself! Also in action will be Juan Martin Del Potro who is set to take on the Serb no.2, Janko Tipsarevic, which promises to be quite an interesting match, but I would favour the big Argentine to win that one, as he leads their head to head 3-0. So plenty of good stuff tomorrow, but I can easily see Roger and Delpo being the winners here, but its hard to tell so we will just have to wait and see.
And that's it for now, except to say quickly on the doubles, that the Brit Jonathan Marray and his partner, Freddie Nielsen have secured their place in the semi finals, after defeating the top seeds and defending champions, Daniel Nestor and Max Myrni with a hard fought 7-6, 4-6, 12-10 victory. So they may yet achieve another fairytale ending by winning the title, and if Andy doesn't win at least we might have another British champion at the tournament.
So that is all the now, more to follow tomorrow after Roger, Ferrer, Delpo and Tipsy do their stuff.
Bye for now!
Tuesday 6 November 2012
2012 ATP World Tour Finals Part 1: Getting off to a good one....
OK OK OK, time to get into the last event of the ATP tour season, yep the big finish, its the ATP world tour finals, which is from the o2 arena in London this year, as it has been since 2009. It started there on Monday so here is quick catch up on how its been going so far....
Right to start with we had the British No.1, Andy Murray on court first against the world no.6, Tomas Berdych, who promised to be a stern test for Andy as he came into the match with the leading head to head record 4-3. And the match itself proved to be just that for Andy as he did battle with Berdy, and he had to come from a set down to defeat the big Czeck fella, and despite having various break point chances in the 1st set, he was unable to take them, but in the 2nd he finally converted and managed to level the match. And in the 3rd set, Andy got they key break, and he thankfully managed to dispel any fear of him not being able to serve it out, like he has in his last three defeats, most notably in the Shanghai final against Novak Djokovic, as Andy sealed his first win of the tournament with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. This was a pretty scrappy match, and it was a bit of an uneven start from the World No.3, but Andy managed to get done what he needed to do and that win gives him a comfy head start for what follows.
In the other match on day 1, Novak Djokovic played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the world no.7, in what looked to be like quite a tough encounter. And it was definitely that for the first set, as both men held serve, and Tsonga looked pretty good with plenty of firepower, and he even went 0-30 up on Djoko's serve at 6-5, which could have seen him take the opening set. However it wasn't to be as Nole, held serve and went on to win the tiebreak, and after that in the 2nd set, Tsonga had no answer for Djokovic's superb service games, as he rattled his way to a relatively comfortable 7-6, 6-3 victory. This win puts Djokovic at the top of the Group A, since he hasn't dropped a set, and with Andy just below, this win will definitely go more in his favour.
And next up we will have yet another showdown between Nole and Andy, and it will be their 7th meeting of the year together, which hopefully should make for another really exciting match. And it has to be said their growing rivalry throughout the season has definitely proven to be one of the real highlights of 2012. In fact it has the potential to be an even better rivlary than Rafa and Djoko's has been in the last year or so, and it also has helped bring something fresh and new to the proceedings after so many years of Roger and Rafa, who have without doubt one of the best rivalries in the game, but its great to see a fledgling new one come up. This year alone we already have had some really great matches from Andy and Novak, particularly their matches from the Australian Open, the Olympics, US Open and Shanghai have all been exciting and fascinating in equal measure, so hopefully tomorrow their next meeting will be another cracker. So who will win it????? Well, I would be inclined to go with Djokovic, because having regained the world no.1 ranking from Federer, will have given him a real boost of confidence, and he will be determined to finish off the year in the best way possible. However I do think there is nothing really between these two, and I also think that Andy has a strong shout of winning this one aswell, and he will also have the home advantage with the crowd behind him, so he will surely feel inspired out there and ready to go. Whichever way it goes, it promises to be quite a match.
Which brings me to day 2, and so far we have had Roger Federer who took on Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who made it into the draw after Rafa had confirmed his withdrawal, and after Tipsy made the Paris quarter finals last week. However Tipsy was no match whatsoever for Roger in this match, who played his part as the clinical surgeon, and proceeded to carve up Tipsy on the court, taking the first set with a break 6-3, and going on to hammer the Serb 6-1 in the 2nd, this puts him comfortably in the lead in his group. And I think it will be very tough to stop Roger if he carries on in this form, and the form he has shown at the o2 in the last two years, and if he does, then there can only be one winner, but we shall see. Also in action tonight is David Ferrer, who has just come off his victory at the Paris Masters, and he has taken the lead on the titles board this year, with a record 7 titles won in 2012, it has been the most successful season of his career by far. And Ferrer managed to defeat Del Potro after a tense 3 set battle against the big fella, with the inform little beast, beating Delpo 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. This will set up a match with Roger Federer for Ferrer, which is not a good thing for David because he has never beaten Federer, but I guess somewhere down the line there must be a first time for everything! ;-)
Oh and quickly on the men's doubles at the ATP world tour finals, the Wimbledon champions, Johnathan Marray and Freddie Nielsen have made another surprise win today, as they beat the 5th seeds, the Indian players, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, after a 6-4, 6-7, 12-10 victory. And it would make for a nice symmetrical finish if they won the year end title in London as well as their Wimbledon crown, but they have alot of work ahead of them yet, before they can get anywhere near that!
So that's it for my ATP WTF coverage the now, more to follow soon, once Day 3's thrilling set up is complete, and once I know the winner of Andy and Nole and Berdy and Tsonga.
Bye the now!
Right to start with we had the British No.1, Andy Murray on court first against the world no.6, Tomas Berdych, who promised to be a stern test for Andy as he came into the match with the leading head to head record 4-3. And the match itself proved to be just that for Andy as he did battle with Berdy, and he had to come from a set down to defeat the big Czeck fella, and despite having various break point chances in the 1st set, he was unable to take them, but in the 2nd he finally converted and managed to level the match. And in the 3rd set, Andy got they key break, and he thankfully managed to dispel any fear of him not being able to serve it out, like he has in his last three defeats, most notably in the Shanghai final against Novak Djokovic, as Andy sealed his first win of the tournament with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. This was a pretty scrappy match, and it was a bit of an uneven start from the World No.3, but Andy managed to get done what he needed to do and that win gives him a comfy head start for what follows.
In the other match on day 1, Novak Djokovic played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the world no.7, in what looked to be like quite a tough encounter. And it was definitely that for the first set, as both men held serve, and Tsonga looked pretty good with plenty of firepower, and he even went 0-30 up on Djoko's serve at 6-5, which could have seen him take the opening set. However it wasn't to be as Nole, held serve and went on to win the tiebreak, and after that in the 2nd set, Tsonga had no answer for Djokovic's superb service games, as he rattled his way to a relatively comfortable 7-6, 6-3 victory. This win puts Djokovic at the top of the Group A, since he hasn't dropped a set, and with Andy just below, this win will definitely go more in his favour.
And next up we will have yet another showdown between Nole and Andy, and it will be their 7th meeting of the year together, which hopefully should make for another really exciting match. And it has to be said their growing rivalry throughout the season has definitely proven to be one of the real highlights of 2012. In fact it has the potential to be an even better rivlary than Rafa and Djoko's has been in the last year or so, and it also has helped bring something fresh and new to the proceedings after so many years of Roger and Rafa, who have without doubt one of the best rivalries in the game, but its great to see a fledgling new one come up. This year alone we already have had some really great matches from Andy and Novak, particularly their matches from the Australian Open, the Olympics, US Open and Shanghai have all been exciting and fascinating in equal measure, so hopefully tomorrow their next meeting will be another cracker. So who will win it????? Well, I would be inclined to go with Djokovic, because having regained the world no.1 ranking from Federer, will have given him a real boost of confidence, and he will be determined to finish off the year in the best way possible. However I do think there is nothing really between these two, and I also think that Andy has a strong shout of winning this one aswell, and he will also have the home advantage with the crowd behind him, so he will surely feel inspired out there and ready to go. Whichever way it goes, it promises to be quite a match.
Which brings me to day 2, and so far we have had Roger Federer who took on Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who made it into the draw after Rafa had confirmed his withdrawal, and after Tipsy made the Paris quarter finals last week. However Tipsy was no match whatsoever for Roger in this match, who played his part as the clinical surgeon, and proceeded to carve up Tipsy on the court, taking the first set with a break 6-3, and going on to hammer the Serb 6-1 in the 2nd, this puts him comfortably in the lead in his group. And I think it will be very tough to stop Roger if he carries on in this form, and the form he has shown at the o2 in the last two years, and if he does, then there can only be one winner, but we shall see. Also in action tonight is David Ferrer, who has just come off his victory at the Paris Masters, and he has taken the lead on the titles board this year, with a record 7 titles won in 2012, it has been the most successful season of his career by far. And Ferrer managed to defeat Del Potro after a tense 3 set battle against the big fella, with the inform little beast, beating Delpo 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. This will set up a match with Roger Federer for Ferrer, which is not a good thing for David because he has never beaten Federer, but I guess somewhere down the line there must be a first time for everything! ;-)
Oh and quickly on the men's doubles at the ATP world tour finals, the Wimbledon champions, Johnathan Marray and Freddie Nielsen have made another surprise win today, as they beat the 5th seeds, the Indian players, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, after a 6-4, 6-7, 12-10 victory. And it would make for a nice symmetrical finish if they won the year end title in London as well as their Wimbledon crown, but they have alot of work ahead of them yet, before they can get anywhere near that!
So that's it for my ATP WTF coverage the now, more to follow soon, once Day 3's thrilling set up is complete, and once I know the winner of Andy and Nole and Berdy and Tsonga.
Bye the now!
Saturday 3 November 2012
2012 ATP London o2 preview
Right well that's nearly it for the men's tennis tour this year, but one event remains after the Paris Masters, and that is the ATP World Tour Finals, held at the o2 Arena in London as from this Monday coming. In this event it will see the top 8 players in the world go at it for the right to win the year end championship trophy, with Roger Federer already the defending champion, this really is the creme de la creme of the men's game going at it full pelt, so it will be exciting to see who comes out on top.
So let's have a quick look at the groups, as there will be a Group A and B, and in group A we will the once again World No.1, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which is a far from enviable line-up for any of the men in the group. In the B group, we will have Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Janko Tipsarevic and Juan Martin Del Potro. And out of those two groups, it has to be said that Roger has the more favourable of the two, as he has excellent head to heads over Tipsy and Ferrer (as neither of them has ever beaten him!) however Del Potro will be the sternest test out of the three of them, as he has already beaten Federer this year indoors at Basel Swiss Indoors. But with Roger being the indoor hard court king, and if he recovers his form, then he will be remarkably tough to beat and I could very well see him defend his title this year as well. However we are a long way off that so we will just have to wait and see.
As for Djokovic, well he hasn't had the best time of it lately as he made a shock early exit at the Paris Masters when the big American, Sam Querrey defeated him in the 2nd round, which marked the first Djokovic had been beaten in a first round match in over two years! However Novak has been having family problems, with reports of his dad in hospital in a poor way, its understandable that he would perform under par as he did in Paris. And how that affects at the o2 in London remains to be seen, as it could see Novak struggle badly on court. And Novak also struggled badly last year as well after having had such a stellar season, by the time he reached the o2, his season had really started to wind down, as the effort of winning so many matches took its toll. But Nole will definitely have his chances, and as he has already been a past time champion back in 2008, its very possible that he could win here again.
And that brings us onto Andy Murray, who of late has also had a bit of a ropey time in tennis, as he suffered another shock early defeat in Paris, against the big serving Pole, Jerzy Janowicz. In the match itself, Andy was serving for the match being a set and a break up, at 5-4, he squandered match points to let the big Jerzy back into the match, who went on to win the 2nd set tiebreak, and he continued his unstoppable form in the 3rd set, breaking Andy twice to win the match in 5-7, 7-6, 6-2. This shows a rather worrying sign from Andy as this has been the 3rd occassion in as many tournaments where he has had match points against his opponent and he has squandered all of them, only to go and be beaten. And it might be acceptable to do this on the ATP tour, but he doesn't want to do this next week at the o2, if he has got match points he cannot squander them, especially not against the top 8 players in the world, as they will take them and run. Berdych for example has a winning head to head record over Andy, 4-3, but Andy has beaten him twice this year already, and Berdy has been somewhat erratic lately, which is not a bad thing. Tsonga also has been a bit erratic, and he made a quarter final exit in Paris this week, and Andy beat him back in Wimbledon this year to reach his first final there. But then we have Djokovic, and well.... we all know how good they are when they play tennis, and if Nole recovers good form next week, it will be 50/50.
So Andy will have his chances to win next week but he will have to play his best tennis in order to do it, but it has been reported that he back with his coach, Ivan Lendl, so hopefully he can get some good practice in before the event starts on Monday. This is one of the advantages of exiting a tournament early of course, as it gives Andy more time to prep for the year end final, and get use to the conditions of the courts at the o2 arena. And I was rather surprised to see that he hadn't seen Lendl since he won the US Open, but naturally I think he really hired Lendl to win the big events like the majors, and the o2, and not the smaller tour events. But I definitely think he will need to tighten up his game this week coming to have any chance in winning the title, however nothing is impossible, and we will have to wait and see. But his first match on Monday (5.11.12) will be against Tomas Berdych, which will no doubt prove to be a real tough one, as it is indoors, there will be no outside elements for Berdy to put up with, like he did in their previous match at the US Open semi final, but in these events there are no easy matches that much is for sure.
Right well that's it for my pre-summary of the ATP world tour finals, it promises to be a cracking event, and its a shame that Rafa won't be playing, due to his ongoing knee problem, but I'm sure it will be still great even without him. As for Rafa well he has said that while he won't be fit to compete this week at the world finals, he hopes to be back at the end of the year for the Abu Dhabi Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event, which is held every year at the end of December, which I hope he will play, as it would great to see him back on tour where he very much belongs. The event itself promises to be really entertaining as other top players will play as well such as David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic, some fella called Novak Djokovic and another British fella called Andy Murray. So I will look forward to that over the festive season.
Oh and as a quick update on the Paris masters, a great bit of news as David Ferrer, the world no.5, and Spanish numero 2, has won the title there after beating the big Pole, Jerzy Janowicz in 6-4, 6-3. This is Ferrer's first ever ATP Masters 1000 title, and the biggest one of his career, and after four attempts he's finally made the last step to lift the trophy (albeit a rather ugly looking one!). So a big well done to Ferrer who has fought so hard throughout his career and has always come up a little short in the big tournaments, but this time he's managed to come through and deservedly so, as he now rightly joins the other top players such as Berdych, Soderling and Tsonga who have all claimed one Masters title, and its the least Ferrer deserves.
So that's it for now, more to follow once the ATP World Tour finals get's underway.
Till then that's it for now!
So let's have a quick look at the groups, as there will be a Group A and B, and in group A we will the once again World No.1, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which is a far from enviable line-up for any of the men in the group. In the B group, we will have Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Janko Tipsarevic and Juan Martin Del Potro. And out of those two groups, it has to be said that Roger has the more favourable of the two, as he has excellent head to heads over Tipsy and Ferrer (as neither of them has ever beaten him!) however Del Potro will be the sternest test out of the three of them, as he has already beaten Federer this year indoors at Basel Swiss Indoors. But with Roger being the indoor hard court king, and if he recovers his form, then he will be remarkably tough to beat and I could very well see him defend his title this year as well. However we are a long way off that so we will just have to wait and see.
As for Djokovic, well he hasn't had the best time of it lately as he made a shock early exit at the Paris Masters when the big American, Sam Querrey defeated him in the 2nd round, which marked the first Djokovic had been beaten in a first round match in over two years! However Novak has been having family problems, with reports of his dad in hospital in a poor way, its understandable that he would perform under par as he did in Paris. And how that affects at the o2 in London remains to be seen, as it could see Novak struggle badly on court. And Novak also struggled badly last year as well after having had such a stellar season, by the time he reached the o2, his season had really started to wind down, as the effort of winning so many matches took its toll. But Nole will definitely have his chances, and as he has already been a past time champion back in 2008, its very possible that he could win here again.
And that brings us onto Andy Murray, who of late has also had a bit of a ropey time in tennis, as he suffered another shock early defeat in Paris, against the big serving Pole, Jerzy Janowicz. In the match itself, Andy was serving for the match being a set and a break up, at 5-4, he squandered match points to let the big Jerzy back into the match, who went on to win the 2nd set tiebreak, and he continued his unstoppable form in the 3rd set, breaking Andy twice to win the match in 5-7, 7-6, 6-2. This shows a rather worrying sign from Andy as this has been the 3rd occassion in as many tournaments where he has had match points against his opponent and he has squandered all of them, only to go and be beaten. And it might be acceptable to do this on the ATP tour, but he doesn't want to do this next week at the o2, if he has got match points he cannot squander them, especially not against the top 8 players in the world, as they will take them and run. Berdych for example has a winning head to head record over Andy, 4-3, but Andy has beaten him twice this year already, and Berdy has been somewhat erratic lately, which is not a bad thing. Tsonga also has been a bit erratic, and he made a quarter final exit in Paris this week, and Andy beat him back in Wimbledon this year to reach his first final there. But then we have Djokovic, and well.... we all know how good they are when they play tennis, and if Nole recovers good form next week, it will be 50/50.
So Andy will have his chances to win next week but he will have to play his best tennis in order to do it, but it has been reported that he back with his coach, Ivan Lendl, so hopefully he can get some good practice in before the event starts on Monday. This is one of the advantages of exiting a tournament early of course, as it gives Andy more time to prep for the year end final, and get use to the conditions of the courts at the o2 arena. And I was rather surprised to see that he hadn't seen Lendl since he won the US Open, but naturally I think he really hired Lendl to win the big events like the majors, and the o2, and not the smaller tour events. But I definitely think he will need to tighten up his game this week coming to have any chance in winning the title, however nothing is impossible, and we will have to wait and see. But his first match on Monday (5.11.12) will be against Tomas Berdych, which will no doubt prove to be a real tough one, as it is indoors, there will be no outside elements for Berdy to put up with, like he did in their previous match at the US Open semi final, but in these events there are no easy matches that much is for sure.
Right well that's it for my pre-summary of the ATP world tour finals, it promises to be a cracking event, and its a shame that Rafa won't be playing, due to his ongoing knee problem, but I'm sure it will be still great even without him. As for Rafa well he has said that while he won't be fit to compete this week at the world finals, he hopes to be back at the end of the year for the Abu Dhabi Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event, which is held every year at the end of December, which I hope he will play, as it would great to see him back on tour where he very much belongs. The event itself promises to be really entertaining as other top players will play as well such as David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic, some fella called Novak Djokovic and another British fella called Andy Murray. So I will look forward to that over the festive season.
Oh and as a quick update on the Paris masters, a great bit of news as David Ferrer, the world no.5, and Spanish numero 2, has won the title there after beating the big Pole, Jerzy Janowicz in 6-4, 6-3. This is Ferrer's first ever ATP Masters 1000 title, and the biggest one of his career, and after four attempts he's finally made the last step to lift the trophy (albeit a rather ugly looking one!). So a big well done to Ferrer who has fought so hard throughout his career and has always come up a little short in the big tournaments, but this time he's managed to come through and deservedly so, as he now rightly joins the other top players such as Berdych, Soderling and Tsonga who have all claimed one Masters title, and its the least Ferrer deserves.
So that's it for now, more to follow once the ATP World Tour finals get's underway.
Till then that's it for now!
Monday 29 October 2012
WTA Championships Part 2: Golden year
Well thats it for the WTA Championships as it has drawn to a close, and in this post I will look at the semi final matches and the final, so let's have a look...
In the first semi final it was between Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska, and it promised to be quite an intruiging one. However unfortunately for Radwanska, who had spent the longest time on court by far out of the top four players (over 8 hours) looked pretty wiped out and exhausted throughout the match, and she could do very little against Serena's firepower, who blasted her way through the first set in 6-2. And in the second, Aga had a very little left in the tank and ended up being broken twice again to let Serena take a comfortable place in the final with a 6-2, 6-1 score. This was a big disappointment for Aga who was obviously so exhausted by the time reached this one, as it was simply a match too far for her, but regardless of that, Aga has done extremely well this year, finishing the World No.4, and getting as high as the world no.2 at one point, her future is looking very bright indeed for next year.
The next semi final was between Sharapova and Azarenka, which turned to be more competitive, however it was surprisingly Sharapova that played the better tennis, as Azarenka looked tired and fatigued just like Radcwanska did. And after a tight first set, with Sharapova winning 6-4, in the 2nd Azarenka sustained a wrist injury, and despite her pain she carried on fighting, but in the end Sharapova took advantage and powered her way to victory and sealed her place in the final with a 6-4, 6-2 win. It was a real surprise this result as I really was expecting Vika to win this one, however fatigue had really set in for the Belarusian, and it wasn't to be on this occassion. Regardless of the loss, Vika will finish the year as the World No.1, which is very impressive, and she has actually only really after winning the Australian Open this year, been two weeks without being No.1! So well done to Victoria for such a great year where she has won her first grand slam in Melboune, reached the final of the US Open and won the bronze singles medal, as well as the gold mixed doubles medal at the Olympics.
So onto the final between Serena and Maria Sharapova, and it promised to be an entertaining encounter, and while I didnt see it, it was of course really only going to be one player that would emerge victorious. And Serena in the first broke Maria's serve, and went on to close it out, and in the 2nd set she secured an early break, and at 5-3 (with Maria serving to make it 5-4), Serena seized the initative and blasted a winner off Sharapova's second serve to close out the championship to end a remarkable season for the American, with a 6-4, 6-3 win to end her 2012.
The result it has to be said here was hardly surprising as Serena came into the match with a 10-2 winning record against Sharapova, and in the end Maria could do little against the Serena serve, which it has to be said is one of the most if not the most consistent serves in the ladies game. And it also sees Serena make an emphatic return to the sport, and even though she showed great promise last year, this year we have seen the real Serena emerge back on the scene. And she has also completed her golden career slam this year also by winning the Olympic gold medal, in both singles and doubles, and by doing that she has finally got it all. Its also staggering and indeed frightening to think that this year alone she has only lost four matches out of the 63 matches she has played in 2012, and that is some statistic, even by Djokovic's amazing standard last year, this is quite something. And it also sends out a strong message to the rest of the ladies locker room that Serena is truly back and I'm sure the rest of them will have their work cut out in trying to topple her off that perch, because no doubt she will become the World No.1 next year again, so its only a matter of time before she does.
So that's it for the WTA 2012 season, which has seen some truly remarkable tennis throughout, all that remains is the WTA International Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions event, which will take place in Sofia. This event will feature top 8 players on the WTA tour who have won International level events on the tour this season, which will include Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Kirilenko, Nadia Petrova and Daniella Huntachova, so that will be a good event I'm sure. And later on I might just post up some of my thoughts on the best matches of the year from the 2012 WTA tour sometime soon. So until then that's it for now.
Bye the now!
In the first semi final it was between Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska, and it promised to be quite an intruiging one. However unfortunately for Radwanska, who had spent the longest time on court by far out of the top four players (over 8 hours) looked pretty wiped out and exhausted throughout the match, and she could do very little against Serena's firepower, who blasted her way through the first set in 6-2. And in the second, Aga had a very little left in the tank and ended up being broken twice again to let Serena take a comfortable place in the final with a 6-2, 6-1 score. This was a big disappointment for Aga who was obviously so exhausted by the time reached this one, as it was simply a match too far for her, but regardless of that, Aga has done extremely well this year, finishing the World No.4, and getting as high as the world no.2 at one point, her future is looking very bright indeed for next year.
The next semi final was between Sharapova and Azarenka, which turned to be more competitive, however it was surprisingly Sharapova that played the better tennis, as Azarenka looked tired and fatigued just like Radcwanska did. And after a tight first set, with Sharapova winning 6-4, in the 2nd Azarenka sustained a wrist injury, and despite her pain she carried on fighting, but in the end Sharapova took advantage and powered her way to victory and sealed her place in the final with a 6-4, 6-2 win. It was a real surprise this result as I really was expecting Vika to win this one, however fatigue had really set in for the Belarusian, and it wasn't to be on this occassion. Regardless of the loss, Vika will finish the year as the World No.1, which is very impressive, and she has actually only really after winning the Australian Open this year, been two weeks without being No.1! So well done to Victoria for such a great year where she has won her first grand slam in Melboune, reached the final of the US Open and won the bronze singles medal, as well as the gold mixed doubles medal at the Olympics.
So onto the final between Serena and Maria Sharapova, and it promised to be an entertaining encounter, and while I didnt see it, it was of course really only going to be one player that would emerge victorious. And Serena in the first broke Maria's serve, and went on to close it out, and in the 2nd set she secured an early break, and at 5-3 (with Maria serving to make it 5-4), Serena seized the initative and blasted a winner off Sharapova's second serve to close out the championship to end a remarkable season for the American, with a 6-4, 6-3 win to end her 2012.
The result it has to be said here was hardly surprising as Serena came into the match with a 10-2 winning record against Sharapova, and in the end Maria could do little against the Serena serve, which it has to be said is one of the most if not the most consistent serves in the ladies game. And it also sees Serena make an emphatic return to the sport, and even though she showed great promise last year, this year we have seen the real Serena emerge back on the scene. And she has also completed her golden career slam this year also by winning the Olympic gold medal, in both singles and doubles, and by doing that she has finally got it all. Its also staggering and indeed frightening to think that this year alone she has only lost four matches out of the 63 matches she has played in 2012, and that is some statistic, even by Djokovic's amazing standard last year, this is quite something. And it also sends out a strong message to the rest of the ladies locker room that Serena is truly back and I'm sure the rest of them will have their work cut out in trying to topple her off that perch, because no doubt she will become the World No.1 next year again, so its only a matter of time before she does.
So that's it for the WTA 2012 season, which has seen some truly remarkable tennis throughout, all that remains is the WTA International Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions event, which will take place in Sofia. This event will feature top 8 players on the WTA tour who have won International level events on the tour this season, which will include Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Kirilenko, Nadia Petrova and Daniella Huntachova, so that will be a good event I'm sure. And later on I might just post up some of my thoughts on the best matches of the year from the 2012 WTA tour sometime soon. So until then that's it for now.
Bye the now!
Saturday 27 October 2012
WTA Championships Part 1: The top four.....
OK I've not really posted much up on the tennis blog for a wee bit so I thought I would finally get around to do something on the WTA Championships, which are on just now from Istanbul (in Turkey apparently). So let's catch up with the matches so far.
Well to start off with the championships has seen the top 8 players in the world play each other, which from top to bottom has been Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani and Li Na. However the first casualty of the event was Petra Kvitova who suffered from a stomach virus, which was shortly revealed after her quick defeat by Radwanska with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, which forced Petra to withdraw from the tournament. This let Sam Stosur, who was the first alternate with a chance to play in the championships. However unfortunately for Stosur she was outplayed by Sara Errani, after even taking the 2nd set in their match, she faded away badly in the 3rd losing the match in 2-6, 6-3, 0-6. And Stosur then went on to get a drubbing from Maria Sharapova who blasted her off the court with a 6-0, 6-3 win. This is a shame for Stosur and its not like she has had a bad year, quite the opposite as she has produced some good consistent results, reaching the semi finals at the French Open and the quarter finals at the US Open, where she narrowly lost to Azarenka. But perhaps coming so close last week in Moscow at the Kremlin cup and losing to Caroline Wozniacki probably put a dent in her confidence again. But anyway let's hope Sam has a better 2013.
In other matches, Serena Williams has made her way through to the semi finals of the tournament with relative ease, and has yet to even drop a set. And along the way Serena has defeated Keber in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, Victoria Azarenka in 6-4, 6-4, and Li Na in 7-6, 6-3. And you would be insane to write off her chances of winning the WTA Championships and I think its safe to say that she will be the champion, because to be honest I can't really see any of the other top players living with her, but we'll see. But with the way Serena's year has gone already, having won 6 titles, two of them being Wimbledon and the US Open, and another being the Olympic Gold medal, I can't not see this championships going her way as well. But her next match will be with Agnieszka Radwanska, who she played in a tricky match in the Wimbledon final earlier this year, so this could be a tough encounter for her, or it could be just a walk in the park, so time will tell.
Victoria Azarenka has had a much tougher passage to get to the semi finals however, as in her first match, she battled against Angelique Kerber, in a superb match that lasted well over 3 hours, which featured some of the highest quality tennis you will see all year, in which Kerber even had two match points against Vika in the 2nd set. But Vika refused to go away and hung in taking the 2nd set into a decider, and after getting a key break, and despite Kerber breaking back, to make 5-4 (with a chance to serve for 5-5), Vika broke once to more to make it past the German with a stunning 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win. This was easily the best match of the tournament so far, and one of the best matches of 2012, and it shows just how good a player Kerber has become, as well as what a champion mentality Azarenka has developed in 2012. And if it weren't for one woman she would possibly even have won at least three out of the four grand slams this season, but I'm sure she will go on to win more in the future. Victoria however as previously mentioned suffered a defeat to Serena in 6-4, 6-4, as she failed to get anything going on serve, and despite having a 2-0 lead in the second set, she failed to captilised on the break, and before we knew it was 5-4, with Vika serve to make it 5-5, she double faulted to hand over the match to Serena. But Victoria however has managed to hang on to her World No.1 ranking by defeating Li Na and making her way to the semi finals with a 7-6, 6-3 win, she is guaranteed to finish the year with the top spot.
Maria Sharapova so far has also made relatively easy passage into the semis, after beating Sara Errani in 6-3, 6-2 (same score as their French Open final, geeky stat there!) in the first round rubber, but facing a very tough match against Radwanska in 2nd one, as it took her 3 hours to overcome the Pole with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win. But she again made easy headway by thrashing Sam Stosur with an emphatic 6-0, 6-3 score. This will see Maria take on her nemesis Victoria Azarenka in the final, and let's face it I have to say that Vika will be the winner. But its hard to tell if it will be an easy match or not, and too often in the past Maria gets off to a bad start and tends to fade away fast in her matches with Victoria, and despite her one win over Vika this year in Stuttgart on clay, and her tough match against her in the US Open, most of their matches have been pretty one-sided. But let's hope for once this proves not to be the case, but for me there is only one winner here and it ain't Maria, but you never know.
As for Agnieszka Radwanska, well she has had the toughest passage out of the top four players to the semi finals, as despite an easy first round victory over an ailing Petra Kvitova in 6-3, 6-2, she then went on to face Maria Sharapova as already mentioned, and she battled it out over three hours before losing in 3 sets. And its tough to beat the ultimate warrior in tennis, once Maria gets into a match from a set down, she usually tends to be the winner. Regardless despite the loss, Radwanska went on to play Sara Errani in another brutal contest, where the two players hammered it out for nearly 3 hours and 30 minutes on court, and after dropping the opening set and going a break down in the 2nd, Aga somehow managed to turn it around, taking the 2nd set, and in the 3rd she got the break and closed it out in 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. And next up for Aga will be Serena, and as she has surely been the player who has spent the most time on court, it will be very tough for her come through against one of the greatest players to have played the game. And as she has spent what must be over 8 hours on court over the last few days, it could be most likely that she won't be able to give Serena a match, but you never can tell, so let's hope it will be another good match, but I can't see her come through it regardless.
Right so that's it for now, with Li Na, Petra Kvitova (the defending champion), Sam Stosur, Angelique Kerber and Sara Errani all out of the championships its down to the last four, and its great to see that it is the top four that is left in the tournament, and deservedly so. Similar to the top four guys in the men's game, its a great line up, and while it might not be quite in the same league overall as Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal (well Nadal is out for now with injury), its still more than good enough for now.
So I will leave it there and report back with more once the semi final matches are over with.
Till then, bye for now.
Well to start off with the championships has seen the top 8 players in the world play each other, which from top to bottom has been Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani and Li Na. However the first casualty of the event was Petra Kvitova who suffered from a stomach virus, which was shortly revealed after her quick defeat by Radwanska with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, which forced Petra to withdraw from the tournament. This let Sam Stosur, who was the first alternate with a chance to play in the championships. However unfortunately for Stosur she was outplayed by Sara Errani, after even taking the 2nd set in their match, she faded away badly in the 3rd losing the match in 2-6, 6-3, 0-6. And Stosur then went on to get a drubbing from Maria Sharapova who blasted her off the court with a 6-0, 6-3 win. This is a shame for Stosur and its not like she has had a bad year, quite the opposite as she has produced some good consistent results, reaching the semi finals at the French Open and the quarter finals at the US Open, where she narrowly lost to Azarenka. But perhaps coming so close last week in Moscow at the Kremlin cup and losing to Caroline Wozniacki probably put a dent in her confidence again. But anyway let's hope Sam has a better 2013.
In other matches, Serena Williams has made her way through to the semi finals of the tournament with relative ease, and has yet to even drop a set. And along the way Serena has defeated Keber in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, Victoria Azarenka in 6-4, 6-4, and Li Na in 7-6, 6-3. And you would be insane to write off her chances of winning the WTA Championships and I think its safe to say that she will be the champion, because to be honest I can't really see any of the other top players living with her, but we'll see. But with the way Serena's year has gone already, having won 6 titles, two of them being Wimbledon and the US Open, and another being the Olympic Gold medal, I can't not see this championships going her way as well. But her next match will be with Agnieszka Radwanska, who she played in a tricky match in the Wimbledon final earlier this year, so this could be a tough encounter for her, or it could be just a walk in the park, so time will tell.
Victoria Azarenka has had a much tougher passage to get to the semi finals however, as in her first match, she battled against Angelique Kerber, in a superb match that lasted well over 3 hours, which featured some of the highest quality tennis you will see all year, in which Kerber even had two match points against Vika in the 2nd set. But Vika refused to go away and hung in taking the 2nd set into a decider, and after getting a key break, and despite Kerber breaking back, to make 5-4 (with a chance to serve for 5-5), Vika broke once to more to make it past the German with a stunning 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win. This was easily the best match of the tournament so far, and one of the best matches of 2012, and it shows just how good a player Kerber has become, as well as what a champion mentality Azarenka has developed in 2012. And if it weren't for one woman she would possibly even have won at least three out of the four grand slams this season, but I'm sure she will go on to win more in the future. Victoria however as previously mentioned suffered a defeat to Serena in 6-4, 6-4, as she failed to get anything going on serve, and despite having a 2-0 lead in the second set, she failed to captilised on the break, and before we knew it was 5-4, with Vika serve to make it 5-5, she double faulted to hand over the match to Serena. But Victoria however has managed to hang on to her World No.1 ranking by defeating Li Na and making her way to the semi finals with a 7-6, 6-3 win, she is guaranteed to finish the year with the top spot.
Maria Sharapova so far has also made relatively easy passage into the semis, after beating Sara Errani in 6-3, 6-2 (same score as their French Open final, geeky stat there!) in the first round rubber, but facing a very tough match against Radwanska in 2nd one, as it took her 3 hours to overcome the Pole with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win. But she again made easy headway by thrashing Sam Stosur with an emphatic 6-0, 6-3 score. This will see Maria take on her nemesis Victoria Azarenka in the final, and let's face it I have to say that Vika will be the winner. But its hard to tell if it will be an easy match or not, and too often in the past Maria gets off to a bad start and tends to fade away fast in her matches with Victoria, and despite her one win over Vika this year in Stuttgart on clay, and her tough match against her in the US Open, most of their matches have been pretty one-sided. But let's hope for once this proves not to be the case, but for me there is only one winner here and it ain't Maria, but you never know.
As for Agnieszka Radwanska, well she has had the toughest passage out of the top four players to the semi finals, as despite an easy first round victory over an ailing Petra Kvitova in 6-3, 6-2, she then went on to face Maria Sharapova as already mentioned, and she battled it out over three hours before losing in 3 sets. And its tough to beat the ultimate warrior in tennis, once Maria gets into a match from a set down, she usually tends to be the winner. Regardless despite the loss, Radwanska went on to play Sara Errani in another brutal contest, where the two players hammered it out for nearly 3 hours and 30 minutes on court, and after dropping the opening set and going a break down in the 2nd, Aga somehow managed to turn it around, taking the 2nd set, and in the 3rd she got the break and closed it out in 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. And next up for Aga will be Serena, and as she has surely been the player who has spent the most time on court, it will be very tough for her come through against one of the greatest players to have played the game. And as she has spent what must be over 8 hours on court over the last few days, it could be most likely that she won't be able to give Serena a match, but you never can tell, so let's hope it will be another good match, but I can't see her come through it regardless.
Right so that's it for now, with Li Na, Petra Kvitova (the defending champion), Sam Stosur, Angelique Kerber and Sara Errani all out of the championships its down to the last four, and its great to see that it is the top four that is left in the tournament, and deservedly so. Similar to the top four guys in the men's game, its a great line up, and while it might not be quite in the same league overall as Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal (well Nadal is out for now with injury), its still more than good enough for now.
So I will leave it there and report back with more once the semi final matches are over with.
Till then, bye for now.
Sunday 21 October 2012
WTA Moscow and Istanbul preview
OK a quick update on the WTA tour, as this post will be about the Kremlin cup, which took place funnily enough in Moscow.
So to start with the semi finals in the ladies tournament (as there was an ATP 250 men's event there too, which I won't go into) the first semi final saw Caroline Wozniacki take on the Swede, Sofia Arvidsson. Good friends off the court, but on the court it was all business as Caroline had a real tussle with the talented player Arvidsson. After levelling the match at one set all, and with Caroline serving at 5-3 in the 3rd, Arvidsson broke back to make it 5-4, but in the end Caroline's determination shone through as she secured her fourth final of the year winning in 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. In the other semi final match, Sam Stosur took on the world no.12, Ana Ivanovic, who came out firing in the first set, but Sam turned it around in the 2nd to level the match, and in the 3rd Ivanovic unfortuantely suffered an injury, which lead to Stosur eventually close out the match with fair ease after a tough 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
This took us into the final, which promised to be a real cracker between Wozniacki and Stosur, and it proved to be just that, as both players put on a great display for the Russian crowd (and it was a bit of a disgrace that the audience was only about two thirds full!) with some dazzling shot making from both players. Caroline dominated the first set to take it, and in the 2nd set there were breaks aplenty, but it was Stosur who eventually closed it out to push the match into a decider, and yet again more breaks of serve followed in the 3rd, which Sam breaking straight away to take a 2-0 lead. However Caroline was not to be outdone as she broke back to level the scoreline, and it went by serve until 6-5, when Stosur served to take it into a tiebreak, where Stosur finally capitualted on serve to hand the championship over to Caroline, who won her 2nd title of the season (and 20th of her career) with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory.
After a tough and disappointing season, this was the perfect end to the year for Caroline Wozniacki, as she played some of her best tennis throughout the week, and she has also shown since the beginning of the Asian swing of the season that she has become a more aggressive player, who is willing to take more chances. And the great thing is this shows her form is gradually starting to improve again, and in 2013 she could well go on to getting back into the top 10 again, where she rightfully belongs. And if she is to win a major then she will need to continue this form and maintain her aggressive play, and if she does then surely she will one day win a grand slam, and I personally think she can still do it. But for now its great to see Caroline get back on form, especially after enduring so many tough losses this year, particularly in her first round exits at Wimbledon and the US Open. Caroline did not qualify for the WTA Championships unfortunately (unless two of the top seeds pull out!) so Moscow was her last tournament of the year, but it was great to see her end 2012 on a high. So let's hope the best for her in 2013 and that she continues to get even better.
As for Sam Stosur, well I have to say I did feel a bit sorry for her, as she has been in two finals this year, and she struggled badly earlier this year in Doha against a dominant Victoria Azarenka, and today she had her chances but just wasn't quite able to close it out. And that is something that appears to happen to Sam is that she tightens up in the big matches and the finals, which is a pity as she more than good enough to win titles on the WTA, and she also proved last year by winning the US Open that its not beyond her to go and win another. But for now Stosur despite her loss still has a chance to play at the WTA Championships in Istanbul this week, as she is directly next in line as an alternate if one of the top pulls out injured, so we might yet see Sam play another match in 2012.
And that brings me onto the WTA Championships which starts this week on 23 October, and it will see the top 8 players battle it out to win the championship trophy (worth 1500 ranking points). The format is a bit confusing but its basically two groups, one red and the other white (I think!) with four players in each group, who play each other within the group until the player that wins the most matches, or the player that wins enough games might go through to the next stage. But in the end the final will be played between the overall winner from each group who have won the most outright matches or games and sets.
And who will the winner be????? Well for me I would have to say Serena Williams is the favourite, but unfortunately I was rather disappointed to see that Azarenka and Serena are drawn in the same group, which means they would have to play each other in the semis, rather than meet in the final, which is a bit of a letdown. But it has to be said they are without a doubt the two best players in the world just now, so when they do meet it will be great to watch. Below her I think that Maria Sharapova has a chance, and even Agnieszka Radwanska has her chances too, but both of them do struggle against Serena and Vika so it will be tough for them to win. As for Petra Kvitova, the defending champion from last year, well she has had an up and down year, and even though it was predicted she would become the world No.1 after her great success last year, it just didn't quite happen for her this year. However Petra will be tough to knock off and she will be prepared to fight to defend her title Istanbul. But whichever way it goes, I think we will be in for a real treat this week as the creme da la creme of ladies tennis go at it.
Right so that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA Championships next week.
Till then bye for now!
So to start with the semi finals in the ladies tournament (as there was an ATP 250 men's event there too, which I won't go into) the first semi final saw Caroline Wozniacki take on the Swede, Sofia Arvidsson. Good friends off the court, but on the court it was all business as Caroline had a real tussle with the talented player Arvidsson. After levelling the match at one set all, and with Caroline serving at 5-3 in the 3rd, Arvidsson broke back to make it 5-4, but in the end Caroline's determination shone through as she secured her fourth final of the year winning in 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. In the other semi final match, Sam Stosur took on the world no.12, Ana Ivanovic, who came out firing in the first set, but Sam turned it around in the 2nd to level the match, and in the 3rd Ivanovic unfortuantely suffered an injury, which lead to Stosur eventually close out the match with fair ease after a tough 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
This took us into the final, which promised to be a real cracker between Wozniacki and Stosur, and it proved to be just that, as both players put on a great display for the Russian crowd (and it was a bit of a disgrace that the audience was only about two thirds full!) with some dazzling shot making from both players. Caroline dominated the first set to take it, and in the 2nd set there were breaks aplenty, but it was Stosur who eventually closed it out to push the match into a decider, and yet again more breaks of serve followed in the 3rd, which Sam breaking straight away to take a 2-0 lead. However Caroline was not to be outdone as she broke back to level the scoreline, and it went by serve until 6-5, when Stosur served to take it into a tiebreak, where Stosur finally capitualted on serve to hand the championship over to Caroline, who won her 2nd title of the season (and 20th of her career) with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory.
After a tough and disappointing season, this was the perfect end to the year for Caroline Wozniacki, as she played some of her best tennis throughout the week, and she has also shown since the beginning of the Asian swing of the season that she has become a more aggressive player, who is willing to take more chances. And the great thing is this shows her form is gradually starting to improve again, and in 2013 she could well go on to getting back into the top 10 again, where she rightfully belongs. And if she is to win a major then she will need to continue this form and maintain her aggressive play, and if she does then surely she will one day win a grand slam, and I personally think she can still do it. But for now its great to see Caroline get back on form, especially after enduring so many tough losses this year, particularly in her first round exits at Wimbledon and the US Open. Caroline did not qualify for the WTA Championships unfortunately (unless two of the top seeds pull out!) so Moscow was her last tournament of the year, but it was great to see her end 2012 on a high. So let's hope the best for her in 2013 and that she continues to get even better.
As for Sam Stosur, well I have to say I did feel a bit sorry for her, as she has been in two finals this year, and she struggled badly earlier this year in Doha against a dominant Victoria Azarenka, and today she had her chances but just wasn't quite able to close it out. And that is something that appears to happen to Sam is that she tightens up in the big matches and the finals, which is a pity as she more than good enough to win titles on the WTA, and she also proved last year by winning the US Open that its not beyond her to go and win another. But for now Stosur despite her loss still has a chance to play at the WTA Championships in Istanbul this week, as she is directly next in line as an alternate if one of the top pulls out injured, so we might yet see Sam play another match in 2012.
And that brings me onto the WTA Championships which starts this week on 23 October, and it will see the top 8 players battle it out to win the championship trophy (worth 1500 ranking points). The format is a bit confusing but its basically two groups, one red and the other white (I think!) with four players in each group, who play each other within the group until the player that wins the most matches, or the player that wins enough games might go through to the next stage. But in the end the final will be played between the overall winner from each group who have won the most outright matches or games and sets.
And who will the winner be????? Well for me I would have to say Serena Williams is the favourite, but unfortunately I was rather disappointed to see that Azarenka and Serena are drawn in the same group, which means they would have to play each other in the semis, rather than meet in the final, which is a bit of a letdown. But it has to be said they are without a doubt the two best players in the world just now, so when they do meet it will be great to watch. Below her I think that Maria Sharapova has a chance, and even Agnieszka Radwanska has her chances too, but both of them do struggle against Serena and Vika so it will be tough for them to win. As for Petra Kvitova, the defending champion from last year, well she has had an up and down year, and even though it was predicted she would become the world No.1 after her great success last year, it just didn't quite happen for her this year. However Petra will be tough to knock off and she will be prepared to fight to defend her title Istanbul. But whichever way it goes, I think we will be in for a real treat this week as the creme da la creme of ladies tennis go at it.
Right so that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA Championships next week.
Till then bye for now!
Monday 15 October 2012
The Far East Part 3: British history and Chinese torture
Right so as a quick catch up on the ATP/WTA tour I thought I would round off the Asian swing of the men and ladies tours, which has seen some great results, and some not quite as great ones.
So let's start with the lasses, and the good news is that Heather Watson who this year already made a breakthrough on the WTA tour by winning 2 doubles titles went onto break new ground in winning her first ever singles title at the Japan Open in Osaka. Heather in the final battled against Chan Kai Cheng on China, in a match that lasted well over three hours which saw breaks aplenty, and the match ended in a deciding tiebreak, where it was Heather that made the final push and took British ladies singles tennis to a place where it hasn't been since Sarah Gomer took it back in 1988, by winning the first WTA tour title for GB in 24 years! The final scoreline reading an exhaustive 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 victory which naturally saw a beaming Heather Watson at the end of the match.
This was a terrific achievment for the young British player, and I always thought that Heather would be the first one to make the breakthrough on the WTA tour. Laura Robson also had her chances and she too has shown incredible promise this year by reaching the final in China, despite losing, and being awarded the Olympic silver medal. It also shows that British ladies tennis is in assured hands just now and with Heather and Laura confidently taking over the mantle that Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha will leave behind once they are done. And they have already achieved alot with their short careers in making history this year alone with their wins on the WTA and the Olympics, so it promises to get even better for them, and it sees ladies British tennis in an exciting place at last, after the previous disappointments in recent years. So a big well done to Heather, who has now broken into the top 50 for the first time in her career and I'm sure next year she will go even further.
Onto other ladies events, well in Linz, Austria, Victoria Azarenka did her usual demolition job to the final where she played the German player, Julia Goerges, whom gave her little resistance before closing out the match to lift her 6th title of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Next up this week we also have the Kremlin cup from Moscow, which is the last Premier event of the year on the WTA tour, which promises to be really good as all the top seeds below the top 8 are playing (well pretty much). As for the top 8 well they are prepping themselves the WTA Championships which takes place from next week on 23-28 October, which promises to be a real cracker, and I'm sure there will be plenty of great matches on display, so really look forward to that.
Right so onto the men's tennis, which last week came from the Shanghai Masters, of which Andy Murray has been the defending the champion for the last two years. Along the way there has been some excellent matches, and Novak Djokovic was on top form throughout the event, and reached the final without even dropping a set, and dismissing Tomas Berdych in 6-4, 6-3. Andy Murray had a slightly tougher time to the final, but he too managed to put in a very impressive performance against Roger Federer in the semis, as the Fedster uncharacteristically struggled on serve, and even served 3 doubles in one game! Regardless the two of them played a very entertaining match, which Andy won after a few rain delays in 6-4, 6-4. Which brings us to the final which was a rematch of the US Open final between Andy and Nole, which promised to be quite a match.
And it turned out to be just that as the two players dazzled the crowd with some incredible tennis, as the two of them produced some unbelievable shot making which left the Shanghai crowd gasping and cheering for more. Andy despite however taking the first set and securing a key break in the 2nd was unable to serve out the match for the championship, as he even had 40-30 on his serve at 5-4, but Nole just hung in there, and before we knew it we were into a 2nd set tiebreak, which saw 4 more match points come and go, and then Djoko went on to clinch the set. In the 3rd Andy took his foot off the gas and the mistakes started to creep in as he faltered on serve, and Djokovic ended up getting the curcial break, despite a spirited fight from Andy, it was all too much in the end, as he finally capitulated on serve, and he was dethroned by the Serb who won out the match with a 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3 win.
This really was quite a match from Andy and Nole and it once again has seen their growing rivalry become more exciting, and it has to be said it was a better match than the US Open, as it had far more variety and entertaining shot making, which the New York final lacked (albeit mainly due to tricky windy conditions). I was rather disappointed though that Andy just wasn't able to close the door on the match as he had ample opportunities, but I guess Novak was just that bit better at hanging in on the big points, and you can't win them all. It also sees Novak with a 10-0 record in Asia, and it makes me think that we could see him put on another winning streak for the rest of the season, as there are only two events left on the calendar for Nole in Paris and at the o2 in London. But whether or not he can maintain that level for the rest of the season its tough to say, especially as Federer might resurge on the indoor hard court season, which he most likely could. But in the meantime Djokovic deserves his victory in Shanghai and I'm sure he will continue to do well for the rest of the season.
As for Andy well next up he will be playing at the Swiss indoors in Basel, where none other than Roger Federer will be playing also, who won the title last year. So Andy I'm sure will be looking to dethrone Roger there and get a chance at bumping up his ranking points, but whether or not he can beat Roger on his home ground, on indoor hard court is another matter altogether but its going to be fun finding out. And despite his losses on the ATP tour since his victory at the US Open, Andy has shown signs of improving his consistency in the tour events since then, in reaching the semis at Tokyo and the final at Shanghai, it shows that he is now comitting more to putting in good performances on the main tour now. As in the past Andy probably didnt always commit his best in the ATP tour events, as he was probably always pre-occupied with trying to win a major, but now that he has finally put that one to bed he can move on and focus on being consistent on the tour, which so far he has done a good job.
Rightttttttt so that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA championships when it kicks off, and probably a bit more on the Swiss indoors once it gets under way.
Till then bye!!!
So let's start with the lasses, and the good news is that Heather Watson who this year already made a breakthrough on the WTA tour by winning 2 doubles titles went onto break new ground in winning her first ever singles title at the Japan Open in Osaka. Heather in the final battled against Chan Kai Cheng on China, in a match that lasted well over three hours which saw breaks aplenty, and the match ended in a deciding tiebreak, where it was Heather that made the final push and took British ladies singles tennis to a place where it hasn't been since Sarah Gomer took it back in 1988, by winning the first WTA tour title for GB in 24 years! The final scoreline reading an exhaustive 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 victory which naturally saw a beaming Heather Watson at the end of the match.
This was a terrific achievment for the young British player, and I always thought that Heather would be the first one to make the breakthrough on the WTA tour. Laura Robson also had her chances and she too has shown incredible promise this year by reaching the final in China, despite losing, and being awarded the Olympic silver medal. It also shows that British ladies tennis is in assured hands just now and with Heather and Laura confidently taking over the mantle that Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha will leave behind once they are done. And they have already achieved alot with their short careers in making history this year alone with their wins on the WTA and the Olympics, so it promises to get even better for them, and it sees ladies British tennis in an exciting place at last, after the previous disappointments in recent years. So a big well done to Heather, who has now broken into the top 50 for the first time in her career and I'm sure next year she will go even further.
Onto other ladies events, well in Linz, Austria, Victoria Azarenka did her usual demolition job to the final where she played the German player, Julia Goerges, whom gave her little resistance before closing out the match to lift her 6th title of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Next up this week we also have the Kremlin cup from Moscow, which is the last Premier event of the year on the WTA tour, which promises to be really good as all the top seeds below the top 8 are playing (well pretty much). As for the top 8 well they are prepping themselves the WTA Championships which takes place from next week on 23-28 October, which promises to be a real cracker, and I'm sure there will be plenty of great matches on display, so really look forward to that.
Right so onto the men's tennis, which last week came from the Shanghai Masters, of which Andy Murray has been the defending the champion for the last two years. Along the way there has been some excellent matches, and Novak Djokovic was on top form throughout the event, and reached the final without even dropping a set, and dismissing Tomas Berdych in 6-4, 6-3. Andy Murray had a slightly tougher time to the final, but he too managed to put in a very impressive performance against Roger Federer in the semis, as the Fedster uncharacteristically struggled on serve, and even served 3 doubles in one game! Regardless the two of them played a very entertaining match, which Andy won after a few rain delays in 6-4, 6-4. Which brings us to the final which was a rematch of the US Open final between Andy and Nole, which promised to be quite a match.
And it turned out to be just that as the two players dazzled the crowd with some incredible tennis, as the two of them produced some unbelievable shot making which left the Shanghai crowd gasping and cheering for more. Andy despite however taking the first set and securing a key break in the 2nd was unable to serve out the match for the championship, as he even had 40-30 on his serve at 5-4, but Nole just hung in there, and before we knew it we were into a 2nd set tiebreak, which saw 4 more match points come and go, and then Djoko went on to clinch the set. In the 3rd Andy took his foot off the gas and the mistakes started to creep in as he faltered on serve, and Djokovic ended up getting the curcial break, despite a spirited fight from Andy, it was all too much in the end, as he finally capitulated on serve, and he was dethroned by the Serb who won out the match with a 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3 win.
This really was quite a match from Andy and Nole and it once again has seen their growing rivalry become more exciting, and it has to be said it was a better match than the US Open, as it had far more variety and entertaining shot making, which the New York final lacked (albeit mainly due to tricky windy conditions). I was rather disappointed though that Andy just wasn't able to close the door on the match as he had ample opportunities, but I guess Novak was just that bit better at hanging in on the big points, and you can't win them all. It also sees Novak with a 10-0 record in Asia, and it makes me think that we could see him put on another winning streak for the rest of the season, as there are only two events left on the calendar for Nole in Paris and at the o2 in London. But whether or not he can maintain that level for the rest of the season its tough to say, especially as Federer might resurge on the indoor hard court season, which he most likely could. But in the meantime Djokovic deserves his victory in Shanghai and I'm sure he will continue to do well for the rest of the season.
As for Andy well next up he will be playing at the Swiss indoors in Basel, where none other than Roger Federer will be playing also, who won the title last year. So Andy I'm sure will be looking to dethrone Roger there and get a chance at bumping up his ranking points, but whether or not he can beat Roger on his home ground, on indoor hard court is another matter altogether but its going to be fun finding out. And despite his losses on the ATP tour since his victory at the US Open, Andy has shown signs of improving his consistency in the tour events since then, in reaching the semis at Tokyo and the final at Shanghai, it shows that he is now comitting more to putting in good performances on the main tour now. As in the past Andy probably didnt always commit his best in the ATP tour events, as he was probably always pre-occupied with trying to win a major, but now that he has finally put that one to bed he can move on and focus on being consistent on the tour, which so far he has done a good job.
Rightttttttt so that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA championships when it kicks off, and probably a bit more on the Swiss indoors once it gets under way.
Till then bye!!!
Sunday 7 October 2012
The Far East Part 2: Coming up short and reigning in Beijing
OK so here's my second part of the posts on the Asian swing on the WTA/ATP tour, as this week saw the conclusion of the China Open (both the men's and ladies), and the Rakuten Toyko Open championship. So let's have a closer look...
So ladies first, with the China Open, which is the last Premier mandatory event of the season (the equivalent of the men's ATP 1000 Masters series events) here is an update on some of the results. In the 3rd round taking off from last time, Caroline Wozniacki faced the current world no.6, Angelique Kerber, for a place in the quarter finals. However unfortunately for Caroline, she wasn't quite able to win the match, despite pushing the German to a decider, Caroline forced a return error just wide, which saw Kerber seal her quarter final place with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory. This was a bit of a disappointment for Caroline as for the most part, she played a pretty good match, with some more aggressive play, the Asian swing of the tour has seen her get back some form that took her to the No.1 spot, but in the end she came up a bit short. In other matches, Angelique Kerber went on to suffer a defeat at the hands of Maria Sharapova, who drubbed an injured Kerber, who was forced to retire with the Pova winning in 6-0, 3-0 ret. Li Ma made an impressive run of form in Beijing as she defeated the defending champion, Angieszka Radwanska in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, but she went on to lose to Maria Sharapova in 6-4, 6-0. Victoria Azarenka on the other hand managed to breeze her way past her opponents until she met Marion Bartoli in the semi finals, where the two of them had a high quality tussle, and despite the scoreline it was a pretty tough match for the Belarusian, who came through in 6-4, 6-2.
And this set up a final between Sharapova and Azarenkna, which I'm sure no doubt was a real shriek fest, as the opera singer and the screecher went at it to win the title. The match itself, while I didn't see it, turned out to be unfortunately just another straight forward victory for Vika, who blasted Maria off the court in straight sets winning the title in 6-3, 6-1. I can't really say I'm surprised by the result, although after their excellent US Open match, I was hoping this would have been a tighter match, but unfortunately it proved not to be the case. Regardless of that though, Vika deserves the title and she has proven again that she really is the world's best player, well next to Serena that is, but this also secures her place at the top of the rankings for a while yet. It also sees the completion of the line up for the WTA Championships in Istanbul with Li Na who was the last to qualify for the year end finale, which sees Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvtiova, Angelique Kerber, Sara Errani and Li Na, all go head to head to play for the title. Its going to be quite a finale I'm sure!
In meantime however there are still a few WTA tournaments on the go, with two this week in Osaka and Linz, and the following will see the last Premier event of the year, in the Kremlin Cup, which is funnily enough in Moscow of all places! But this will see most of the other top seeds outwith the top 8 play, particularly Sam Stosur, Marion Bartoli and Caroline Wozniacki, all whom missed out on the WTA Championships. So that promises to be a good one as well.
OK now onto the men's from China aswell and Tokyo, starting with Novak Djokovic who had breezed his way to the final there, and he faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the title. And after a tight first set, it was all Djokovic as Tsonga crumbled in the second, being broken twice as Nole raced to victory with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win. This sees Djokovic win his third title in Beijing, and the 4th of the year, which neatly brings up another 500 points on his ranking, which should help him a little further to getting back to the World No.1 spot. After this we go to Tokyo where Andy Murray was the defending champion at the Rakuten Tokyo Open championships. Unfortunately for Andy he was unable to defend his title there as he faced Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian, who got revenge for his defeat at the US Open. The match however was far from easy as the two of them had a real battle, with Raonic taking the first set, but Andy levelled the match in the 2nd, taking the tiebreaker. In the 3rd however, despite being a break up, Andy squandered two match points and let Raonic back in again, taking the set to another tiebreak, where the Canadian took advantage and sealed the win in 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
After the US Open, it would probably be a bit much to expect that Andy could go on a big winning streak, and once again he seemed to struggle with Raonic's serve, and in the best of 3 on the ATP tour, he is beatable. But despite that it was a pretty close match, and it could have gone either way, but in the end Raonic played better in the big points. Nevertheless, his loss in Tokyo, while disapponting, its not really much to worry about, as bigger tournaments lie ahead, with the Shanghai Masters coming up next week. And no doubt Andy will want to perform his best at the ATP World Tour Finals next month, and hopefully with the home crowd behind, he will do will there.
In the Tokyo final however for the first time in quite a while it saw none of the top 10 seeds there, and instead we saw the Japanese No.1, and world No.17, Kei Nishikori go at it against Milos Raonic, the world no.15. This was Raonic's 3rd ATP 500 final, but it was Nishikori who played the better tennis as he secured a 3 set victory against the Canadian, with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-0 scoreline, and it was Kei's 2nd career title, and the biggest of his career. It was also great to see Kei win on his own home soil and it must have been the first time in many a year that a Japanese player won this title, so well done to him.
Right well that's it for now, more tennis will follow soon, as there will be more from Asia as the Shanghai Masters starts this week, and Andy Murray is the defending champion, but can he hang on to it this time???? We'll have to wait and see.
So I will leave there the now.
So ladies first, with the China Open, which is the last Premier mandatory event of the season (the equivalent of the men's ATP 1000 Masters series events) here is an update on some of the results. In the 3rd round taking off from last time, Caroline Wozniacki faced the current world no.6, Angelique Kerber, for a place in the quarter finals. However unfortunately for Caroline, she wasn't quite able to win the match, despite pushing the German to a decider, Caroline forced a return error just wide, which saw Kerber seal her quarter final place with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory. This was a bit of a disappointment for Caroline as for the most part, she played a pretty good match, with some more aggressive play, the Asian swing of the tour has seen her get back some form that took her to the No.1 spot, but in the end she came up a bit short. In other matches, Angelique Kerber went on to suffer a defeat at the hands of Maria Sharapova, who drubbed an injured Kerber, who was forced to retire with the Pova winning in 6-0, 3-0 ret. Li Ma made an impressive run of form in Beijing as she defeated the defending champion, Angieszka Radwanska in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, but she went on to lose to Maria Sharapova in 6-4, 6-0. Victoria Azarenka on the other hand managed to breeze her way past her opponents until she met Marion Bartoli in the semi finals, where the two of them had a high quality tussle, and despite the scoreline it was a pretty tough match for the Belarusian, who came through in 6-4, 6-2.
And this set up a final between Sharapova and Azarenkna, which I'm sure no doubt was a real shriek fest, as the opera singer and the screecher went at it to win the title. The match itself, while I didn't see it, turned out to be unfortunately just another straight forward victory for Vika, who blasted Maria off the court in straight sets winning the title in 6-3, 6-1. I can't really say I'm surprised by the result, although after their excellent US Open match, I was hoping this would have been a tighter match, but unfortunately it proved not to be the case. Regardless of that though, Vika deserves the title and she has proven again that she really is the world's best player, well next to Serena that is, but this also secures her place at the top of the rankings for a while yet. It also sees the completion of the line up for the WTA Championships in Istanbul with Li Na who was the last to qualify for the year end finale, which sees Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvtiova, Angelique Kerber, Sara Errani and Li Na, all go head to head to play for the title. Its going to be quite a finale I'm sure!
In meantime however there are still a few WTA tournaments on the go, with two this week in Osaka and Linz, and the following will see the last Premier event of the year, in the Kremlin Cup, which is funnily enough in Moscow of all places! But this will see most of the other top seeds outwith the top 8 play, particularly Sam Stosur, Marion Bartoli and Caroline Wozniacki, all whom missed out on the WTA Championships. So that promises to be a good one as well.
OK now onto the men's from China aswell and Tokyo, starting with Novak Djokovic who had breezed his way to the final there, and he faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the title. And after a tight first set, it was all Djokovic as Tsonga crumbled in the second, being broken twice as Nole raced to victory with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win. This sees Djokovic win his third title in Beijing, and the 4th of the year, which neatly brings up another 500 points on his ranking, which should help him a little further to getting back to the World No.1 spot. After this we go to Tokyo where Andy Murray was the defending champion at the Rakuten Tokyo Open championships. Unfortunately for Andy he was unable to defend his title there as he faced Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian, who got revenge for his defeat at the US Open. The match however was far from easy as the two of them had a real battle, with Raonic taking the first set, but Andy levelled the match in the 2nd, taking the tiebreaker. In the 3rd however, despite being a break up, Andy squandered two match points and let Raonic back in again, taking the set to another tiebreak, where the Canadian took advantage and sealed the win in 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
After the US Open, it would probably be a bit much to expect that Andy could go on a big winning streak, and once again he seemed to struggle with Raonic's serve, and in the best of 3 on the ATP tour, he is beatable. But despite that it was a pretty close match, and it could have gone either way, but in the end Raonic played better in the big points. Nevertheless, his loss in Tokyo, while disapponting, its not really much to worry about, as bigger tournaments lie ahead, with the Shanghai Masters coming up next week. And no doubt Andy will want to perform his best at the ATP World Tour Finals next month, and hopefully with the home crowd behind, he will do will there.
In the Tokyo final however for the first time in quite a while it saw none of the top 10 seeds there, and instead we saw the Japanese No.1, and world No.17, Kei Nishikori go at it against Milos Raonic, the world no.15. This was Raonic's 3rd ATP 500 final, but it was Nishikori who played the better tennis as he secured a 3 set victory against the Canadian, with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-0 scoreline, and it was Kei's 2nd career title, and the biggest of his career. It was also great to see Kei win on his own home soil and it must have been the first time in many a year that a Japanese player won this title, so well done to him.
Right well that's it for now, more tennis will follow soon, as there will be more from Asia as the Shanghai Masters starts this week, and Andy Murray is the defending champion, but can he hang on to it this time???? We'll have to wait and see.
So I will leave there the now.
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