OK now into part 4 of the Sony Ericsson Open from Miami which saw some great tennis on display and a pretty big upset in the ladies tournament which I will delve into more in a bit.
Starting with the men's tennis we had some good stuff on display as Andy Murray started off his quarter final match against the Serb No.2, Janko Tipsarevic who gave the British No.1 a real run for his money, although Andy himself was struggling with a stomach bug, and didn't look that well in the first set, which was a topsy turvey affair, which Janko won. In the 2nd set, Andy didn't start any better either as he went down a break straight away, and he had to call the doctor onto the court at one point to have a look at him. However after that Andy fought back and levelled the match, breaking Tipsarevic at 3-3, to make it 4-3, he moved ahead, and in the decider, Andy got the crucial break and closed out a hard fought match in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was another gutsy effort from the Muzza, who I honestly thought was dead and buried in this match, especially in the 2nd set being 2-0 down, but he did another Lazarus and pulled out the win as he has been known to do. Overall despite being a mixed bag in quality, it was quite a good match, and again a fine example of how resilient Andy is in the face of adversity, although his serve was once again questionable, which will hinder him in the next round if he doesn't improve.
In the second men's quarter final match, Rafa Nadal took on the World No.6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which proved to be a really tough encounter. Tsonga had beaten Rafa in their previous two meetings, but this time Rafa started out strong winning 6-2 in the 1st, but after making some errors in the 2nd set, Tsonga hit back and rattled off 3 games in a row to take the 2nd. But in the 3rd it was down to Rafa who secured the break at 3-3 and went onto close out the match, eventually winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, in an exhaustive 2 hours and 49 minutes. This was Rafa's first big test of the tournament and he did well to come through it, as he was having trouble with tendonitis at one point in the match. So this sets up another very potentially exciting meeting with Andy Murray, which should hopefully be a real belter. Rafa leads the head to head with an overwhelming 13-5 ratio in his favour, but hard court is Andy's best surface and he won in Miami back in 2009, so hopefully he can utilise that to try and win, either way it promises to be a really good one.
So now onto the ladies, and starting with Agnieszka Radwanska, who will move up to the world no.4 after this event, who took on a resurgent Venus Williams, who impressively made it to this stage. The match itself however was a bit of a mixed affair, with Venus coming out quite strong in the first set, and being broken, but breaking back, but soon broken yet again by Radwanska. By the second set however, Venus was clearly feeling the effects of her previous matches and the toll it had taken on her, and slipped away from the match, leaving Radwanska to close it out comfortably in 6-4, 6-1. Despite the scoreline though, this match was quite a tricky one for Radwanska, as she had to deal with some old school tennis from Venus, probably something she hasn't been used to up until now. But Radwanska was by far the fresher of the two, as she has yet to even drop a set in the tournament.
And noowwww onto the second quarter final match between the World No.1 Victoria Azarenka and World No.7 Marion Bartoli, which promised to be quite a match up. The match itself however was quite a surprise as Bartoli came out strong and broke Victoria straight away, and secured a double break at 4-0, but Vika soon found enough to break back, however it wasn't enough as Marion served it out for 6-3. And in the 2nd set Azarenka broke Bartoli's serve, and it looked like we were heading for another fightback and a from behind victory. But it wasn't to be as Bartoli broke back once again and made another crucial break, and did what no one else was able to do so far in 2012: beat the World No.1 the first time, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. This was quite a performance Marion Bartoli, and I always though she had a chance of beating Azarenka at some point, and I also think after playing and winning 26 consecutive matches, that physically it had token its toll on Victoria. I think though Dominika Cibulkova did most of the hard work in the previous round to run Azarenka ragged, and it was Bartoli who delivered the final knockout blow. But take nothing away from Bartoli as she is definitely a player who has beaten the best in the past, including Azarenka, and she deserved to win without a doubt.
As for Victoria Azarenka, well she knew this day would have come sooner or later, but she has put together a very very impressive run of form, especially in such a time where tennis is so competitive, so to win 26 matches and 4 titles in a row is quite an achievement. So she can at least take heart in knowing that while her winning run is over, she has made a great start to 2012 and she can work on that for the rest of the year, and I think she has a strong chance of going on to win more slams this season as well.
So this sets up an exciting semi final match up on the ladies with Radwanska vs Bartoli, and Sharapova vs Wozniacki.
And as an update I couldn't help but give my opinion on the Sharapova/Wozniacki match which has now finished (as of 29/03 913:PM typing this!) as on paper it looked like a fascinating match up between the aggressor and the counterpuncher. And thankfully the match lived up to expectations as the two players battled it out and put on a terrific display for the near full capacity crowd. Sharapova came out the stronger of the two with brute force and accuracy as she bludgeoned many of Wozniacki's second serves back at her, and raced to a 4-1 lead. However at that point the errors started to creep into Sharapova's game, which let Caroline break back, and before we knew it, it was 5-4 with Caroline serving it out for the 1st set. In the 2nd set however Maria found her range and effectively powered past Caroline, and secured a double break to level the match. In the 3rd however things got really interesting as Sharapova broke twice and on serving out at 5-2, Caroline broke back, playing two very aggressive games to get her back to the single break. However in the final game, it was Sharapova who managed to close it out and secured her place in her 4th Miami final, winning in 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
This really was a terrific match from both women and it was also a great contrast of styles, watching the aggressive baseliner and the counterpuncher go at it. The match itself also had a bit controversy at the end, with the second last point being called out by a line judge, but the umpire made a correction saying the ball was good. At this point Caroline had run out of challenges (you get 3 per set) and argued with the umpire because he insisted the ball was good, and wouldn't let Maria challenge as he was convinced it was, and as it turned out, it was. So at the end, the Wozza was pretty miffed as she refused to shake the umpire's hand, Kader Nouni, when the match finished.
To be honest I don't blame Caroline for not shaking his hand as Nouni has in the past shown he can be a dick, an example of this is the Australian Open this year during a match between David Nalbandian and John Isner. In the match, Nalbandian made a challenge, but because he took a short time to make the decision to challenge, Nouni refused to let him challenge, which had a knock on effect in the match, which possibly cost him losing the match. And Nouni himself referred to Caroline, reminding her that she had used up all her challenges just before she was about to serve at 5-3 in the 3rd set, and even saying that her coach and father Piotr Wozniacki was giving Caroline too much advice. Basically the guy was interfering just a bit too much in my opinion, but that's umpires for you, they do a tough job themselves, and they aren't always popular with the players.
In regards to Caroline in the match, she did at times did struggle with her first serve, which left her 2nd serve frequently getting blootered by Sharapova, who overall hit 50 winners in the whole match. But it didn't take away from the highly entertaining contest that both of them brought to the match, and Caroline despite her shortcomings battled bravely until the end. She also in those two final games she won showed glimpses of how she should really play in the future, as she really attacked Sharapova's serve at 5-2, and held serve well after that. If she can keep up that kind of pace then she definitely has a chance of winning the bigger titles or a major, but it she stays as a counterpuncher, it will be something she will struggle to do. But I still admire Caroline as a player, as she is a great competitor and one of the best defensive players in the game today, and she has such a great positive outlook on life, and comes across as a good fun person. And this has been a really good tournament for Caroline which sees her move forward in the right direction, so here's hoping she can continue to, and her semi final even though didn't produce the result she wanted, it was one of the real highlights of the tournament. And as I said the contrast in styles made this match a very entertaining contest, as if it was just another example of Sharapova playing Azarenka, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good or competitive.
OK that's it for now, more soon to follow on the remaning men's quarter finals, Djokovic vs Ferrer, and Fish vs Monaco, and on the remaining ladies semi finals. Should be very good!
Bye the now (me).
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