Roland Garros Part 2: Breaking one's back

Ok so this will be in two parts this entry as I'm oot and aboot just now. But i thought i would say a little something about Andy Murray's match today against Jarkko Neiminen, which was one of the most bizarre matches I have ever seen!

At the start of the match Andy struggled badly as his dreaded back problem resurfaced with a vengeance and in the first set he only managed to win one game as he could barely serve or return. This let Jarkko dominate the match earky on and we see saw Andy get the trainer on twice to massage his aching back. In the 2nd set however despite being a break down, Andy clawed his way back into the match breaking back to level 4-4 and went on to break Jarkko to take the 2nd set. And from the 3rd set onward Andy dominated the play as Jarkko came apart at the seams unable to deal with Andy's game. In the 4th set Andy went on and pulled off the impossible in battling his back and breaking Jarkko twice to close out a truly whacky match in 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

This was one of the most unbelievable matches i have seen from Andy Murray and he looked dead and buried in that first set and i was totally convinced that he would retire as he looked to be in so much discomfort. However Andy has shown us time and time again that he is one of the greatest fighters in the game and his ability to fight his way back into a match is just incredible. But it begs the question as to what cost? His injury which he claimed was much better had come back in quite a serious way and he still looked in pain. Andy was quite fortunate that he was able to use talent and skill to defeat the Finn player, but I doubt he could utilise that against someone like Ferrer or Gasquet as they would exploit his weakness to win the match.

So this leaves a big question mark over Andy's continued involvement in the event. Will he pull out? If i were him i definitely would as if he continues he will do his back further damage and Roland Garros is the most demanding slam of the four and it would be madness if he did, especially as Wimbledon is only 3 weeks away and the calendar is even fuller than usual with the Olympics, so if he stays in he could put the rest of his season at risk.  However Andy has since said that he will see how his back is over the next two days and if it doesn't get any worse then he will play on Saturday in his 3rd round match, which is against Santiago Giraldo.  Andy's last match against Giraldo went very much in his favour as he defeated him with considerable ease in Barcelona, winning in 6-2, 6-1, but that was before he back got really dodgy of course.

So once again for the second year running, the French Open remains a very dramatic tournament for Andy Murray, and once again his involvement in it hangs in the balance.  We all want to see him do well at Roland Garros but not at the expense of his health and his chances in future events, especially with Wimbledon so close.  But I guess we will find out Andy's intentions in the next day or so, and just perhaps this could be a good omen for him, as he got to the semi finals last year, so just maybe he could do the same this year.  Who knows, as you can never predict with ol Muzza.

One thing that came from the match was a bit of controversy as former Wimbledon ladies champion, Virgina Wade, lashed out at Andy Murray and called him a "drama queen" for how he played injured in the 2nd round match.  I personally thought this was a totally ignorant comment from Wade, as she clearly had no idea what Andy must have been going through on the court, so its all very well for her to sit in her cosy armchair and pass judgment on a player who is fighting through a match with an injury.  Andy himself responded very well by saying that he was disappointed in her reaction and that she also has no idea what he was going through out on court.  And I thought myself that Andy didn't appear to make a big scene about his injury, he tried his best to just get on with the match.  I must admit I did feel a bit of sympathy for Jarkko Nieminen who must have been psychologically going through the ringer as the match progressed, watching Andy improve as it went on, but he too didn't think he was play acting at all. 

Anyway as a quick update (02.06.12!) Andy has decided to stay in the tournament as he will now face his third round opponent Santiago Giraldo on Saturday for a place in the 4th round.  How Andy's back will hold up tomorrow, time will tell, but something tells me that he will be fine and there is a fair chance he could still be in the event come next Friday, with a possible showdown with Rafa, or failing that a possible showdown with Ferrer in the quarter finals.  Nothing surprises me about Murray at times, as you know how single minded and stubborn the guy can be when it comes to try and win a major.  In the end it is all about the majors for Andy, and if he can help it, there will be no early exits for him, so if he doesn't withdraw tomorrow and plays out the match, I'm pretty sure he will be in the last 16 for Monday.

Right as a quick update of other matches, Radwanska on the ladies gubbed Venus Williams in just one hour, in 6-2, 6-3, throroughly outclassing the former World No.1 and 7 time grand slam champion.  Victoria Azarenka redeemed herself from her first near scare as she defeated her 2nd round opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.  Sam Stosur also breezed through her match against Irina Falconi in 6-1, 6-4, and Li Na in her 2nd round dismissed Stephanie Foretz-Gacon in emphatic fashion in 6-0, 6-2.  And one of the biggest upsets, next to Serena Williams on the ladies, was Marion Bartoli who went out against the qualifier, Petra Martic, who took the 1st set, in the 2nd Bartoli fought back, and in the 3rd, Bartoli capitulated on serve, handing a break to seal her fate in losing the 2nd round match.  Its a great pity when a player you root for goes out, and as a supporter you almost feel helpless for him, as I did for Bartoli here, but its only a tennis match after all!

Onto Djokovic who came through a spirited fight from his dogged opponent Blaz Kavicic, who despite being thoroughly outplayed in the 1st set, fought back in the 2nd, going up a break before Djokovic broke back and soon break to close out the set.  In the 3rd Blaz hung in again putting up a good fight, but ultimately the World No.1 had just too much for him winning in 6-0, 6-4 6-4.  Overall it was a very entertaining match with some very good points, particularly from Kavicic who looks to be a very promising player, who just sits inside the top 100.  Federer also similarly had a fairly tough encounter against the very talented shotmaker, Adrian Ungar, who gave Federer a good run for his money and succeeded in making Fed drop his first set of the tournament, before he regained control in the 4th, to close out 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.  Nadal today had very little trouble in getting past his opponent, Dennis Istomin, whom he thrashed in 6-2, 6-2, 6-0, and still looks on course to be the champion for a 7th time.  And other players, Tomas Berdych also scooshed past Michael Llodra in 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, and David Ferrer continued his impressive form in also brushing past Benoit Paire in 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

But here is one match that deserves it own paragraph as John Isner took one of the many Frenchman in the draw, Paul Henrei Matthieu, and the two men played one of the biggest epic battles that the French Open has seen.  In a match that lasted nearly six hours (and almost the length of Aussie Open final earlier this year!) Isner and Matthieu went hammers and tongs, toe to toe and anything else that sums up a real barnburner of a match. Before falling though Isner saved a slew of match points as he kept himself in the match, but it took a titanic effort from the Frenchman who must have summed up all the power support of the crowd to take him through a historic and important victory no doubt, the scoreline reading 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16.  I've not yet seen the highlights of the match yet but I wouldn't mind catching some of them, although it might take me a while! ;-)

RRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright after all that, that's quite enough for now, it was quite a dramatic day out there, with the Muzza's victory and Isner's defeat.  More to follow soon!

Byeee!

Roland Garros Part 1: The mother of all upsets

OK its 3 days into the French Open, the second grand slam of the season, and I thought I would get things under way on my coverage of it and my thoughts on the event so far.

So starting off with the ladies, on day 1 quickly, we had Sam Stosur, seed No.6, who played against the British No.1, Elena Baltacha.  For Elena this was a pretty cruel draw, and the match promised to be quite an unforgiving one, and it proved to be just that, as Stosur showed ruthlessly efficiency.  After a tight first set won by Stosur, Baltacha was nowhere to be seen in the match and Stosur broke three times to hand a second set bagel and her place in the 2nd round, winning in 6-4, 6-0.   This was a pity for Elena as you would hope she could have had an easier first round opponent than the 2010 finalist, but it was just fate of circumstances, so Elena will go on and head for the grass courts in Nottingham in a week or so, so better luck to her there.

In other ladies matches, on Day 2, Victoria Azarenka survived a real serious scare as she took on Alberta Britanti, and after losing the first set 6-7 in a tiebreak, she went a double break down 4-0, before she clawed her way back into the match, taking the 2nd set, and going on to break twice in the 3rd, to close out a gruelling encounter in 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.   This really was a shocking performance from the World No.1, as she looked so close to going out in the 2nd set, and I suppose Victoria deserves some credit for pulling herself through such a tough encounter, but it does leave a question over her form for the rest of the event.  In another match, Agnieszka Radwanska, had very little trouble closing out against her opponent Bojana Jovanovski, by conceding only one game, and routing her opponent in 6-1, 6-0.  Marion Bartoli, the 2nd seed also made smooth progress through to the 2nd round as she beat Korlina Plizkova, a qualifier, here's hoping she can go deep like she did last year, reaching the semi finals.  Jelena Jankovic also made it through a tough encounter against Mary-Achleitner in 3 sets, and Li Na won her first round match convincingly in 6-2, 6-1, which marks a really good start to her title defence.  Maria Sharapova also brushed ruthlessly past her opponent Alexandra Caduntu in a brutally emphatic manner, handing her opponent a double bagel, 6-0, 6-0.  Petra Kvitova also breezed past Ashleigh Barty, the youngest player in the draw, at just a mere 16 years of age, in 6-2, 6-1.  And finally Caroline Wozniacki also raced past Eleni Danillidou in 6-0, 6-1, to seal her second round place.

And now for the news of the day, which saw one of the biggest upsets of the year, never mind the tournament, as the hot favourite to win the tournament, Serena Williams went out against the unseeded French qualifier, Virginie Razzano, in a dramatic 3 hour battle.  After taking the first set, Razzano had to battle against Serena matching her on serve, pushing the 2nd set to a tiebreak, and despite being 5-2 up, after a line call on Razzano's ball, which was revealed to be in, Serena's concentration went way off and went to lose the breaker, which saw Razzano level the match.  And in the 3rd, Serena's poor form continued as she ended up being 5-0, before Razzano started to show signs of fatigue and injury, as she suffered from cramp, and her occassional cries of pain got her a warning from the umpire for hindrance, which cost her two points.  Serena however managed to break back and win 3 games in a row, but at 5-3 to Razzano, the two players had an epic game, which lasted 25 minutes, with Razzano battling to serve it out, and after 12 deuces and 8 match points, Razzano pull off a massive upset by putting out Serena Williams, the No.5 seed, and top favourite to win the title.

Well this was definitely unexpected and almost certainly probably the match of the ladies tournament (and this is only day 3!) with an incredible atmosphere from the French crowd living every point that Razzano played, cheering her on every time she won a game or crucial point.  But Serena's form was puzzling after losing the 2nd set, she just seemed to go walkabout, and she did what she could to get back into the match at 5-3, but she made a host of unforced errors, that were uncharacteristic of her.  But Razzano deserves nothing but credit for her incredible effort and pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.  How much farther Razzano gets is anyone's guess, she could go out in the next round, or she could withdraw with cramp injury.  I hope she doesn't and last few more rounds before going out.  One thing I thought was a bit harsh on Razza was Eva Ezderacki's decision to given away a couple of points to Serena for hindrance, when she cried out in pain because of her cramp.  Its a bit over the top, even though it is apparently in the rules, and for once I had to side with the booing French crowd as it seemed to really go against their player in an unfair way. 

This also means there is now no outright favourite to win the title, so there are a few possibles, such as Li Na, Sharapova, Kvitova or even Sam Stosur, and all of sudden things are more interesting.  I'm not so convinced by Azarenka's form so far, but she could have a chance too, especially as Serena is now out, her form can only get better after her near disastrous first round, it has to, if she wants to progress.    

Anyway quickly onto the men, Novak Djokovic is through, despite a tricky first set from his Italian opponent Pitito Starace (or Starched Potatos to me!), Djoko made easy work of him, and won comfortably in 7-6, 6-3, 6-1.  Federer also won with fair ease against Tobia Kamke in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.  Other seeds such as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a slightly tougher passage into the 2nd round, as he defeated his opponent Viktor Kuznetsov in 4 sets, and Juan Martin Del Potro took out Albert Montanes in 4 sets, winning 6-2, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1.  Out today Rafa made easy work of the Italian player, Simon Bolleli, dropping only five games, in 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.  Tomas Berdych also scooshed his way past his first rounder, Dudi Sela in 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, and David Ferrer, a clay court specialist, made short work of the Slovak, Lucas Lucko, winning also in 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. 

And Andy Murray the British Numero one, took on his first round opponent Tatsumo Ito from Japan, who for the most part was no match for the Muzza.  In the first set it was all about Andy, as Tito struggled to produce anything more than one game, however in the 2nd, Tito found his form and Andy dropped his serve to open the door for Tito, who started to find his range, hitting flat and clean winners.  Andy also nearly went a break down in the 2nd at 3-4 as he was 0-40 at one point, but he managed to serve his way out of trouble to level, and at 5-5, Andy broke Ito and went on to a 2 sets up lead.  And in the last set, Ito clearly felt the pressure and capitulated on serve, and everything for that matter, as Andy handed him a bagel to go with, which secured his placed in the 2nd round, with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 win.

This was a pretty good start from Andy Murray, and after a poor run of form on clay so far, hopefully here at Roland Garros he can turn things around.  Andy did drop serve once though, which is still cause for concern, as it has been something he has been doing quite a bit of late in matches.  However physically he looked to be in good fettle, and showed no signs of his back bothering him, which is just as well as many tough rounds will be ahead of him, with Gasquet being a possible 4th round opponent, and Ferrer a quarter final one.  And his next opponent will be the Finn, Jarko Nieminen, who is a far more experienced player than Ito, so he will be tougher, although Andy has won all three of their previous meetings, so hopefully he should progress through to the 3rd round.  And although Andy can be beaten with relative ease on the ATP tour events, its quite another thing to beat him in the best of 5 sets, in a grand slam match, and he will be more motivated to come through the tougher matches, which I hope he does, to setup the ultimate challenge in Rafa in the semi finals.

Right so that's it for now.  More to follow on the 2nd round when it comes up.

The War Games

OK instead posting a post with an indirect name, or a reference to what the post is about, I thought I would just go ahead and give it the name of what the post is, and that's Patrick Troughton's swansong in Doctor Who, The War Games, which was a massive 10 episode epic finale originally broadcast back in 1969, which saw the Second Doctor go out with several bangs and explosions.

The plot is pretty convoluted so here's a breakdown on it (and YES IT HAS THE END IN IT, SO SPOILER WARNING!).  It starts with the Doctor (Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines), and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) arriving in the TARDIS, in what appears to be a quarry somewhere.  The quarry has trenches and barbed wire all over and soon the Doctor and his companions come under fire from explosions.  The Doctor soon finds some artefacts that help him deduce that they are in the middle of the First World War.  Pretty soon after, the Doctor and his companions are lead away by a helpful woman, Lady Jennifer Buckingham (Jane Sherwin), but they are soon captured by soldiers and taken to the callous General Smythe (Noel Coleman) who accuses the Doctor and Zoe of espionage, and Jamie of desertion.  Jamie is ordered to be sent back to his so called regiment, whereas Zoe is to be imprisoned, and the Doctor is sentenced to death.  Before the Doctor's sentence is carried out, they are rescued, however as they try to leave in a jeep with the help one of the soldiers, a strange mist comes over them, and they arrive in what appears to be a different era in time, as the Doctor and the others take cover from a group of Roman soldiers charging toward them in chariots and on horses.  Soon after the Doctor deduces that they are caught in what appears to be a series of different time zones, and different wars in Earth's history such as World War I and the American Civil War.

The Doctor also soon manages to uncover what is happening as he goes back to General Smythe's office and finds a strange contraption, which he enters and it transports him to an alien control centre.  The control centre is the centre of operations for who is behind the creation of the time zones, and the Doctor soon meets the War Chief (Edward Brayshaw), who as it turns out is one of the Doctor's people, a Time Lord.  The War Chief is aiding an alien race lead by the War Lord (Philip Madoc) who plans to use the soldiers from the different eras to brainwash them and fight each other in a series of war games, in order to find out the best soldiers and use them to create a super army to conquer the universe.  The War Chief, who has created the travelling machines, known as SIDRATs (TARDIS spelt backwards) to transport the soldiers, recognises he needs the Doctor's help with his TARDIS to create more machines that can successfully direct the soldiers more in time and space.  The Doctor refuses to help and aids in helping the soldiers to join up together and form a rebellion in order to take down the War Chief and the War Lord's evil plans.  After the Doctor thwarts the War Lord's plans, the War Lord kills the War Chief, who tries to escape, and the Doctor who finds it too difficult to return the soldiers to their proper time zones (due to the fact he has so much trouble steering the TARDIS!) calls on his own race, the Time Lords to help him.  However the Doctor explains to Jamie and Zoe, that while the Time Lords will aid in returning the soldiers, that he wants to escape them, as he may face consequences for his actions in interfering with time.  Soon enough the Time Lords catch up with the Doctor as he tries to escape them in the TARDIS, and they force him to land the TARDIS on the Doctor's home planet.  There the Time Lords capture the War Lord, who must stand trial, but the War Lord attempts to escape using his soldiers, and forces the Doctor to operate the TARDIS to take him back to his planet.  But the Time Lords intervene and place a barrier round the War Lord and banish him to an eternity in the void of time and space.

The Doctor next has to stand trial in front of the Time Lords, who find him guilty of breaking their cardinal rule of non-interference in the affairs of other planets in time and space.  The Doctor makes a plea that while he admits that he has broken their rule, that he has fought many evils successfully and that his intervention has proven necessary.  The Time Lords then send Jamie and Zoe home and erase their memories of the time they spent with the Doctor, although they will remember their first adventure with the Doctor before they entered the TARDIS.  The Time Lords then pass verdict on the Doctor and they choose to exile him to Earth in the 20th century, and they force him to change his appearance in doing so, leaving the Doctor protesting, as he spins away helplessly through space.

The War Games is without doubt a landmark in the history of the show, as it finally introduce the Doctor's own race, the Time Lords.  And while the Doctor had already previously encountered one of his race in the story, The Time Meddler (the Meddling monk played by Peter Butterworth, during the William Hartnell era), this was the first full introduction of them, and goes about in explaining a little more of the Doctor's origins.  It also significantly shows that the Doctor can change his appearance more than once, and while the concept of regeneration was yet to be properly identified (not until Jon Pertwee's last story, The Planet of Spiders) this story showed the longevity of the show would be ensured.  Additionally it gives insight into the Doctor's reasoning as to why he left his planet, as he said he was bored, showing the Time Lord lifestyle was a rather dull and somewhat serene one, and essentially the Doctor is a renegade Time Lord, albeit a good one.

The story is highly ambitious and has many plot strands, not to mention many different characters, starting with Lady Jennifer Buckingham and Lt Carstairs (David Saville) who help out the Doctor and his companions in escaping the time zones.  General Smythe is one of the villainous military head figures in the World War I era, but is soon revealed to be one of the aliens, who has been brainwashing the soldiers (by the use of his glasses!).  And then there is the War Chief, played excellently by Edward Brayshaw, who is one of the masterminds behind the war games, who is identified as a renegade Time Lord, who wants to help conquer the universe.  The War Lord is a more measured, cold and logical villain, played by the ever great Philip Madoc, who is both calm and booming in his responses.  In fact you could almost say the plot is at times a bit too ambitious and covers so much ground, that its hard to keep track of what is happening.

The War Games is also notable for the depature of the Doctor's regular companions, Jamie and Zoe, and Frazer Hines, by this time had been virtually in the whole of second doctor's tenure, was always one of the most memorable characters of that era, and Hines had grown really well into the part in that time.  Wendy Padbury by then had also grown really well into her part as Zoe, who's character was usually of a cheery disposition, although Padbury always played Zoe's anxiety under of threat danger well (she also had a rather nice bum! ;-).  And their final scene with the Doctor as he says goodbye to them is nicely underplayed, as the Doctor calmly says goodbye to them both, and in that regard the original series was always better at dealing with the depature of the companions.  In the new series the producers and writers of the show, particularly in Russell T.Davies era, evey time a companion departed they had to heighten the emotion of it, and they always did it way too much.  The original series always dealt with the departures in a very understated way and that always made them far more effective, then the big swelling orchestral music and unecessary need to try and tug the heartstrings (or not so much tug but throttle). 

The final episode of the story also must rank as one of the finest in the Troughton era, as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe try to escape in the TARDIS, only to be captured by the omnipotent Time Lords.  The Time Lords themselves are presented as being quite distant, almost aloof, and also very calm in their manner, even when passing their sentence on the War Lord and the Doctor.  The Time Lords are also well played by the three actors Bernard Horsfall, Clyde Pollitt and Trevor Martin in this regard.  And the trial, the attempted escape of the War Lord, and the Doctor's goodbye to Jamie and Zoe, and his own trial are dealt with very well in the story.  The final scene we see with Zoe also has a real ring of poignancy about it too, as she is sent back to her own time, having forgotten her time with the Doctor, and she looks puzzled for one moment when one of her colleagues on the space station asks if she is ok, and she says "I think I had forgotten something important, but its alright now."  She then looks on for a brief moment as if a faint trace of her time with the Doctor is remembered then she walks away, its a deft touch in the story.

The final scene of the Doctor spinning away into space, protesting over his sentence is also memorable, and it must rank as one of the darkest and grimmest moments in the original series run, but its really effective at the same time, and it would pave way to beginning of an new era in the history of the show.  Patrick Toughton himself in the story is terrific, and his doctor his often fondly remembered and regarded as one of the best in the series, and it would hard to disagree, as over his tenure from 1966-1969 he firmly established his character as the Doctor, playing him with an impish sense of humour, yet he was always highly intelligent, and on the surface he looked like he would run away from danger, but he was also quite brave and very resourceful. 

As for the direction of the story, David Maloney, who would go on to direct some of the great classics in the original series, such as Genesis of the Daleks and The Talons of Weng Chiang in the Tom Baker era, does a great job here too.  And despite the story's almost inordinate length, he manages to keep the pace going fairly well considering how long it is, although the story's length does remain its main flaw, as it is probably just a bit too long, and does feel a bit repetitive at times, with its endless scenes of the soldiers going in and out of the SIDRATs for example.  I also think the scene where the Time Lords present the Doctor with choices of his new appearance is a bit silly as the choices he is given are crude drawings, and hardly depict realistic choices for his regeneration, so its no wonder he protests saying "I've never seen such a ridiculous bunch!".   

The music by Dudley Simpson is also worthy of note, as his score is really good, although some of the cues are quite reptitive, but once again he shows why he was one of the show's most prolific and finest composers.  Brian Hodgson, who provides the sound effects, and did so since the beginning of the show up until around 1973, also creates some great sounds, particularly the spooky and ethereal passages used on the Time Lord's planet (at least I think he did those!).

Sooooooo after that exhaustive post, The War Games stands as one of Patrick Troughton's finest and ambitious stories, and it showed that he went out on a high, paving the way for the colourful 1970s and the Jon Pertwee era.

And that's that.  

You talkin to me????

OK film review time and this is another classic, which is Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro as the alienated Vietnam veteran who drives a taxi cab at night, so here's alot more on the plot...

The film starts with the film's central character, Travis Bickle (De Niro) taking a job as a taxi driver so he work long hours to help deal with his insomnia.  Travis spends his nights alone, and usually frequents Porno movie theatres to try and help him sleep (as you do!).  Whilst driving the streets he spots a beautiful young woman, Betsy (Cybil Shepherd) who does voluntary work for the Presidential candidate Senator Charles Pallantine (Leonard Harris).  Travis soon goes to the office where Betsy works and asks her out, and Betsy is initially and accepts, and they go out for lunch.  However on their second date, Travis unwittingly decides to take Besty to see a dirty movie at the Porno theatres, as those are the only films that he knows of, which sickens Besty who walks out of the movie and goes home alone.  A few days after Travis repeatedly tries to contact Besty to no avail, he confronts her at the office, where berates her and says "you're in a hell!  And you're gonna die in the hell like the rest of them!", before being lead out by Betsy's co-worker, Tom (Albert Brooks).

Now feeling more and more frustrated by his lack of direction and by the corruption and decadence he sees daily on the streets of New York with all the pimps, junkies, whores and low-lifes, Travis decides to make changes in life, through strict daily exercise.  Travis also buys several guns from a travelling salesman, Andy (Steve Prince) with intent on defending himself from the scum on the streets.  Travis also encounters a couple of indicents that have an effect on him, the first being where he shoots a robber at a local convenience store, who the store owner takes responsibility for.  The second is a young girl who Travis has a fare one night, who wants to get out of the streets, but it turns she is a prostitute, and her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel) comes along and pulls her out of the cab.  Later one night, Travis nearly runs her car into her and stops just in time, he stares after her and drives off.  The next day, Travis goes to the girl (Jodie Foster) looking for "action", and he speaks to Sport, the pimp, who mocks Travis for his unusual quiet manner, and winds him up for looking like a cop, but tells him the girl is only 12 years old, but she will do all sorts for you "but no rough stuff".  Travis takes the girl to a room, but Travis isn't interested in sex, he wants to try and save her from Sport and from her sleazy life, the girl, who reveals her name to be Iris, is initially resistant to Travis's offer but she appreciates what he is trying to do for her, so they agree to meet again the next day for breakfast.  Next day when they meet for breakfast, Travis becomes more insistent that he save Iris from her sleazy life, calling Sport a killer and that he is a real low-life.  Travis then leaves her some money in an envelope for her to travel back home to her parents, and a note that says by the time she reads it he will be dead.  

At this point Travis's paranoia and contempt for the city's lowlife inhabitants reaches its limits, as he then shaves his head into a mowhawk hairdo, and attends a rally for Charles Pallantine, intent on assassinating him, but before he can get the chance, secret agents spot him, and he quickly flees from the scene.  Travis then turns his attention to go after Sport, in his mission to try and rescue Iris from her sleazy employer and the life that she has been thrown into.  And this is where the film culminates in a very bloody climax.

Taxi Driver is without a doubt one of the best modern films in American cinema, and even 36 years on, its impact is still as relevant now as it was then.  Travis Bickle is almost seen to be like the lone gunman figure, almost like a Charles Wittman, who suddenly snapped and went on a killing spree, except on a lower level.  But Travis at the same time also sees just how sick and depraved the city has become, and he reasserts that to Pallantine in the scene where he drives the Senator in his cab and says that the city is like "an open sewer".  And Travis in a strange way is almost like a moral avenger, as he clearly is a moralistic guy, as he wants to uphold the American dream, a better way of life, and has nothing but contempt for the elements that surround him.  But at the same time Travis is as Besty also says "a walking contradiction", on one hand he wants to see Iris to leave her sleazy street life and go back home, but one the other he spends his nights watching Porno films in movie theatres.  You also get that Travis is clearly a racist character as well, as he even gives his fellow cabbie, Charlie T, a look of contempt, as well as the pimps he sees on the streets, but again it doesn't make any difference to him who he takes as a fare in his taxi.  Overall Travis is a rather complex character and while his morals appear clear, there is a great deal of conflicting emotions going on in his head as well. 

On the performance side of things, Robert De Niro, undoubtedly gives one of his best performances here as the lonely insomniacal Travis Bickle, and he has so many memorable scenes and moments, as well as his infamous dialogue that he gives to himself in the mirror "you talking to me???? you talking to me??".  The scene itself was naturally an improvisation that De Niro developed as part of his character, and it remains a scene that sticks in your mind.

The other performances are also similarly great, Cybil Shepherd is really good as the cool headed Betsy, who you get is a girl who wants to be wooed, and while she is amused by her work colleague Tom, she is more intruiged by Travis, until he blows his chances by taking her to the naughty film.  Peter Boyle is also great as the veteran cabbie, Wizard, who tries to impart advice to Travis in their scene where Travis is clearly frustrated by his lack of direction in life, and Travis shakes off his advice by saying "That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard!", and Wizard says "Well its not Bertrand Russell, but what do you want?  I'm a cabbie!".  Albert Brooks is also very good in his role as Tom, Betsy's co-worker, whom he has a good rapport with Besty, although Tom is basically in his own way trying to get into Betsy's knickers, by trying to impress her with his witt.  Harvey Keitel is very good as Sport, the sleazy pimp and his scene with Travis is really good, as he banters with him and says "catch ya later, copper!".  And while its a small part, Steve Prince as the travelling salesman, Andy, is also really good, and he has one of my favourite lines from the film, when Travis puts one of his guns in his jeans and checks it out in the mirror, and Andy says "ain't that a little honey???".   And finally Jodie Foster, who at the time was already an experienced child actress, puts in an excellent performance as Iris, the precocious young girl who ends up leading a sordid lifestyle. 

Direction wise, Martin Scorsese does pretty much a flawless job, and his use of the smoke filled streets, and the neon lights on the streets are used really well.  He also does a great job with the bloody climax scene, where at the end when the cops break into the room we see an impressive 360 degree camera pan around the room, which was achieved by cutting a a circular shape out of the roof of the set, so the cameras could move.  He too also puts in a very memorable and creepy performance as one of the Travis's fares, who tells him of his plan to kill his wife, and apparently Scorsese did the part to fill in for an actor that was unavailable, which was just as well, as its great scene in the film.  The effects work on the film in the bloody climax are also worthy of note and really well created by the at the time Hollywood special effects make-up artist guru, Dick Smith.  Apparently the violence of the scene with Travis going on his bloody crusade was considered by the MPAA at the time (the Motion Picture Association of America) to be so violent that they insisted that the colour in the scene be diluted, which is why the colour in the print looks so pale. 

The film is generally very impressive and for me there are very few flaws in the film, although if there is one then for me its the reasoning behind Travis's motives to try and assassinate Pallantine.  Its like he seems to want to kill off Pallantine on a whim, and you don't really get why all of sudden he would want to do it, as there appears to be no real reason or motive behind it.  Perhaps maybe Travis had become so disillusioned by that point that he felt that not even Pallantine could do anything to clean up the scum off the streets, or that he was just another politician with empty promises (maybe the latter!).

Anyway I can't finish the post without mentioning the film's music score, which was by the late great Bernard Herrman, who at the time was in ill health, but agreed to write the score of the film based on the script that he read.  Herrmann himself actually passed away the day after he had completed the score, on 24 December 1975.  The score itself stands as one of the most memorable, moody, atmospheric and terrific scores that the great master composer ever committed to cinema, and its instantly recognisible as soon as you hear it.

Soooo that's it for my Taxi Driver analysis, its a great classic and remains one of the best films of the 1970s and one of the best films of the last 40 years.

2012 French Open the ladies: who's it gonna be???

Well I've already given my thoughts on the top four in the men's side of the tournament that is the French Open, the second grand slam of the year, so here are my thoughts on the possible contenders for the ladies.

Starting with the obvious ones, why not start with Serena Williams, who has been in blistering form lately since her return to the WTA tour, and her clay court season has been superb and she has yet to lose a match on the clay (of any colour!), with two titles to her name in Charleston and Madrid.  So has Serena got a chance to lift the title?  Definitely.  Serena more than any other player has the ability and is she one of the all time great players, with 13 slams to her name already, so is a better bet than anyone.  But you never know how things can go in a grand slam, and there is no guarantees that she will make it all the way through to the final, as anything can happen.

Next we have Victoria Azarenka who this year became the newly christened World No.1, and the Australian Open champion, and while she has yet to even win a clay court title in her career as yet, she is still a very strong contender, and if Serena is knocked before the final, then Vika could well be the next best choice.  But as I said anything can and will happen and it remains to be seen if Victoria can make it through to the later stages, but I would be really surprised if she didn't.

After Victoria, I think the player with the next best shot is Maria Sharapova, and in a way she has a better shot than Victoria has, as Maria has already beaten Vika in Stuttgart this year on the clay, and I think the surface of clay gives Maria more time to hit through the ball.  Maria also did really well last year at the French Open, reaching the semi finals, only to be put out by the eventualy champion, Li Na.  And in that semi final match she ended it on the worst possible note with a double fault, so here's hoping for her sake that it doesn't happen again.

After this there are a few more players that could have an outside chance, starting with well Li Na herself, who has found some really good form again this year on the clay, and just maybe she can defend her title this year, but its a big ask, given the competition.  Agnieszka Radwanska could also have a chance, depending on her draw, but sooner or later she might face a player that could beat her, and if she reaches the semis, she most likely will play Victoria Azarenka, who has an emphatic 6-0 win lead this year over her.  Sam Stosur also has a chance as she was already a French Open finalist in 2010, and her clay game this year has been really good, and being the reigning US Open champion, Sam could utilise her experience should she get to the final once again, 

And another outsider who has a chance, but is a real longshot given her recent form, is Francesca Schiavone, who was the champion back in 2010.  Fran has suffered from pretty bad form lately and she has been going out early in alot of tournaments in the first round.  However she has really improved her form this week in the WTA International event in Strasbourg, where she has played some incredible tennis, and has cruised her way to the finals, having defeated Sloan Stephens in the semis in straight sets 7-5, 6-1, and she will face the French player, Alize Cornet in the final.  And given this run of form in Strasbourg, I can even see her possibly going on and winning the title there too, and if she does it will give her big confidence going into the French, and if she wins the final on Saturday it will be her first title since winning the French Open back in 2010.  And I would really like to see Francesca go as deep as she can into the tournament, as I think in the past she has geared herself up so well for the French Open and I think she is doing it here again, so all the very best to her this week in Strasbourg and for the French, and I will definitely be rooting for her. 

Then there are some players who I don't really see having much of a chance such as Caroline Wozniacki, who started off the year as the World No.1 and has now taken a dive down to the No.8.  Caroline really isnt a clay court player, although she has won some Premier level clay events on the WTA tour, the French Open is an event which I think will always elude her and there are too many players that can hit her off the court.  Petra Kvitova is also another player who has the chance to do well, but again I think her form has really been up and down of late, and she had her chance to be the World No.1 in Melbourne, but she missed it, and since then she has lost in several tournaments and has gone down to the World No.4.  And overall Petra is always a player that struggles with consistency, as she is either unplayable or patchy.

So that's my thoughts on the ladies contenders for the French Open, the draw is announced tomorrow, so we will find who is scheduled to play who.

Till then that's it for now.

Deals and deals

Ok time now for another post on The Apprentice, as the eighth series is now into the 10th episode and with two weeks remaining they are starting get down to the real business end of the process, so here's more on the task for this week.

This week the two teams had to come up deals that they could negotiate with high end businesses in London and do daily deals on a website for only 24 hours, and the team with the most discount sales would win the task, while the other would suffer the usual fate, with one of the team being fired.  So team Sterling, lead by Stephen, came up with going after restaurant deal offers, but Ricky on their team wasted alot of time in the morning trying to persuade one of the restuarants to accept a deal, but he later went to ensure two deals with two other restaurants.  Stephen and Gabrille however got discounts but neglected to go with the brief with specified it had to be with the high end businesses.  Team Phoenix lead by Jade, however went with making discount deals for a high end spa and got a 50% discount, but she poorly organised her meetings and get her appointments in order. 

Back in the boardroom as usual we soon found out what was what as the two teams gave an account to Lord Sugar what they did etc.  But the task was all about the figures and it was revealed that team Phoenix were the winners as they pulled in the most sales with an impressive £14,563, as opposed to Sterling's disappointing £6,440.  So team Phoenix enjoyed another victory and reward, which this time was a meal out at a country house. 

As for team Sterling, as there were only three members left, they all had to go back in the boardroom together.  Stephen debated that while he was at fault for not going to the restaurants with Ricky, that he felt that Gabrielle contributed very little to the task.  Ricky however contributed the most in terms of sales in the task as he was reponsible for over £5,000 of their sales, and did his usual assertive job of defending himself in the boardroom.  Gabrielle however struggled to make her plea as strong as the two guys did, and realised her faults in the task, but also felt that the failure of the task lay solely with Stephen.  But in the end, Lord Sugar decided that due to the lack of contribution and lack of passion in later tasks, that with regret, Gabrille had to go.  But... wait!  There wasn't to be just one firing, there was another as well, as Lord Sugar gave Stephen the chance of being project manager this week to prove himself, but as he didn't delivered he was let go as well!  Yes! Mwah mwah! 

Well I can't really argue too much with Lord Sugar's decision to fire Stephen as I thought he really was a bit of an arse, and he was out of his depth in the process, and more often that not, he kept bumbling his way through tasks.  He also failed to task responsibility for his actions in certain tasks and was too quick to blame others as well, so I was quite pleased to see the back of him.  As for Gabrielle, I kind of agree with Lord Sugar's decision to fire her, but at the same time I felt she should have stayed, as she was a really good candidate, and after 10 weeks its easy for any candidate's passion to drop off.  But sooner or later Lord Sugar really has to get down to brass tacks and sort out who he wants to stay and who he wants to let go, so good candidates along the way will fall foul of the show's format.

Anywayyy that's another Apprentice post over with, and with only two weeks left its getting closer to the final stage, where the remaining candidates will present their business plans and come under fire from Lord Sugar's experts.  But one more task remains and that will be next week, so its gonna be fun.

Right that's it!  

When in Rome Final Part: The pendulum swings....

Ok so here's my last post on the 2012 Internazionali BNL D'Italia, or rather the Rome Open, which will cover the men's and ladies singles finals.

So starting with the ladies the final was between Maria Sharapova and Li Na, the defending French Open champion from last year.  To say this match was a bit of a see-saw was an understatement, and after dropping the first set and going 4-0 down, Maria found her form and broke back to make it 4-4 all and then went on to get the crucial break to win the 2nd set.  In the 3rd however, it was a battle of the see saw again, as Maria was 4-1 up, but she herself struggled to close out the match, letting Li Na back in, and their mixed quality play carried on till the tiebreak, which Sharapova finally sealed to successfully defend her title in Rome, and winning after a near 3 hour battle in 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).

Although the quality of play in the final was decidedly mixed, it was however great to see a long match being played out in the final, as there have been too many short finals in the ladies events of late, especially in Madrid last week, when Serena Williams crushed Victoria Azarenka in just over an hour.  The match was also quite intruiging as both players struggled to play well at the same time, which kept swinging the momentum and made it unpredictable.  The ladies final was also unique as it was for once longer than the men's final was, now there is a rarity!  So while neither player played an outstanding match, Maria Sharapova definitely deserved to win based on her fighting spirit, and she knows how to fight through any situation (or most unless she plays Serena or Victoria!) and win under those circumstances, so well done, Maria.

Now onto the men's final, which was between Novak Djokovic current No.1, and the recently ranked No.3, Rafael Nadal.  This match was a tough one to call, as last time in Monte Carlo, Djokovic had just lost his grandfather, and mentally you could see he was not in the match, but this time he was back on form and looked ready to compete with Rafa.  As for the match itself, it was a pretty competitive tight one, particularly in the first where both players traded breaks, but Rafa took the decisive break to close out the 1st set.  In the 2nd set however, Djoko dropped his opening serve and from there Rafa took the initiative, although he saved several break points, he managed to come through, as Djokovic capitulated on serve at 5-3, and double faulted to hand Rafa the game, set, match and championship in Rome.

This was actually a pretty good final and despite the scoreline it was actually a close match, as both men had their share of deuce games, but it was ultimately Djokovic who handed the breaks to Rafa, when it mattered.  Djokovic also rather uncharacteristically made over 40 unforced errors in the final, and that certainly cost him, but despite that, he put a good fight, as the match lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes, so for the scoreline, it was pretty tough, and it was a shame for Djokovic the match to end on a double fault.  But now that Rafa has beaten Djokovic twice, this might see the pendulum swing back his way, and he might go on a winning streak of his own against the Serbian, and if he does, he is sure to get that World No.1 spot back soon, but that remains to be seen.  And it makes you wonder if Djokovic's time as the No.1 will be soon up, as he has already lost five matches this year, as this time last year, he had lost none, and he could be in danger of being usurped by Rafa, but time will tell.  

So that's Rafa now back in the lead, having won 21 Masters titles (the most since 1990, as Ivan Lendl holds the current all time record of 22), and his 6th Rome title, and 49th overall.  Next is of course the French Open, and with Rafa having played so well in Rome and Monte Carlo, he looks the hot favourite to win the title yet again.  And based on Djokovic's performance here, I can't quite see him defeat Rafa in the French, but however that remains to be seen, and he probably is the only man that can do it, if he plays well enough, but based on his recent clay performances it seems doubtful.

Anyway that's it for now on the tennis, more to follow once Roland Garros get's under way, and already I'm looking forward to it, and I'm sure it will be a cracking one.  In the meantime however Andy Murray will be playing in a team exhibition event this week, the Masters Guinot Mary Cohr tournament along with a strong cast of players such as Tsonga, Del Potro, Gasquet, Baghdatis, Wawrinka, Llorda and Verdasco.  Andy will play Ernests Gulbis, a Latvian player, whom Andy has beaten in all four of their meetings, so we will see where his game is at just now, and here's hoping he wins, but win or lose its only exhibition stuff, so no real worry which way it goes.  

Till then that's it.

Career slam, 7th Heaven, Back to No.1, or Major Breakthrough

OK so as somewhat vague the title of my post may appear it does ask a few questions, and those questions belong to the top 4 men's tennis players just now, as they head for Roland Garros, which is in just a week's time, so basically its simple enough: who will win the French Open??????  Well here is more on what I think...

To start off with, why not start with the World No.1, Novak Djokovic, who is trying to win his career slam, having won the other majors, the Australian, US Open and Wimbledon, the red dirt slam still eludes him.  So Djokovic has made no bones about his ambitions to win the French Open this year, in fact its something he has been utterly determined to do for years, but hasn't quite got there yet.  Last year when he had that amazing 41 match winning streak, it looked very likely he could have been the French Open champion should he have gotten to the final, however it took one of Federer's best performances in years to defeat him.  And this year no doubt Djokovic will be looking for revenge over Federer in order to reach that final and seize his chance.  Djoko also has a great winning record over Rafa as it is, and as I type this, they are as yet to play their final at the Rome Open, which has been postponed until tomorrow, so tomorrow's result will be a good indicator as to where Djokovic's clay game stacks up against the king's.  But to rate his chances, well to be honest you would be mad to write off his chances, as they are certainly very strong, but its hard to tell as he may have won the other three majors, but its quite something else beat the king of clay on his best surface in his favourite event.  So tomorrow should he beat Rafa it could be strong indicator pointing towards the possible fact he could win the French Open, but if he doesn't, I would be inclined to go the other way.

So onto Rafa, who well, his record at RG speaks for itself, having the French Open 6 times, equalling Bjorn Borg's record, so he will be determined to make history and make it number 7.  Can Rafa do it????  Well he definitely can, and he is still my favourite to win the French, and you could argue that Djokovic might have the mental edge on him, but I'm not entirely convinced at Roland Garros if Djokovic can actually pull out that win.  If Djokovic as I said wins in Rome tomorrow, its possible he could win the French, as he will go into it with alot of confidence having beaten the king.  But the Masters tournaments aren't the majors, which are a different kettle of fish altogether, and Rafa will fight tooth and nail, and hammer and tong to hold onto that title.  And judging by the excellent final they played at the Australian Open earlier this year, their rivalry is looking stronger than ever and after getting that first win over Djokovic in Monte Carlo last month, it could give Rafa that little edge he needs to get back to beating Djokovic.  Also having lost the last three majors, it would be the ultimate revenge if Rafa could get his own back in RG in three weeks time.

Now onto Roger Federer, who this year has actually been making a very impressive comeback on the ATP tour, having clocked up four titles already this year in Rotterdam, Doha, Indian Wells and last week in Madrid and is eyeing the World No.1 spot, and he has already suceeded in getting to No.2 spot.  However Roger has always played second fiddle to Rafa on the clay, so I'm not convinced he will ever be able to get past him at RG, as its something he has failed to do since they competed in the 2006 final.  However Roger does stand a good chance of getting to the final if he plays anything like he did last year, but for me, even though he has won the title once, I still think it was a one off deal, and he won't be likely to win again.  But Roger has nothing left to prove, having won them all, he can still leave with his head held high, and I'm sure he will already be thinking about the grass of SW19.

And finally we have the world numero 4, Andy Murray, who frankly of late has had a dip in form, as his clay court season so far has been pretty uninspiring.  Andy has managed to reach two quarter finals this year on the red dirt in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.  But in both matches Andy failed to pull out the win or anything special that would show that he can compete with the best players on clay.  So it was almost like his clay season last year was a bit of a one off, as he played so well reaching the semi finals, one of them being the French Open, which was a great effort.  Plus Andy already said that after his defeat against Richard Gasquet last week in Rome, that he felt his back was still sore after his injury from the week before Madrid.  So this does leave a worrying question mark over Andy's chances in going deep at the French Open.  For me it has to be said here and now that Andy doesn't stand a chance of winning the French Open, and he definitely doesn't stand a chance of taking Rafa, or Federer on clay, maybe Djokovic, but he would have to play his absolute best, and physically its doubtful that he will be up to it.

However it also has to be said that Andy's poor form on the clay this year so far has been in the Masters events and not in Roland Garros, and I do believe his motivation and energy will be much higher than it was in either Monte Carlo or Rome, come the French Open.  But I definitely think he won't win the title, and if he carries on performing the way he had in the Monte Carlo, Barcelona or Rome, he will be lucky to get past the 3rd round.  But as I said, its the second grand slam of the year, and his motivation will be very high, so if he is in any pain, then he will as Ivan Lendl once said, need to be prepared to fight through it.  So hopefully fingers crossed for Andy that he does at least get through to the quarter finals or even the semis again this year.  And I don't fully rate his chances of winning a slam this year, but what he can do is try and build on his terrific effort he displayed in the Australian Open, and keep going and digging as deep as he can, even if he loses, try and make it as tight and close a match as possible, so that way he knows he's going in the right direction.  If Andy can do that at the French, Wimbledon and the US Open, then he's got a chance if not in 2012, then definitely in 2013 to make that final step.

And as a quick update (24.05.12) Andy's preparations took another, albeit minor hit today, as he suffered another loss in his exhibition match to the Latvian player, Ernests Gulbis, who ranked No.92 in the world, defeated the ailing Andy in straight sets 7-6(4), 7-6(4).  In the 1st set Andy was 4-1 up even, and yet he capitulated (I love that word!) on serve yet again, but credit deserves to go to Gulbis, who played really well as the match progressed.

But its another troubling sign from the Muzza, and so far his clay court season has been a bit of a write off, having only won 5 matches in three tournaments, its not been a very inspiring start.  It also appears that his back has been troubling him still as well, and with the French Open beginning this week, his injury couldn't have been timed worse.  If Andy is to have any chance of going deep in the French open, he will have to be in great shape, and his fitness during the clay season so far has been not been the best given his back injury. 

And another update (25.05.12) the RG draw has been announced and the draw is much the same as in previous grand slams, with Andy being drawn on the same side as Rafa, so quite easy really! ;-)  No, but he will have quite a tough passage to a potential semi final meeting with Rafa, as he may have to go through the likes of Jarko Neimenin, Bernard Tomic, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Richard Gasquet and David Ferrer, who he could meet in the quarter finals, not an enviable prospect, given his current form on the clay.  Andy has however allayed some of the fears of his fitness as he has said that his back is getting better day by day and he is feeling good, so hopefully that bodes well for making some progress at the French.  And he will also have Ivan Lendl's knowledge and experience to draw on, and hopefully it will prove invaluable to his progress at Roland Garros.  So however his campaign goes, I wish him the very best of luck, and if his plan is to save the best for last, then this is as good a time as any to produce it.

And quickly Djokovic will again be on the same side of the draw as Federer, probably so they can set up another epic encounter like their superb match last year in the semis.  But this time Djokovic will be absolutely determined to get past Federer and reach that final, and I would be moderately surprised if he didn't, but we can leave that for another day (or rather two weeks today!).  

Right that's it for now!

When in Rome Part 2: 25 and out

Ok well here's another post on the Internazionali BNL Italia (or Rome Open) in Rome on the ATP/WTA tour with more matches today so here's more on that.

Starting with the men, we had Novak Djokovic out on court first who played against Juan Monaco, the Argentine No.2, and it was quite a tough encounter as Djokovic had to battle from a set down to overcome Monaco, which he eventually did in 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.  Djokovic showed his great mental strength in this match once again, and in this situations he knew just what he had to do, to come through it, which now sees him into the quarter finals.  Although Djokovic will an even tougher encounter probably ahead of him as he will either face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Juan Martin Del Potro.  Rafa also made it through, but with considerable ease against his fellow countryman, Marcel Granollers in an emphatic 6-1, 6-1.

And now for the main match of my post, which is Andy Murray who took on Richard Gasquet, in what proved to be a brutally physical encounter between the two men.  Andy had already played a real war of attrition against David Nalbandian in his first match, which he edged Nalbandian in the final set.  But in this match, Andy already looked a bit weary, and even though he started out the stronger, breaking Gasquet, when it came to serving out for 1st set at 5-4, he dropped serve (no!!!) to level things, and in the tiebreaker, Andy came through easily.  In the 2nd set however that's when things started to go badly wrong, as Andy's 1st servitis played up, probably about as bad as I have ever seen it, with Gasquet breaking twice.  In the 3rd set it was the same thing with Gasquet breaking twice yet again, and after nearly 3 hours, the Frenchman came through to a quarter final place, with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 win.

Wellll this was another very disappointing result for Andy Murray, who I have to say started out well hitting the ball hard and flat, but as the 1st set went out, his serve started to falter, and in the 2nd set it fell to pieces.  And its that serve which is a real real concern, and if he carries on like that, he will never win a grand slam, ever.  So its something that needs to be looked at, but who knows what Ivan Lendl can do with it, and I noticed he wasn't there in Rome, perhaps they have parted company already! ;-)  One thing I have noticed about it is that he keeps trying to go for too much on his first serve, as he hits it as hard as he can and he either dumps it into the net or fires it long.  And on average his first serve percentage is usually around 50% which for winning a slam is nowhere near good enough. 

So this is another setback for the World No.4, and his French Open campaign at this rate is starting to look rather grim.  However it does highlight once again that he really isn't a clay court player, and although he played his best clay season last year, its something he's not been able to keep up.  And the troubling thing is he could end up going out in the 2nd or even 3rd round at this rate in the French Open.  However Andy after the match did say he felt his back getting sore, and after playing a gruelling match against Nalbandian, another in succession definitely didn't help matters.

But let's be honest his prospects of winning anything on clay aren't too good anyway, and he isn't a favourite to win the French Open by any stretch. But Rome is over for him, and the French is more importantly just round the corner, so I'll wish Andy the best for that, and hope he uses the time he has to recover and get back in good shape for RG. 

So quickly on the ladies side, Sam Stosur beaten by Venus Williams, who has been really impressive in Rome so far, and she pushed Stosur aside in 6-4, 6-3.  Serena also had little trouble getting past Anabel Medina Garrigues in 6-3, 6-1.  However some of the top seeds have tumbled out already such as Bartoli, who lost to Julia Goerges in 6-3, 6-1, and Goerges herself today lost to Angelique Kerber in 6-4, 6-1.  Caroline Wozniacki was forced to retire with a throat infection against the aforementioned Anabel Medina Garrigues trailing 6-4, 6-0 ret.  And Victoria Azarenka, despite a very comfortable win against Shah Peer of Israel in 6-1, 6-2, has pulled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury.

Right well it might be curtains for Andy Murray, but there will be more tennis to come soon...

Till then that's it for now.

What we need is... sparkling wine!

OK so here's another post fer the 9th episode of The Apprentice (series 8) in which the two teams this week were given the task of devising a brand and identity of English sparkling wine.

So starting with team Sterling, who was lead by Ricky, they came up with the name "Grandeur" for their wine brand, even though this is a French word, but Gabrielle did come up with a good design for logo with the English rose.  As for the video well, things went a bit off message as Jenna was left in charge of directing the video, which was done as a humourous farce, with a bride on her wedding daycomplaining about the quality of the wine, only to be given the Grandeur wine, and a very cheesy toast from her father, and yup it was as bad as it sounds.  However on the website side of things, Ricky did a fine job and in their sales pitch to the wine expert judges, he presented well and showed the online forums and links for social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but the video left the judges cringing. 

As for team Phoenix, they were lead by Tom, who was already in the wine business, so he had a good idea on a strategy for the branding the wine, even though he and Adam spent the first day on a wine tasting day, clearly by the end of it, they were getting more pished!  Meanwhile this was going on Nick and Jade worked hard on creating the website for their sparkling wine brand, and on the second day, Adam directed, sorry "choreographed" the video, which was very bland, with a cliched image of people at a gathering clinking glasses of wine.  But you can't say Adam won't have left this process without having turned his hand to different things, he sure has done that, and even though he doesn't have a clue what he's on about, he's doing not too bad.  As for team Phoenix's pitch, Tom did come a bit under fire for the website not attracting to new business, instead it seem to focus more on existing customers.

But back in the boardroom the two teams it was no longer about profits etc, this time it was about who had the more successful campaign, and the decision lay with Lord Sugar.  Lord Sugar said to team Phoenix that he felt the video was boring, and that the site was a bit more orientated towards existing customers.  But as for team Sterling, despite acknowledgeing their website was quite impressive, the video was ridiculously cheesy and went violently off message from the product, so Lord Sugar decided that they were the losing team, with team Phoenix finally getting their first win in four weeks.

When it came to crunch time, Ricky decided to bring Stephen and Jenna back in the boardroom, as they were the sub-team responsible for the filming of the video, and it was Jenna's decision to make the video a comedy number.  Lord Sugar criticised Ricky for not making it clear enough that he wanted the video to be serious, as he did state that a little humour would be fine as long as it wasn't too cheesy.  Steven on the other hand mainly sat on the fence on this one and didn't contribute too much to the task, and Lord Sugar recognised that he has a way of deflecting blame and talking himself out of situations.  But ultimately Lord Sugar decided that the failure of the task solely lay with the video, and as Jenna was the director of the video, she had to go.

On this one I have to say I think that Lord Sugar made the wrong decision in firing Jenna, as I think Stephen should have went instead, as he did little to contribute to this task.  I also think he's bit of an arse, as he keeps trying to come up with some half-assed ideas, which are really corny, and don't work at all, like the one where he did a bit of skit with Ricky on the market sale task, with the brushes.  And he clearly also didn't have a clue when it came to doing research on the sparkling wine, as he and Gabrielle went to a Tesco supermarket, and he went off to try and find a sparkling wine connosieur!  In a supermarket????  Oh yeah, I'm sure you will find one there no doubt about it!  As far as I'm concerned Stephen is just a twat, who so far has managed to talk himself out of being fired.  Mind you, Stephen has put himself in the firing line next week, as Lord Sugar decided to make him project manager on the task, so here's hoping he goes, mwah mwah! ;-) 

So that's nine weeks down and three to go, leaving only seven candidates left to compete for the right to become Lord Sugar's business partner.  As for thoughts on who should win, its a tough one, but for me the stand out probably has to be Gabrielle, as she has the best overall attitude, is very bright, and creative, and bit of a babe too. ;-)  I also think Nick is very capable too, even though he looks like Justin Bieber and sounds like Boris Johnson, but he's a bright guy, and he also has never been in the bottom three in the boardroom, although that isn't always a guarantee.  But it also will come down to who has the best business plan as well, and that remains to be seen. 

Right that's it for another Apprentice post, another will follow next week.  

When in Rome Part 1: Battle of the birthday boy

Right so we go onto the ATP/WTA tour event in Rome, the Internazionali BNL Italia (or Rome Open), which is a 1000 Master Series/Premier 5 event on the men's and ladies tour.

Starting with the ladies, it was a bit of a slow start but there have been some very good matches on display today, as the top seeds started to go out and play their first matches.  To begin with we had Maria Sharapova who took on the talented upcoming American player, Christina McHale, and they played a very tight close match, with only one break of serve each set for Maria, who sealed it in 7-5, 7-5, to reach the 3rd round.  And one of the most entertaining matches of the day that I had seen was between the Italian No.3, Flavia Pennetta, who went up against the Russian, Maria Kirilenko, and despite the scoreline in the 1st set, it was pretty tight, but Flavia took it 6-1.  In the 2nd set however, Kirilenko went a double break up, at 4-1, but at 5-2 serving for the set, Flavia suddenly found her form again and rattled off the next 3 games to level up, and it went to a tiebreak, where Flavia dominated to win the match 6-1, 7-6(7-2).  This was a really good match and it also had a great atmosphere as the court was jam packed, clearly the crowd were backing their native player in Pennetta, and they cheered her on, practically on every point won.  And it was great to see the ladies matches have the audiences full support, as in Madrid I was rather shocked to see the ladies matches were barely attended, and the quarter final and semi final matches didn't have a half full audience!

In other ladies matches Petra Kvitova also had a tough test on her hands as she played another Russian, Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova, but she came through in the end in 7-5, 6-4.  Jelena Jankovic however fell to the saucy Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Jankovic in a very close match in 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4). Venus Williams also got off to a strong start as she comfortably saw off the pixie like Simona Halep in 6-3, 6-4.  Angelique Kerber also came through a very tough encounter, against the Australian, Anastasia Rodionova, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

So more to follow on the lasses front soon....

Now onto the men, which started off today proper with the top seeds out playing, such as David Ferrer who played Fernando Verdasco, who both have a 7-7 head to head, but it was Ferrer who came out on top in this one, winning 6-3, 7-6.  Del Porto was pushed hard by the Frenchman, Michael Llorda, as he toughed it out in 3 sets, winning eventually in 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.  Gilles Simon, the French No.2, also played against the American, Donald Young, but despite being a break down in the 2nd set, he came back to win the match in 6-2, 7-5.  And Djokovic got his title defence off to a fine start as he played the Aussie, Bernard Tomic, and dispatched him easily in 6-3, 6-3.

Now for the match of the day, which saw the return of the British No.1, Andy Murray, who faced a mountainous challenge in playing the veteran and former World No.3, David Nalbandian, on his 25th birthday no less.  By reputation you would expect this to be a tough match, and it certainly was that, although it didn't start out like that, as Nalbandian failed to get anything going in the first set, as he struggled on serve, and was broken twice by Andy.  In the 2nd however, Nalbandian found his form, and got the break to seal the 2nd set, taking us into the decider, which was a very tight and hard fought affair.  At one point, Nalbandian managed to get the break to make it 3-1, as Andy double faulted, however Andy broke straight back in the next service game.  After this, the two men were locked in, but it was Andy that got lucky on Nalbandian's serve at 5-6, as his return just dropped back over the net.  And after a shaky start to his final service game to win the match, Andy managed to come through an exhaustive encounter in 6-1 4-6, 7-5.

This really was an excellent, high quality match, and both players played some great tennis for the crowd.  However as usual, it was Andy's serve that got him into trouble, as he captiulated (starting to like that word!) in trying to level the score to 5-5 in the 2nd set, and even handing the early break to Nalbandian in the 3rd.  Regardless though, Andy once again showed his fighting abilities on the tennis court, which are frankly second to none, and played some of his best tennis to get back into the match.  It was also Andy's 25th birthday today, so it was an extra gift that he was able to win the match, as it really did look touch and go at times during it.  However Andy did a great job in the end, getting through, and he will next go on to face either Richard Gasquet or qualifier, and having a day off in between, hopefully Andy will be feeling better for the next round.  So in the meantime, Andy, enjoy your birthday cake (which he was presented with after his match!) and work on that serve!  :-)

So that's it for now, with the Rome tournament shaping up nicely, and Roger and Rafa will take to the court tomorrow, in their respective matches, so I will say a bit more about that then.

Bye the now.

Madrid Part 5.2: Blue goes out on a high....

Rrrrrrrrighty that's the men's final over with at the Mutua Madrid Open, which was between Roger Federer, and the World No.7, Tomas Berdych, so here's alot more on that.

As this was the men's final, and with two such great players in it, it promised to be a good one, and thankfully it was almost certainly that, as the two guys battled it out for the right to win the trophy.  From the onset however, Berdych looked the sharper player, as he immediately broke Federer's serve, and went 3-0 up.  Federer managed to get himself on the scoreboard, keeping it to the single break, but Berdych has little trouble serving out the 1st set.  In the 2nd, it was Federer's turn to go a break up, but at 4-2, Berdych broke back to level the match until 6-5, Berdych double faulted to hand the set over to Federer.  And in the final set, again Berdych dropped his serve to make it 5-3, but he broke back straight away and levelled the plane field, until yet again at 5-6, on Berdych's serve, he finally capitulated to hand Roger his 20th Master 1000 series title, and his 4th title of the year, as well as also finally overtaking Rafa in the rankings for the first time in many a moon in making the World No.2 again.  The final score after nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes reading 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. 

This really was a terrific end to what was actually a very good tournament, albeit a highly controversial one, because of the newly coloured blue clay.  And after the very disappointing ladies final, they saved the best for last, as both Fed and Berdych put on a high quality display for the packed Manolla Sontana stadium court.  Berdych at quite a few times in the match was the better player, but when it came to playing those big pressure points, he came up a bit short, and it was ultimately Federer's experience that got him through.  And yet again its testament to Roger's amazing ability to adapt to any court, any surface, and given his age at 30, when most players are winding down, that he is still able to compete at the highest level of the sport.  Right now, this year on the ATP tour, Roger has been playing some of the best tennis he has played in years, and while so far it has eluded at the grand slam level, he may yet have another slam under his belt.  He is also getting closer to realising his main goal to become the World No.1, as he has now moved up to the No.2 spot, toppling Rafa, who will now for the first time in ages be ranked at the World No.3.  And while Serena Williams criticised the men's players for having a poor attitude towards the blue clay and complaining about it, which was a fair point, at least the men's final was an actual match, as opposed to the ladies final, which was just a massive letdown and was no more than a warm up for her. 

However with Rome just round the corner Rafa might be able to snatch that ranking back off Federer, should they meet, so this clay trophy might just be a one off, but it does send out a signal to the other two guys, as he coped with a surface they couldn't, so its says alot for him.  So it will be pretty exciting to see what lies ahead in Rome when Federer will most likely compete with Djokovic or Nadal, should he get that far, as so far, the finals he has reached have all been without them, so sooner or later he will face one of them.

Anyway so that's the Mutua Madrid Open tournament over, and it has been quite an interesting and (especially) colourful one, whether or not the clay will remain blue or not, next year, remains to be seen.  Manollo Sontana has so far said that he intends to keep the blue clay this year, as he will put on a Challenger series event later in the year to see how it plays out, but he might be keeping the top two guys away from it next year should it still be around.

Sooooo that's it for now.  More to come on the next ATP/WTA event in Rome.

Madrid Part 5.1: Washout clay blues....

Wellllll that's the first final of the day over with at the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open as the ladies tournament concluded with two of the best players in the world, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams taking to the court to fight for the trophy.

Serena went into this match as the hot favourite, and even though she is currently ranked as the World No.9, the ranking was completely irrelevant in this match, as she taught the current World No.1, Victoria Azarenka a lesson in how to play a tennis match.  In a quick summary, the first set belonged to Serena, but Azarenka didn't so much as lose the set, as she pretty much handed it to Serena on a golden platter, as she failed spectacularly in trying to find her serve throughout the set, and allowing herself to be broken twice in just under 30 minutes, with Serena serving solid as a rock throughout.  In the 2nd set, Azarenka once again allowed herself to be broken straight away, handing Serena the initiative, however Vika did manage to keep things to the single break, but in the end it was no use, as Serena proved to be way too good for the current No.1, and breezed to an emphatic victory in little over an hour, 6-1, 6-3.

Wellll to say that this match was a disappointment was an understatement, and I don't understand what happened to Victoria out there at all, as her serve totally deserted her in that first set, and its not like Serena had to do much in that first set, it was just handed to her.  In the second Victoria being broken early, again did very little to stop the Williams juggernaut, and although there was a small hope that Victoria could break back at 4-2, making it to duece on Serena's service game, but it quickly faded away fast, with Serena's solid serving, as she served up about 15 aces, to Victoria's none.  The match in short was all about Serena, and in her current form, there isn't much that anyone can do against her.  And while Victoria currently holds the World No.1 ranking, she won't have it for long at this rate, as if Serena plays a full season, she will easily be No.1 by the end of the year (or the summer!), and no doubt she will have a couple more grand slams under her belt too.

In fact throughout the whole tournament no one really threatened her except Caroline Wozniacki, who was the only one who was able to take a set off her, although Serena said it was because she started off the match a bit sluggishly.  But for me, I think the Dane is one of the very few players that can challenge Serena, and actually give her something, and I was in retrospect actually very impressed with her efforts against her, as well as Lucie Hdrarecka's in the semi final.  I also think that while she is no longer the World No.1, that Caroline was always a better No.1 than Azarenka has been on the mental strength front, as she is far tougher mentally than a lot of players on tour, and while she has struggled this year and never won a slam, she has shown signs of why she is such a good player, almost akin to Andy Murray at times even with her ability to compete at the highest level. Sadly for Caroline however, now that Serena has won in Madrid, that means she will now lose her current ranking of No.6 (which Serena has now taken) and slip down to No.8 in the world, which means she could well fall out of the top 10 by the start of the summer (if not before!). 

However this tournament has proven without a doubt that Serena is the best player in the world, and she needs no ranking to prove it, and despite it all she does deserve that mantel, even though I'm not her biggest fan, you can't deny her immense talent and ability on a tennis court.  Serena also made some very outspoken comments about the men's attitude to the blue clay, particularly Djokovic and Rafa's criticism, to which she said that "women are much tougher than men. Women on the WTA are real players who go out there and don't complain like a bunch of weenies".  And while as I said I'm not Serena's biggest fan by any means, she does have a point, as Rafa and Djokovic should have tried to make the best of a bad situation, but they just let it get into their heads, and the women on the tour didn't, they just got on with, for which they deserve alot of credit. And for once I do feel a bit disappointed in Rafa and Djoko's attitudes, that the two best players in the men's tour, couldn't adapt, but most of the rest of the players on the tour did.  It doesn't say much for them in this instance. 

So next up will be the men's final between Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych, which I hope will be a more competitive one than the ladies was.  But Berdych will have to be on top of his game, or he will have no chance, and in my estimation I think it will be Federer who wins, in straight sets as well.  And I don't mind Federer winning, as it would be good to see him secure the World No.2 spot, even if it is only for a week, before Nadal grabs it back! ;-)  But here's hoping it is a good final this time, and not a washout.  We'll soon see.

Right more to follow after the men's final.

Madrid Part 4: Easy street... well mostly

OK so now onto part 4 of my coverage of the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open for thet mens and ladies tour, and today we saw the mens and ladies semi final matches take place, to sort out who will be in the finals tomorrow, so here's more on that.

Starting with the ladies, first up we had another match between No.1 Victoria Azarenka and the new World No.3, Agnieszka Radwanska.  Aga (short Agnieszka of course) has only lost to one player all year so far, and that is Vika (Victoria's nickname) and she came into this match having lost to her five times in a row.  So was it to be number six?????  Unfortunately yes, as once again Aga struggled to find any form or consistency against her nemesis, and right from the start she looked defeatist, while Vika strutted round the court with aggressive brashness and confidence.  The first set was easy street for Vika as she broke Aga twice, but in the 2nd things got a little more competitive, as Vika dropped her serve once to let Aga back in to square it at 4-4, but once again Aga capitulated in trying to get anything going and handed the break back to Vika, and well the rest is history, with Vika now into her 2nd Madrid final winning in 6-2, 6-4.

There was no doubt who was going to win this one before it even started as Azarenka mentally has just not been present the last few times they have played, and they haven't been the best of friends ever since Victoria sprained her ankle in their match in Doha, as Aga thought she was putting it on at the time.  And I think that has really gotten into Agnieszka's head since then as she has simply not found any way to get past her, and until she sorts out her mental block she never will.  You could almost say its like the Nadal, Djokovic rivalry, except this isn't a rivalry, its one player continually handing the other a drubbing, but it remains like the riddle that it was for Nadal, and Aga needs to try and find a solution to it in the future.

Anyway onto the second ladies semi final, which was between Serena Williams and the impressive qualifier, Lucie Hadrecka, who enroute to this point had already beaten two grand slam champions, Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur.  But could she beat the greatest ladies singles player of all time????  Well once again no, although the first set was very tight and competitve, as Hadrecka served really well, pushing it to a tiebreak, which was close, but Hadrecka threw it away with one unforced error, for Serena to take.  In the 2nd set, Hadrecka had already taken a medical timeout for an abdominal muscle strain, which worsened throughout the set, as she could no longer find her serve, which allowed Serena to stamp her authority over the match, breaking her opponent 3 times, to take her place in the final, 7-6, 6-0.

This was a big letdown for Lucie she fought and played so well to get to the semis, but having to qualify and come through and play nearly 10 hours of tennis to get there, is quite a lot, and for her it was really just one match too many.  But next up will be what promises to be a really good final between arguably the two best players in the world just now, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams, as the two of them will hammer it out for the trophy.  Who's going to win????  Well for me it has to be Serena, but I think it will be a close match, at least hopefully it will be, but Victoria really has to be on top of her game to have any chance, and if she isn't then its all over.  But being the World No.1, Victoria will be playing with more confidence then she did in their last match at the US Open last year.  However regardless of the result I think it will be a good final.

So onto the mens, starting off with the battle o the giants, the big Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, who faced off against the Czeck No.1, Tomas Berdych.  Both men had a pretty easy time in getting to this stage, but their match was far from easy as there was nothing much to separate the two men's games, although there was one or two breaks of serve, especially in the 1st set, where Delpo went a break up, but Berdych broke back, and went to take the first set tiebreak.  In the 2nd, it was Berdych's turn to go a break up, but then Delpo fought back to level the score, and again it went to a tiebreak, however it was Berdych that made the final push and sealed his place in the final with a score of 7-6(7-5), 7-6(8-6).  This was a very good match and plenty of impressive flat hard hitting from both players, and the two men also have very similar playing styles, so it made for an interesting match up between two big hitters, there was not much in it.

And quickly the next semi final was between Roger Federer and Janko Tipsarevic, who had never beaten Roger before this, and unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to here either.  From the start, Roger was by far the more superior player, as he breezed his way through the opening set, breaking Tipsarevic twice, and rocking him off his feet with his zingy returns and wide out serves.  In the 2nd it was very much the same, as Federer took the crucial break early on, and never let go, despite one little wobble at 4-2, with a break point chance for Tipsy, but was quickly denied, and Fed went on to close out a very straight forward, straight set victory, 6-2, 6-3.

Well this brings me onto the men's final, which is set up between Federer and Berdych, which actually sounds very promising.  Berdych in the past has garnered some impressive wins against Federer, particularly at Wimbledon in 2010 in the quarter finals.  However Federer is playing much better now than he was then, so I still have to say that Roger is very much the favourite here.  But Berdych definitely has the game to give him plenty of trouble, and if he serves well and stays on top of his game, then he has got a chance, but if drops his serve at any point, its game over, so he needs to play a really solid and consistent match to have any chance.    

Right that's it for now, there are two very promising finals for tomorrow at Madrid, which I will comment on afterwards.  I just hope they are both good ones, but we will soon find oot. 

Till then that's it.

Madrid Part 3: No.1 feeling like No.2

Ok coke, so here's another update on the state of affairs on the Mutua Madrid Open, as it draws closer to its conclusion, all the ladies quarter finals matches are now out of the way and then men's will be soon done as well, which I will update later on as they are all done.

So let's for a change start off with the ladies, and the quarter finals match-ups were all intruiging to say the least.  First off we had the world no.1, Victoria Azarenka take on the defending French Open champion, Li Na, in a pretty competitive encounter.  Vika in the first set was for once completely outhit by Li Na, with her powerful groundstrokes, and went on to take the 1st set.  In the 2nd however, Victoria soon found her form and went onto to break and levelled the match, and in the decider, Victoria stamped her authority on the match with a 4-0 lead, but Li Na mounted a brief fightback to lift the next three games.  But in the end it wasn't enough as Victoria went on to close out the match and securing her place in the semi finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win.

Next up we had a much anticipated match between the former World No.1's, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, and on paper this one promised to be a real belter, or as the Eurosport commentator Sam Smith said, it promises to be like watching Barcelona against Real Madrid.  However it was more like watching Barcelona against Dunfermline, as Serena (clearly Barcelona here!) took the mighty Sharapova apart in an incredible display in the 1st set.  In the 2nd, things got a bit more competitive, but Sharapova struggled badly to hold onto her serve, and with the sun getting in her field of vision, she double faulted about 8 times, which didn't help matters at all.  And in the end, Serena proved to be way too solid and good for the World No.2, and managed to book her place in the semis with an emphatic 6-1, 6-3 win.  This really was a bit of shock, but in another way it was a real reminder that when Serena is on form, that no one can even live with her on a tennis court, and this certainly was the case today.  And based on this performance you would be mad to write off Serena's chances for lifting the title, which she stands a great chance doing so with that display.

So next up was the newly appointed World No.3, Agnieszka Radwanska, who took on the impressive qualifier, Varvara Lepchenko, and the two of them played a competitive high quality match.  Lepchenko frequently looked threatening to Aga on her serve, taking her to duece several times and Aga surviving several break points, although Lepchenko did break Aga in the first set, but was immediately broken for Aga to close out set 1.  In the 2nd set, Lepchenko again took an early break at 2-1, but after a long mini-battle, Lepchenko under pressure handed the break back to Aga once again, and from then on it was the world no.3 that dominated the play, despite yet another break of serve from Leppy, Aga defied her again and won the match in 6-4, 6-4.

This was an entertaining match from both players, and Agnieszka really showed just why she is such a top player, and what she lacks in raw power, she makes up for with sheer creativity and her canniness in reading the game so well.  Her next opponent however is her nemesis as she will face Victoria Azarenka once more, for the 6th time, and so far this year Victoria remains the only player who has defeated Aga.  So I'm already thinking the result of this one has been written before the match has even started, and I think Victoria will drub Radwanska yet again, which is a real pity, and I'm starting feel sorry for Agnieszka when she steps out on court against Victoria, as you feel its just a thankless task, putting in all the hard work, only to be defeated once again.  But you never know each match is different, so you can never predict what exactly will happen, but I think its a pretty safe bet that Azarenka will come through with ease yet again.

And finally we had Sam Stosur, who played another impressive qualifier, Lucia Hradecka, who had already upset Petra Kvitova, the defending champion earlier in the tournament.  So could Lucia pull off another upset??????  Yup as it turned out she did!  However the match itself was very tight as it took two tiebreakers to separate the two women, who both came out strong, playing rapid fire tennis, with alot of power and pace.  Hradecka also almost put Milos Raonic to shame as she served up 19 aces throughout her match against Stosur (who by contrast managed only 3!).  So Lucia now will go through to her first Premier Mandatory semi final, but she will face an even bigger mountain ahead of her in the form of Serena Williams.  Can she upset another slam champion?????  Hmmmmm not so sure about that one, I'd really have to say that Lucia's journey will end tomorrow, but stranger things have happened, so watch this space.

So onto the men's which saw the quarter finals begin with big Del Potro taking on the dog, Alexandr Dolgopolov, the unpredictably talented Ukranian player.  However big Delpo had no trouble getting past the Dog, as he broke him in both sets to get the semi final place booked, with a 6-4, 6-3 win.  Tomas Berdych also had no trouble whatsoever against Fernando Verdasco, who only yesterday had the win of his career against Rafa, but he had little left against the big Czeck, who dismissed him in 6-1, 6-2.

And now onto the big upset of the day, the World No.1, Novak Djokovic who took on his fellow countryman, Janko Tipsarevic, who is the World No.8.  And from the start we knew this could be quite a competitive match, and it sure turned to be that in the 1st set, with Djoko looking the more impressive on serve earlier on, whereas Tipsy had struggled with his first two service games.  However after that things settled down for Tipsy, and it soon went to a tiebreak, where Djokovic, kept slipping and sliding on the surface, and we could see him get visibly more and more frustrated with the clay, and his dip in level cost him the 1st set tiebreak.  In the 2nd things didn't get any better for the Serbinator as he got broken again by Tipsarevic, and at 5-3, Tipsy did what a year would have been unthinkable in defeating the best player in the world in straight sets in 7-6(2), 6-3.

It really does appear that the blue clay has been the main culprit in the loss of both Djokovic and Rafa's matches, and the slippery surface certainly has helped upset the odds.  But it also seems almost mistifying how these guys are the best players in the world, yet somehow they just can't adapt as well to the surface as well as the other players on tour have, such as Tipsarevic, Berdych and Del Potro.  And I don't know if its just a psychological hindrance they have about the blue clay that has haunted them on the court, but you really think whatever it was both of them should have tried to focus more on their game and put aside their concerns and just try and win, however that's easier said than done of course.  However one thing is for sure, next year if that blue stuff is still there, Rafa and Djoko will be nowhere to be seen in Madrid!

And as additional note regarding the surface this was something that Victoria Azarenka answered to really well to in her post match press conference, as she too wasn't happy with the surface, but she acknowledged that those are the surface conditions, and that you can't let it affect your concentration, and that there was no use in complaining about it just now, and it was something best left to discuss once the tournament was over.  And that's so far what she has done, just gotten on with her game, as have done alot of the female players (even Serena!!).

But getting back to Tipsarevic, I think he deserves full credit for playing a solid match against Novak, and he has earned his rightful place in the semi finals, where he will play a not so enviable match against Roger Federer, who has just defeated David Ferrer with ease in 6-4, 6-4.  And Tipsy's head to head against Roger isn't so good as he has yet to win a single match against him, and with the other two guys gone, I really have to say that Federer is now the firm favourite to win the title.  Its also a testament to Roger's impeccable all round skill on any surface or any court in the world, that he can adapt and move so smoothly, as I have yet to even see him slip on the blue clay, in fact I think I've only ever seen him slip once anywhere! (and that was the ATP tour world finals 2010 final).  Its also testament to ladies on the WTA tour who have just gotten on with it, and not complained as much, as well as the ATP tour players, such as Del Potro, Ferrer, Berdych, Tipsarevic and of course Federer, who rather than whinge and moan about the surface, just get on with it, which I think is something Rafa and Djoko should have done more of, and just maybe then they would still be in this tournament.  But anyway its a whole big argument, and Madrid certainly has sparked nothing but controversy this week.  

Oh and as an update the draw for the Internazionali BNL Italia (Rome Open) for the men and ladies, with the men Andy Murray will be in the same half of the draw as Rafa and Berdych, but he's not in the same section as Berdych which is a good thing, who will have to face Rafa, but you don't fancy his chances against the King of clay, but you never know.  Rafa himself will have a very tough first round opponent, well potentially anyway as he could face Milos Raonic, which will be a real test if he does.  Djokovic and Federer are again in the same half of the draw again as well, and Djoko will face the likes of Tsonga, and Del Potro, whereas Fedora will face big John Isner, who has already beaten him once this year, so its no easy!

As for the ladies in Rome, Victoria Azarenka will face the likes of Li Na, Sabine Lisicki, and of course maybe Serena Williams in the semis (and they play tomorrow in the final of Madrid!).  Caroline Wozniacki will also have to face Serena Williams once more, and to her credit, I think she did fairly well against Serena in their last match, as she was the only player that managed to get into Serena's head for one set at least!  Maria Sharapova, who will dust herself down after losing to Serena in Madrid will face the likes of Sam Stosur, Ivanovic and Venus Williams.  



Sooo anyway more will follow on the men's semi finals and ladies too.

That's it for now!