OK dokey, so here's the first of my posts regarding the ATP/WTA Mutua Madrid Open tournament from the La Caja Mágica Tennis Centre in... well Madrid.
So let's kick off the men's tennis, which so far has been pretty good. Of the top seeds, the first out was Novak Djokovic, who took on one of the Spaniards in the draw, Daniel Gimeno-Tarver, who proved to be a stern test for the World No.1. In the first set, Djoko stamped his authority, however, with the very slippery new blue clay surface, he struggled a bit in the 2nd, while Gimeno-Tarver's level improved, breaking Djoko twice to teak the set. In the 3rd however, Djokovic refound his form (and his balance!) and got the vital break to take the match, after a rather gruelling 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win. Djokovic later complained about the blue clay, saying how much he slipped on it, and he jokily said he needed to either wear football shoes from now on or get lessons from Chuck Norris on how to play on the dreaded blue surface. But Djokovic is still through and next up he will face Stan Wawrinka, which could be a fair test as well, but no doubt he will come through, slipping or not.
Next out of the top 3, we saw Rafa take to the court and he previously complained the most bitterly out of every player about the blue stuff, prior to entering Madrid. However, Rafa had very little trouble moving on the surface or in getting past his opponent, Nikolai Davydenko, proving once again why he is the king of clay, as he breezed past the Russian in 6-2, 6-2. Its ironic that the man that complained the most about the blue clay, appeared to be the one who has had least trouble moving on it! But regardless of the surface, there is no doubt about it that Rafa has been playing terrific clay court tennis this year so far, and he continues to maintain his perfect record, not dropping a single set on the red (and now blue) dirt. In fact I really think that Djokovic (given his relatively poor start) will struggle to try and defend his title this year against Rafa. Rafa also having won already against Djokovic on clay in Monte Carlo, will have that extra edge that has been missing, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if he ended up lifting the trophy on Sunday.
So onto the last of the top 3, which saw Roger Federer take on the mighty serving Canadian, Milos Raonic, who proved to be the sternest opening opponent for any player. In the first set, Raonic displayed why is he is one of the fastest rising players on the tour, whopping down serves well over 140 mph (in fact one of them was 144mph!), and Federer clearly struggled to weather the storm, dropping his serve once, to drop the set. However Federer regrouped in the 2nd and after staving off some break points from an almost unstoppable Milos Raonic, he managed to secure one of his own at the tail end of the 2nd set. And in the 3rd, there was nothing to separate the two men, although again Raonic had his break point chances, but missed them all, and it took a tiebreak to sort it out, with the Swiss maestro coming through once more, winning a terrific match in 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4). This really was an excellent match, and both players played some wonderful tennis for the crowd, and Raonic particularly showed just how good a player he has become (no wonder he beat Andy!). And it shows unless its Rafa, Federer can more times than not, weather the storm when he really needs to, and so far it was one of the best matches of the tournament.
Now onto the ladies on the WTA tour and there have been some very fine matches from the ladies side too. Starting with Caroline Wozniacki who started off her campaign in the toughest test imaginable as she faced Kesnia Pervak, who pushed her to the limit, but ultimately came through in a 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-4 win. After this Caroline faced the fast rising star in Mona Barthel, and I really expected this to be a drubbing however Caroline came through impressively, after a fairly tough match, but winning 6-4, 7-6 (good to see she can at least beat one German player!). However her next test will be a much sterner one, as she faces Serena Williams, who has been playing exceptionally well lately, and this could threaten to be a real gubbing for the Wozza, but hopefully it will promise to be a good match.
Onto Victoria Azarenka, who so far has had a couple of tough matches, with Svetlana Kuznetsova, the former French Open champion, providing a stern test for the World No.1, but she came through in 7-6, 6-4. Victoria then went on to face the doubles specialist, and promising singles player, Andrea Hlavackova, who put in a surprisingly good performance against Vika, altough Victoria gifted her a game, when she unusually double faulted on serving for the match, but in the 2nd tiebreak, Vika managed to win in 6-3, 7-6. And today Victoria faced Ana Ivanovic, but came through comfortably in 6-4, 6-4, which will set up a quarter final meeting with Li Na, which should prove to be a stern test. So far Victoria certainly hasn't had it too easy in Madrid, and unlike on hard court, she has been pushed alot more on the red dirt, but I'm sure she will come through.
In other matches, Sam Stosur has impressively come through as well against her opponent Petra Cetkovska in 6-3, 6-2, and Agnieszka Radwanska, who has now taken the world no.3 spot, was on blazing form as she routed Sara Errani in 6-0, 6-1, and Li Na impressively held her nerve against the very talented German player, Angelique Kerber, in 7-5, 6-4.
But the upset of the tournament so far on the ladies, actually came from Petra Kvitova, the defending champion from last year, who played her Fed cup Czeck team mate, Lucie Hradrecka, who stunned the 2011 Madrid champion in 6-4, 6-3. This was a real surprise and quite a shock as naturally Petra was the favourite to win the match, but it also shows that her form has gone worryingly downhill a bit so far this year. Petra at the start of the year was tipped to be the favourite to become the World No.1 and win the Australian open, but it just didn't happen for her, and this is her biggest upset of the year so far. So it does makes you wonder if like Caroline Wozniacki before her, will she start to go on the downward slide, as consistency has always been a problem for her (unlike Caroline when she was World No.1). It remains to be seen but we will however soon find out.
Anyway so tomorrow more great matches to come, so I will follow up on them, and yep so far, a lot of players have complained about the blue clay, although some players have just accepted that despite the colour, its no real different than Madrid was last year. But regarding the complaints, one of the players, it was either Gael Monfils or Gilles Simon said, that clay courts are all bad, but the blue clay in Madrid is the worst in the world! Roger Federer is yet to provide a soundbite on his thoughts on the clay, but I guess he will remain diplomatic, and he appeared, like Rafa, to move well on the dirt (well if you played as well as Rafa did, why complain?).
As for Andy Murray, well the good news is that he has confirmed by a rather sarcy comment on Facebook, that he will be playing in Rome next week, which is great to see. In his comment he said how it seemed the players were enjoying the blue clay, and that the clay in Rome is playing horribly! That might not go down too well with the other players! ;-) In fact they might be gunning for him when they come to Rome, but I hope Andy has a better campaign next week than he has so far in his clay season.
Until the next post, that's it!
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