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.
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