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.
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