Well I've finally got round to a doing a catch up post on the tennis at the 2012 Olympics from Wimbledon, and there have been plenty of cracking matches this week so here's an update on them.
Starting with the ladies, there has been several matches since that have been more than worthy of attention. First up was a major upset in the first round as we saw the No.2 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska go out to the German player, Julia Goerges, who hit the Pole off the court, but it was far from easy as the two battled it out over 3 sets, with the score finally reading 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. This was a real surprise and as the Wimbledon finalist, it made me wonder if Aga had a case of the post-slam blues, but anyway that's her out with plenty more seeds left in.
Serena Williams however had no such trouble as she has blasted her away through the opposition so far, thrashing Jelena Jankovic, Ursula Radwanska (Aga's younger sister), and worst of all Vera Zvonareva in straight sets, with Vera coming away with only one game to her name, 6-1, 6-0. Caroline Wozniacki however has had a tougher passage to the quarter finals of the Olympics, having to beat Anne Keothavong and Yanina Wickmayer in 3 sets (both excellent matches), which has more than made up for her first round exit at the Wimbledon championships, but she managed to defeat Daniella Hantuchova in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, to set up a meeting with Serena Williams, which hopefully promises to be a good one, but I think we all know the winner already!
Kim Clijsters also has had a pretty straight forward passage into the quarter finals, defeating Robert Vinci, Carla Suarez Navarro, and Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to set up a mouth watering meeting with Maria Sharapova, which promises to be a cracker. Maria Sharapova has had a tougher time of it, having faced a plucky Laura Robson in second round, she overcame the young Brit in 7-6, 6-3, but it took more than that to get by the German, Sabine Lisicki, as she battled it out over 3 sets, but ultimately winning in 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Victoria Azarenka also has had a fairly tough passage to the quarter finals, beating the tricky Roumanian player, Irina-Camela Begu in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, after an easy second round, she faced Nadia Petrova, eventually prevailing in 7-6, 6-4. Vika will now go on and face Angelique Kerber, which promises to be another really good match, as they played a high quality match earlier in the year at Indian Wells.
On the Brits side of things however for the ladies, they haven't had much luck sadly, after reaching the 2nd round, Elena Baltacha went out to Ana Ivanovic, but it was a really good match, with Elena playing some excellent tennis, but in the end Ana came through in 6-4, 7-6. Heather Watson also fell at the 2nd hurdle, as she met the Russian player Maria Kirilenko, 14th seed, who defeated Heather emphatically in 6-3, 6-2. And as already mentioned Laura Robson went out against Maria Sharapova in another gutsy match, losing in straight sets. However Laura still will be involved in the doubles this week, as she has teamed up with Andy Murray for the mixed doubles tomorrow, which should be interesting.
Right onto the guys, there have been plenty of interesting developments, starting with Roger Federer who in the 2nd round faced Julien Benneteau, who he had a really tough match with back in the championships. However this time it couldn't be more different as Federer steamrolled over the Frenchman, conceding only four games, winning in under an hour in 6-2, 6-2. Today however Roger had a tougher match against the Kazhak, Denis Istomin, but won in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, which now sets up his quarter final match against the giant John Isner, who should be a tough one, and well worth watching.
Novak Djokovic also so far has had a tough passage, starting with the Italian player, Fabio Fognini, Djoko dropped the opening set, and after a lengthy rain delay, he eventually found his form, breaking Fabio twice in the 2nd set, and the same in the 3rd to win 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. However he had an easy time getting past Andy Roddick, which we all thought would have been a really competitive match, but in the end, Djokovic gubbed him in 6-2, 6-1. In the 3rd round, Djokovic had another scare as he faced the former Wimbledon champion, Lleyton Hewitt, whom he had to battle with to win in 3 sets in 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Juan Martin Del Potro hasn't the easiest of times getting this far either, as after an easy first round against the Croat, Ivan Dodig, he met with Andreas Seppi, who he beat in 6-2, 7-6, and his toughest match was with Gilles Simon in the 3rd round, in which he eventually won in 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
But the match of the week so far on the men's tournament has been Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian. After the two men levelled the match at a set all, the decider was an epic which went on for nearly two hours, as both men tried to break serve, and with Tsonga even having a few match points. But it wasn't until the scoreline was 24-23 (with Raonic serving to make it 24-24), that the big Canadian finally capitulated on serve, handing a historic victory to Tsonga, as they played the longest match in Olympic tennis history, at just under four hours, with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 25-23.
Now finally onto Andy Murray, who after the disappointing and emotional loss at the Wimbledon championships a few weeks back, has continued his great form at the Olympics. In the first two rounds, Andy dispatched both Stan Wawrinka and Jarko Nieminen in straight sets, showing that he is still in fine fettle. However in the 3rd round he had a much tougher opponent in Marcos Baghdatis, as Andy dropped his serve to let Baghdatis take the opening set, in the 2nd however, Andy got back into the match, breaking the Cypriot twice to level the match. And in the decider, Andy got the decisive break, and with some impressive serving he put Baghdatis down, to secure a place in the quarter finals, with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
So that's the Muzza into the quarter finals at the Olympics for the first time, and when we saw his reaction after his victory, you knew just how much it means to him to try and win an Olympic medal. Wimbledon so far has been very kind to Andy, despite his loss in the slam, he has proven that his relationship with Ivan Lendl really is starting to pay off, and we are starting to really see a change in his demeanour on court (although Lendl was nowhere to be seen this week on court!). No longer do we see the whinning and whinging Andy Murray of old, now he is more focused, determined, and mentally stronger than before, and he deals with the pressure so much better in the big events. So will he win a medal??? In my opinion absolutely. I'm not sure that Andy can win the Olympic gold, although it would be terrific if he did, but he still has to face possibly Djokovic in the semis and possibly Federer in the final before he has a chance to wear that much desired medal, so its not going to be easy by any stretch of the old imagination. But I really do believe he has a good chance at winning the Olympic bronze or silver at least, and it would be great if he could walk away from this event with a medal to his name.
Soooooo after that exhaustive post, that's it for now, more to follow as the matches come in.
Bye the now!
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