Right so as a quick catch up on the ATP/WTA tour I thought I would round off the Asian swing of the men and ladies tours, which has seen some great results, and some not quite as great ones.
So let's start with the lasses, and the good news is that Heather Watson who this year already made a breakthrough on the WTA tour by winning 2 doubles titles went onto break new ground in winning her first ever singles title at the Japan Open in Osaka. Heather in the final battled against Chan Kai Cheng on China, in a match that lasted well over three hours which saw breaks aplenty, and the match ended in a deciding tiebreak, where it was Heather that made the final push and took British ladies singles tennis to a place where it hasn't been since Sarah Gomer took it back in 1988, by winning the first WTA tour title for GB in 24 years! The final scoreline reading an exhaustive 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 victory which naturally saw a beaming Heather Watson at the end of the match.
This was a terrific achievment for the young British player, and I always thought that Heather would be the first one to make the breakthrough on the WTA tour. Laura Robson also had her chances and she too has shown incredible promise this year by reaching the final in China, despite losing, and being awarded the Olympic silver medal. It also shows that British ladies tennis is in assured hands just now and with Heather and Laura confidently taking over the mantle that Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha will leave behind once they are done. And they have already achieved alot with their short careers in making history this year alone with their wins on the WTA and the Olympics, so it promises to get even better for them, and it sees ladies British tennis in an exciting place at last, after the previous disappointments in recent years. So a big well done to Heather, who has now broken into the top 50 for the first time in her career and I'm sure next year she will go even further.
Onto other ladies events, well in Linz, Austria, Victoria Azarenka did her usual demolition job to the final where she played the German player, Julia Goerges, whom gave her little resistance before closing out the match to lift her 6th title of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Next up this week we also have the Kremlin cup from Moscow, which is the last Premier event of the year on the WTA tour, which promises to be really good as all the top seeds below the top 8 are playing (well pretty much). As for the top 8 well they are prepping themselves the WTA Championships which takes place from next week on 23-28 October, which promises to be a real cracker, and I'm sure there will be plenty of great matches on display, so really look forward to that.
Right so onto the men's tennis, which last week came from the Shanghai Masters, of which Andy Murray has been the defending the champion for the last two years. Along the way there has been some excellent matches, and Novak Djokovic was on top form throughout the event, and reached the final without even dropping a set, and dismissing Tomas Berdych in 6-4, 6-3. Andy Murray had a slightly tougher time to the final, but he too managed to put in a very impressive performance against Roger Federer in the semis, as the Fedster uncharacteristically struggled on serve, and even served 3 doubles in one game! Regardless the two of them played a very entertaining match, which Andy won after a few rain delays in 6-4, 6-4. Which brings us to the final which was a rematch of the US Open final between Andy and Nole, which promised to be quite a match.
And it turned out to be just that as the two players dazzled the crowd with some incredible tennis, as the two of them produced some unbelievable shot making which left the Shanghai crowd gasping and cheering for more. Andy despite however taking the first set and securing a key break in the 2nd was unable to serve out the match for the championship, as he even had 40-30 on his serve at 5-4, but Nole just hung in there, and before we knew it we were into a 2nd set tiebreak, which saw 4 more match points come and go, and then Djoko went on to clinch the set. In the 3rd Andy took his foot off the gas and the mistakes started to creep in as he faltered on serve, and Djokovic ended up getting the curcial break, despite a spirited fight from Andy, it was all too much in the end, as he finally capitulated on serve, and he was dethroned by the Serb who won out the match with a 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3 win.
This really was quite a match from Andy and Nole and it once again has seen their growing rivalry become more exciting, and it has to be said it was a better match than the US Open, as it had far more variety and entertaining shot making, which the New York final lacked (albeit mainly due to tricky windy conditions). I was rather disappointed though that Andy just wasn't able to close the door on the match as he had ample opportunities, but I guess Novak was just that bit better at hanging in on the big points, and you can't win them all. It also sees Novak with a 10-0 record in Asia, and it makes me think that we could see him put on another winning streak for the rest of the season, as there are only two events left on the calendar for Nole in Paris and at the o2 in London. But whether or not he can maintain that level for the rest of the season its tough to say, especially as Federer might resurge on the indoor hard court season, which he most likely could. But in the meantime Djokovic deserves his victory in Shanghai and I'm sure he will continue to do well for the rest of the season.
As for Andy well next up he will be playing at the Swiss indoors in Basel, where none other than Roger Federer will be playing also, who won the title last year. So Andy I'm sure will be looking to dethrone Roger there and get a chance at bumping up his ranking points, but whether or not he can beat Roger on his home ground, on indoor hard court is another matter altogether but its going to be fun finding out. And despite his losses on the ATP tour since his victory at the US Open, Andy has shown signs of improving his consistency in the tour events since then, in reaching the semis at Tokyo and the final at Shanghai, it shows that he is now comitting more to putting in good performances on the main tour now. As in the past Andy probably didnt always commit his best in the ATP tour events, as he was probably always pre-occupied with trying to win a major, but now that he has finally put that one to bed he can move on and focus on being consistent on the tour, which so far he has done a good job.
Rightttttttt so that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA championships when it kicks off, and probably a bit more on the Swiss indoors once it gets under way.
Till then bye!!!
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