OK I've not really posted much up on the tennis blog for a wee bit so I thought I would finally get around to do something on the WTA Championships, which are on just now from Istanbul (in Turkey apparently). So let's catch up with the matches so far.
Well to start off with the championships has seen the top 8 players in the world play each other, which from top to bottom has been Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani and Li Na. However the first casualty of the event was Petra Kvitova who suffered from a stomach virus, which was shortly revealed after her quick defeat by Radwanska with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, which forced Petra to withdraw from the tournament. This let Sam Stosur, who was the first alternate with a chance to play in the championships. However unfortunately for Stosur she was outplayed by Sara Errani, after even taking the 2nd set in their match, she faded away badly in the 3rd losing the match in 2-6, 6-3, 0-6. And Stosur then went on to get a drubbing from Maria Sharapova who blasted her off the court with a 6-0, 6-3 win. This is a shame for Stosur and its not like she has had a bad year, quite the opposite as she has produced some good consistent results, reaching the semi finals at the French Open and the quarter finals at the US Open, where she narrowly lost to Azarenka. But perhaps coming so close last week in Moscow at the Kremlin cup and losing to Caroline Wozniacki probably put a dent in her confidence again. But anyway let's hope Sam has a better 2013.
In other matches, Serena Williams has made her way through to the semi finals of the tournament with relative ease, and has yet to even drop a set. And along the way Serena has defeated Keber in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, Victoria Azarenka in 6-4, 6-4, and Li Na in 7-6, 6-3. And you would be insane to write off her chances of winning the WTA Championships and I think its safe to say that she will be the champion, because to be honest I can't really see any of the other top players living with her, but we'll see. But with the way Serena's year has gone already, having won 6 titles, two of them being Wimbledon and the US Open, and another being the Olympic Gold medal, I can't not see this championships going her way as well. But her next match will be with Agnieszka Radwanska, who she played in a tricky match in the Wimbledon final earlier this year, so this could be a tough encounter for her, or it could be just a walk in the park, so time will tell.
Victoria Azarenka has had a much tougher passage to get to the semi finals however, as in her first match, she battled against Angelique Kerber, in a superb match that lasted well over 3 hours, which featured some of the highest quality tennis you will see all year, in which Kerber even had two match points against Vika in the 2nd set. But Vika refused to go away and hung in taking the 2nd set into a decider, and after getting a key break, and despite Kerber breaking back, to make 5-4 (with a chance to serve for 5-5), Vika broke once to more to make it past the German with a stunning 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win. This was easily the best match of the tournament so far, and one of the best matches of 2012, and it shows just how good a player Kerber has become, as well as what a champion mentality Azarenka has developed in 2012. And if it weren't for one woman she would possibly even have won at least three out of the four grand slams this season, but I'm sure she will go on to win more in the future. Victoria however as previously mentioned suffered a defeat to Serena in 6-4, 6-4, as she failed to get anything going on serve, and despite having a 2-0 lead in the second set, she failed to captilised on the break, and before we knew it was 5-4, with Vika serve to make it 5-5, she double faulted to hand over the match to Serena. But Victoria however has managed to hang on to her World No.1 ranking by defeating Li Na and making her way to the semi finals with a 7-6, 6-3 win, she is guaranteed to finish the year with the top spot.
Maria Sharapova so far has also made relatively easy passage into the semis, after beating Sara Errani in 6-3, 6-2 (same score as their French Open final, geeky stat there!) in the first round rubber, but facing a very tough match against Radwanska in 2nd one, as it took her 3 hours to overcome the Pole with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win. But she again made easy headway by thrashing Sam Stosur with an emphatic 6-0, 6-3 score. This will see Maria take on her nemesis Victoria Azarenka in the final, and let's face it I have to say that Vika will be the winner. But its hard to tell if it will be an easy match or not, and too often in the past Maria gets off to a bad start and tends to fade away fast in her matches with Victoria, and despite her one win over Vika this year in Stuttgart on clay, and her tough match against her in the US Open, most of their matches have been pretty one-sided. But let's hope for once this proves not to be the case, but for me there is only one winner here and it ain't Maria, but you never know.
As for Agnieszka Radwanska, well she has had the toughest passage out of the top four players to the semi finals, as despite an easy first round victory over an ailing Petra Kvitova in 6-3, 6-2, she then went on to face Maria Sharapova as already mentioned, and she battled it out over three hours before losing in 3 sets. And its tough to beat the ultimate warrior in tennis, once Maria gets into a match from a set down, she usually tends to be the winner. Regardless despite the loss, Radwanska went on to play Sara Errani in another brutal contest, where the two players hammered it out for nearly 3 hours and 30 minutes on court, and after dropping the opening set and going a break down in the 2nd, Aga somehow managed to turn it around, taking the 2nd set, and in the 3rd she got the break and closed it out in 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. And next up for Aga will be Serena, and as she has surely been the player who has spent the most time on court, it will be very tough for her come through against one of the greatest players to have played the game. And as she has spent what must be over 8 hours on court over the last few days, it could be most likely that she won't be able to give Serena a match, but you never can tell, so let's hope it will be another good match, but I can't see her come through it regardless.
Right so that's it for now, with Li Na, Petra Kvitova (the defending champion), Sam Stosur, Angelique Kerber and Sara Errani all out of the championships its down to the last four, and its great to see that it is the top four that is left in the tournament, and deservedly so. Similar to the top four guys in the men's game, its a great line up, and while it might not be quite in the same league overall as Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal (well Nadal is out for now with injury), its still more than good enough for now.
So I will leave it there and report back with more once the semi final matches are over with.
Till then, bye for now.
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