OK so now I'm finally onto the second part of my entries on the Australian Open, the first major of the tennis season from Melbourne park. So I have a bit to catch up on, so I've decided to split these posts into two parts, one for ladies and the other for the men's. So let's get to it!
Ladies first starting with Victoria Azarenka, the defending champion who in the 2nd round faced her opponent from Greece, Eleni Daniilidou, who she made very short work of as she blasted her way past the Greek player, conceding only one game, and racing to a 6-1, 6-0 win. In the 3rd round however, Vika met her first challenge of the tournament as she was up against the very talented American player, Jamie Hampton, who played some very aggressive points against Vika and went for her shots, breaking twice in the 1st set, before double faulting to hand over the set to Azarenka. In the 2nd set, Vika showed more signs of fragility as she went a break down, and this time Jame went on to level the match, but in the decider after going a break down, Vika raced to victory, reeling of 5 games in a row, to reach the 4th round in 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Next up Victoria will face Elena Vesnina of Russia in the 4th round.
Serena Williams on the other hand little trouble in her 2nd round and 3rd round matches, as despite an injury scare in the 2nd, she pummelled her opponent Garbine Muguruza of Spain in 6-2, 6-0. In the 3rd round Serena met little more resistance as she beat Ayumi Morita of Japan in 6-1, 6-3 to reach the 4th round, having conceded only 6 games in the process. Agnieszka Radwanska, the world no.4, also has had a fairly easy time of it so far, and in her 2nd round she beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in 6-3, 6-3. Next Aga faced the British No.1, Heather Watson, who made it into the 2nd round after battling past Ksenia Pervak in 3 sets. But Aga was just too good for Heather, who despite all that put up a decent fight in the process, and even had several break point opportunities, but she was unable to take them, as the Pole outclassed the Brit in 6-3, 6-1. Next up for Aga will be a sterner challenge as she faces the Serbian No.1, Ana Ivanovic in the 4th round.
Maria Sharapova, the World No.2, so far has proved to be in near unbeatable form, as she destroyed her first two round opponents in 6-0, 6-0, and in the 3rd round we expected quite a competitive match against Venus Williams. However Maria once again made short work of the former No.1, by racing past her in an emphatic straight set win of 6-1, 6-3. This more impressively than Serena, means that Maria has only dropped just four games on her way to the 4th round, now that is some going! Next up Maria will face Kirsten Flipkens, so you can expect another massively one-sided scoreline. Angelique Kerber, the World No.5, also has been in impressive form so far, as she hasn't dropped set, and in the 2nd round she dismissed Lucie Hdrecka of the Czeck Republic in 6-3, 6-1, and in the 3rd round she had more competitve match with the American, Madison Keys as she beat her 6-2, 7-5 to reach the 4th round. In the 4th round Kerber will face Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, which could promised to be a really good match, as Makarova has improved as player, and she took out Marion Bartoli in the 3rd round.
In other ladies matches, Li Na has been in similarly impressive form, and is also so far yet to drop a set, and in the 2nd round she beat Olga Govortsova in 6-2, 7-5. And in the 3rd round Li Na dismissed Sorana Cirstea of Romania (popular country for tennis players!) in 6-4, 6-1, which sees Li Na faced her first big potential threat with Julia Goerges of Germany, who is dangerous big bitter with a big forehand (and a nice jiggle, sorry, being a perv!). Caroline Wozniacki so far has made impressive progress in Melbourne, as she beat Donna Vekic, the 16 year old from Croatia in 6-1, 6-4 in the 2nd round. In the 3rd round Caroline went on to beat Lseia Tsurenko of the Ukraine in 6-4, 6-3, which will set up for her first big challenge of the tournament, as she will play Svetlana Kuznetsova, and the Russian beat her in their previous meeting. But I hope Caroline get's through as it could set up a potential clash with Victoria Azarenka, which I would really like to see, as that would be a real belter, but first things first.
In the not so fortunate side of the ladies match, the British interest in the ladies players have both suffered losses. I've already mentioned Heather Watson, who fell to the Pole, Agnieszka Radwanska in 6-3, 6-1, in a match that actually betrayed the scoreline, as they both had some tight duece games, and it showed Heather's promise against the top players, but she made a few too many unforced errors and couldn't capitalise on several break point opportunities, but I'm sure Heather will continue to improve in the future.
And as for Laura Robson, she also has made impressive progress and in her 2nd round match so claimed another big scalp, as she took out an ailing Petra Kvitova in a real battle, after going a set and a break down, Laura battled back to level the match. And in the decider they played an epic set, where both players fought hard on serve, with Petra going a break up early on, only to squander it to let Laura back into the match. After that it went by serve until 9-9 when Laura made the decisive break, and finally went on to serve out the match, with a final scoreline of 2-6, 6-3, 11-9. This was an achievement for Laura, in taking out the former Wimbledon champion, however the match was mixed in quality, and both players faltered badly on serve, with Petra serving as bad as she ever has, making 18 double faults, with Laura not far behind at 14. Regardless it saw Laura make impressive strides in her effort against the big names and it proves she has what it takes to beat them. However in her next round match, Laura was not so lucky, as she played the American teenager, Sloane Stephens, and Laura was hampered by a shoulder injury, which she received a medical timeout for. Laura however managed despite going 4-1 down in the opening to set to level at 5-5, but Stephens broke again to close the set. And in the 3rd set, Laura couldn't keep up, as Sloane broke again to win the match in 7-5, 6-3.
So regardless of the both girls in the first slam of the season, they are showing real signs of progress in reaching the 3rd round of a major, and I'm sure throughout the year we will see them improve even more.
And that's it for the ladies, next up is the men.
Bye for now.
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