Right ok so now its time for my first post on the Sony Open Tennis event from Miami, which is the 2nd 1000 Masters series ATP and Premier Mandatory WTA event of the season, which sees once again all the big names in tennis in action. However there are a few absences as well on both sides, as in the men's Roger and Rafa are taking a break and Victoria Azarenka and Sam Stosur have both withdrawn from the event with injury. However it does see the return of Venus and Serena Williams after their boycot of Indian Wells its back to business. So let's get a move on with it....
So starting with the ladies first in the tradition I've set in this blog, we had Maria Sharapova, the Indian Wells champion, continue to make an impressive start in Miami, especially in her 2nd round match against Eugenie Bouchard, who she defeated with ease in a 6-2, 6-0 win. In the 3rd round Maria had it slightly tougher as she played her Russian compatriot, Elena Vesnina, who pushed Maria hard in the first set even taking a 4-1 lead, but Maria soon battled her way back in to level the scores and go on to break Vesnina. And in the 2nd set Maria took control as she broke twice to win the match and seal her place in the 4th round. Maria so far is looking really good, and after winning Indian Wells last week she is sure to be feeling really confident, and realistically the only player that stop her from going back to back in Indian Wells and Miami is Serena.
And this brings me onto Serena Williams, who so far has made a decent start, as she blasted her way past the Italian, Flavia Pennetta with a bruising 6-1, 6-1 win, and in the 3rd round she wasted little time against Ayumi Morita with a 6-3, 6-3 scoreline. In the 4th round however Serena faced a stiffer challenge against the pint sized Dominika Cibulkova who she battled against and had to come from a set and a break down to level the match and she went on to break the Slovak player twice more in the 3rd set to win the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. The windy conditions on court in this match really wreaked havoc with Serena's serve and she certainly didn't play her best, but she did what she always does when she in down in a hole, she get's out the spade and digs out the win (hence the title of this post!). So this now sees Serena take on Li na for a place in the quarter finals, which promises to be quite a tough encounter, and no doubt one to watch.
Agnieszka Radwanska also had to work pretty hard to make progress in the event, as after a straight forward win in the 2nd round winning 6-3, 6-2 against Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan, she had to fight her way past Magdalena Ryabrilkova, where she eventually prevailed in 3 sets 7-6, 3-6, 6-2. And in the 4th round Radwanska had some more work ahead of her as she overcame a plucky Sloane Stephens, coming from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. This will set up a quarter final with the in form Belgium player Kirsten Flipkens, who has already defeated Petra Kvitova enroute to the last eight, but I'm sure Aga will somehow find a way through.
In other matches, Caroline Wozniacki suffered a shock loss in the 3rd round against Garbine Muguruza of Spain, as she went in just straight sets with a lacklustre performance, and the Spaniard pulling off a big win in 6-2, 6-4. Heather Watson also suffered a 1st round exit against Ayumi Morita despite taking the 1st set, she went on to lose to the Japanese player who won 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Laura Robson enjoyed just a little bit more luck by winning her 1st round match, but she went on to lose in the 2nd round match against the French player Alize Cornet, who won in 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, in a match that was laiden with drama as there were power cuts, court movings and all sorts of problems. However Laura is still in action in the doubles as she has partnered up with top US doubles player, Lisa Raymond and they are already in the quarter finals, so best of luck to her there. And finally in another shock defeat Angelique Kerber, who's season has not been quite as good as her incredible one last year, also went out in the 3rd round against Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who win in 6-4, 6-0. So this does leave a bit of question mark over Kerber's progress for the rest of the season, and we will just have to wait and see how it pans out.
Now onto the men's, which sees the absence of Roger and Rafa, which is a shame, but the other top guys are still in action. Starting with Novak Djokovic, who took on Lukas Rosol, the man who will always be remembered as the guy who toppled Rafa at Wimbledon last year. However Rosol stood no chance whatsoever of pulling off the same feat against Nole, as the Serb thrashed the Kazhak player, conceding just one game in all, with a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing. Nole continued his fine form in the 3rd round where he took on the Indian player, Somdev Devvarman, whom he dismissed in 6-2, 6-4. Nole looks to be very much on top form and with having won two Miami titles back to back, he's looking for a 3rd this year. Next up though Djokovic could have a stiffer challenge against Tommy Haas in the 4th round, as the German has made an impressive comeback on the tour since last year, so we will see how it goes.
Next up we have David Ferrer who so far has made amends for his early exit at Indian Wells, as he got a walkover into the 3rd round after Dimitri Tursunov withdrew with injury, and he went on to defeat Fabio Fognnin of Italy in straight sets 6-1, 7-5. This will set up a potentially tough encounter with the Japanese No.1 player, Kei Nishikori, who beat Xavier Malisse in straight sets. Hopefully Ferrer will do well and should he makes the semi finals he could face Djokovic, but he will have to get there first, and he'll have to play way better than he did in Melbourne to stand any chance against the World No.1, but they played an excellent match here last year in the quarter finals, so let's hope they have a really good one this year, if they meet.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also made it into the 3rd round after a tricky first match against Viktor Troicki of Serbia, with a 7-6, 6-3 score. John Isner, the big yank, who so far has had mixed success this year, also managed to ace his way out of trouble against the talented Croatian, Ivan Dodig, battling it out to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-6. Tomas Berdych also had it tough in his 2nd round match as he faced the Spanish player, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, whom he eventually overcame in 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 to reach the 3rd round, where is facing Alejandro Falla. And Janko Tipsarevic also had to struggle his way past the giant Kevin Anderson, who beat him in their only previous match, but this time Janko fought from a set down to go and level the match and win in the 3rd handing the big fella a bagel set, and Janko earning a 4-6, 7-6, 6-0.
So finally we get onto Andy Murray, who started his campaign against the Aussie bad boy, Bernard Tomic, which had the promise of a tough match. But if their previous match was anything to go by (which it was) then Tomic wouldn't have proved to be much of a problem, and he wasn't. Tomic started off well in the 1st set, but as he was broken, he started to look more and more disinterested as the match went on. And in the 2nd set Andy broke Tomic twice to go and serve out the match, as Tomic got booed as he walked off court, and Andy sealing the deal in 6-3, 6-1. This was a poor attitude form Tomic and his reactions in the match didn't do him any favours with the crowd, so we will just have to see how he get's on once the clay season get's under way (not that I care really!).
Now onto Andy's 3rd round match, which was a far tougher and more entertaining encounter, with Andy taking on the talented and up and coming player, Grigor Dimitrov, whom he has a 2-0 record over. But it was Dimitrov that made the stronger start as he blasted off winner after a winner, playing aggressive high level tennis, as Andy got off to a terrible start and trailing 2-5. However Dimitrov struggled with nerves as he tried to serve out the set a 5-3, and he doubled faulted three times in the one game to hand the break back. From here Andy started to serve better and got himself into the match, as the first set went to a tiebreak, which he dominated and sealed the first set. In the 2nd set, after a tight and entertaining 2nd game, Andy broke Dimitrov to move ahead, and with a struggle he held his own serve to go 3-0 up. By this time Dimitrov was still game, but Andy proved to be just too good on return and eventually finding his serve, he manage to shut down the talented Bulgarian with a hard fought 7-6, 6-3 result.
The early signs of this match from Andy were hardly encouraging, as we saw time and time again his very flaky serve let him down badly at the start in the 1st set, to go 5-2 down so quickly. However with a bit of help from a nervy Dimitrov, Andy managed to fight his way back into the match, and as he levelled the scores you knew once the first set was won, it was the Muzza's to take. And right enough he played better in the 2nd set, and eventually bumping his first serves percentage up after a woeful start, Andy managed to eventually close it out. So it has to be said its not the best start from Andy, but he did do well in the end as he showed his fighting qualities, especially as he saved set points when he was 30-40 down on his own serve in the first set at 2-5, and went on to eventually win. And Grigor Dimitrov is definitely a player to watch in the future, and despite his bout of nerves, he has a great game, with a big powerful serve, great single backhand and some terrific court coverage, once he matures further, he will become a big threat on the tour in years to come. But despite his loss Grigor has won over someone else, and that is Maria Sharapova as they two of them are now dating, so he's done pretty well there I have to say!
As for Andy well he will need to up his game from here, as he next faces Andreas Seppi, which should be an interesting encounter, and once he starts to face the likes of Tsonga and should he reach the final potentially with Djokovic, he will need to be much sharper, but hopefully he can iron out the kinks in the meantime. But if he can win the title here, he will overtake Roger Federer in the rankings as No.2 in the world, but its going to take some doing no doubt.
Anyway for now that's it, more to follow on the 4th round matches once they get under way.
No comments:
Post a Comment