OK time for a quick update on the latest ATP/WTA tour event of the clay court season, the Italian Open, from Rome, where the top players from the men's and ladies tour compete for that rather nice trophy.
So start as usual with the ladies, so far we have had one or two surprises, such as Laura Robson taking down Venus Williams in her first round match after a straight set 6-2, 6-3 win. Laura however went on to be schooled by her younger sister, Serena who beat her convincingly in 6-2, 6-2. But Serena showed much respect for Laura after the match with a kind exchange at the net, as Serena appreciates just how good Laura is and how much she improve her game. However for me personally I think the one area Laura has to improve in is her serve, as she has recently served way too many double faults in recent matches, and those double faults cost her last two losses, as she double faulted against Serena in Rome and Ana Ivanovic in Madrid. Laura also has just departed with her coach Zeljko Krajan after nearly a year together, and obviously from here she needs a new coach that can help her with her serving problems, but if she does then there is no reason that Laura's game can't become even better than it is, and then she will pose a bigger threat to the top players.
Also we had Victoria Azarenka who enroute had to battle past Sam Stosur in the quarter finals, as Stosur managed to take only her 2nd ever set off Azarenka, before Vika fought back to win the match in the 3rd in 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. A pity for Sam Stosur as clay was her best shot at beating Azarenka on, but he performance showed great promise for the French Open in a week's time. Vika went on to face Sara Errani in the semis where the two of them, after an easy first set bagel set for Victoria, they had quite a tussle in the 2nd set, but Azarenka finally broke Errani's serve to win the match in 6-0, 7-5 and land her first final in Rome.
On the other side of the net Serena had a much easier transition toward the final as she gubbed Simona Halep in 6-3, 6-0 in the semis, and so far she hasn't dropped any more than five games in a match! And Serena is looking mighty formidable at the moment and its going to take alot to stop her. Simona Halep also deserves alot of credit for her performance in this tournament as she took a couple of big scalps in defeating Agnieszka Radwanska in the 2nd round and also Jelena Jankovic in the quarter finals. So her progress at the French open will be very interesting indeed.
So this sets up quite an intruiging final between for my money the two best players in the world (sorry but I have to say Maria isn't quite as good as Vika when it comes to Serena) and hopefully it will be a really good one. And Victoria managed to win their last encounter on the hard courts in Doha, which was a close match, so hopefully tomorrow will prove to be the same, but we will just have to wait and see. But personally I think Serena will win it, as she is already on a 23 match winning streak and I don't think she will stop anytime soon, but if anyone can, Vika will. As for the French open well it remains to be seen how well Serena can do there but I think she's got a mighty good chance of winning, if she can get past the first round at least, unlike last year when she lost in that epic match against Virginia Rezzano. But time will tell all I'm sure.
Now onto the men's quarter final and semi final highlights, starting with Rafa and David Ferrer who played in a real epic battle on court centrale in front of a thrilled full capacity crowd, as the two men hammered it out. Ferrer already having pushed Rafa quite hard in their previous match last week in Madrid, pushed Rafa that bit harder this week. Rafa took the close opening set after securing a break on Ferrer's serve, but in the 2nd it was Rafa that went off the boil and even went 4-0 down, before breaking back to make it 5-2, and Ferrer double faulted to make it 5-4 for Rafa. But on Rafa's next service game, Ferrer showed great resistance and defensive skills as he sealed the 2nd set with a stunning point and an incredible forehand pass. In the 3rd set Rafa broke Ferrer twice, but it still wasn't all his way as Ferrer continued to push Rafa hard, before he finally came through in just over 2 hours and 45 minutes, with an exhaustive 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory.
This really was quite a match and I hope when it comes to Roland Garros should these two men meet again that Ferrer maintains this level of play, as he was at points simply phenomenal against the king of clay. And if they do continue to play at this level then we will be in for a treat, althought admittedly Rafa wasn't at his best, particularly in the 2nd set, but all great champs know how to win from a down position.
Now onto the semis quickly, as Rafa took on Tomas Berdych who had stunned Novak Djokovic in their quarter final clash, despite being a set and a break down, Berdy fought back into the match securing the break back, he never looked back and went on to claim only his second win against the Serb in 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. But in the Rafa match, Berdych was nowhere to be seen as he started off badly in the 1st set and was broken twice, and in the 2nd set he was broken once by an unstoppable Rafa who breezed to the finish line with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Roger Federer had a slightly tougher time of it in the quarter finals as he played the big talented player, Jerzy Janowicz, who throw Roger off track at times with his deftly disguised drop shots. But Roger managed to come through in straight sets with a 6-4, 7-6 win, and he also came through in similar style against his semi final opponent, Benoit Paire with a reverse score of 7-6, 6-4.
So this sets up a potentially great final between possibly the greatest rivalry the game has seen in Roger and Rafa. So who will win this one???? Well its on clay, I would be mad not to go with Rafa, so I will go with him, but Roger has been in great form this week, so I think it will be quite a tough long match, but Rafa will in my opinion prevail in 3 sets. And let's hope its a great one, like their epic Rome final back in 2006 was, although that was back in the days where they played 5 set Masters finals, which they no longer do of course, and that match was over 5 hours in length, so this one will be at least half as long (or even shorter!).
Which brings me finally onto Andy Murray who last week has suffered some real woes on the clay, as he played his only match in Rome on his 26th birthday against the Spaniard, Marcel Granollers. Given the normal circumstances, you would expect Andy to come through this one relatively easily, but it was far from the case, as Andy was struggling with injury throughout, as he repeatedly grabbed his lower back. Andy went a set and 4-1 down in the 2nd, and he even had the trainer on during the 2nd set, but despite all that he still managed to battle back into the match and push it to a 2nd set tiebreak, which Andy eventually won. But despite having levelled the scores, the match had taken its toll on Andy physically as he was forced to retire from the match, the first time had done that in six years, and he bowed out with a 3-6, 7-6 ret scoreline.
There's no doubt this was a very disappointing result for Andy and it was a shame to see that he was forced to retire from the match, but he was clearly struggling with his hip injury throughout, and he said himself its not enjoyable when a player plays in pain. What is more of a concern is that Andy's hip injury now leaves him in serious doubt for playing at the French Open which is now only a week away. Andy has since said he would be very surprised if he was fit to play, but has since had a scan to check the extent of the injury, and will confirm his decision to play or not this Wednesday coming. Personally I think he shouldn't play, as physically his injury would no doubt flare up again, and I think realistically he doesn't have a chance at winning the French Open anyway, and he would do much better at conserving his energy and work on his recovery to get in shape for Wimbledon. And there is no doubt that Wimbledon is far more important to Andy than the French Open is, and I'm sure he will want to be in peak condition for the tournament. But it remains to be seen what the extent of his injury is, but let's hope its not so serious that it will keep him out the game for too long, and that he makes the right choice for himself.
So that's it for now, I will report back with the results and my thoughts on the men's and ladies finals in Rome.
Till then bye for now.
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