Right well this will be my penultimate post on the 2013 French Open as it will cover the ladies final which was between the World No.1 Serena Williams and the No.2 and defending champion Maria Sharapova. So let's have a look at the match...
OK go into this match Serena and Maria have actually had some competitive matches of late, particularly their match in Miami earlier this year, but given Serena's emphatic head to head lead over Maria coming into this match of 13-2 it seemed like we might be in for a bit of potential rout. However the match itself was actually quite a competitve one as at the start Maria came out very aggressive and bossed Serena around, and despite going 0-40 on her serve she battled to hold her serve, and broke Serena in the very next game to take a 2-0 lead. However Maria was unable to maintain it as Serena fought back and broke in the next game to get things back on serve and she engineered a break of her own to lead 3-2, then another twist came with Maria breaking back to go 4-4, before Serena broke again and went on to serve out the 1st set. In the 2nd set Maria battled early to hold onto her serve in the first game as she continued to struggle on her own serve, and it wasn't long before the inevitable happened and Serena nabbed the crucial break to move ahead and out one hand on the trophy. However Maria still stood firm and battled to hang on and keep things to the single break, forcing Serena to serve it out, who actually had no problems whatsoever in doing so and she clinched her 2nd French Open title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in 1 hour and 46 minutes.
As far as ladies finals go and especially ones with Serena Williams in it, this was actually surprisingly good and very competitive with Serena facing some pretty stern resistance from Sharapova, and the two players traded some excellent points. And Maria actually deserved alot of credit for how she played in this match as she used all her battling qualities to try and stay alive in the match as long as she could. However in the end Maria's main downfall here was her serve as she struggled to keep up her 1st serve percentage which meandered round about 55 percent, which against Serena is simply not good enough. But this match in the end was all about Serena Williams who after getting off to a sluggish start, and facing some spirited fighting from Sharapova, was in control for most of the match and once she got ahead never really let go. And Serena's serve for the most of the match was terrific as she landed in an impressive 69 percent first serves in, and she even sealed the win with her 10th ace down the T, which saw her fall to her knees in delight.
So this now sees Serena Williams win her 16th grand slam title, and her 2nd at Roland Garros, and throughout the tournament there was a sense of inevitability that she was going to win the title. And I thought that once Serena got that first match in the bag she was already pretty much home free, and she went on to demolish the opposition and she only dropped 29 games throughout the whole tournament (and 18 of those games came from two matches, while the other 10 came from five combined!!), which is a scary fact in itself! It also sees Serena's winning streak carry on which is now up to 31 matches, and at this rate there is no stopping her and she probably go on to outdo even Djokovic's 41 match streak, as depending on which tournament Serena plays next before Wimbledon, or even if it is Wimbledon then she carry on that streak well into the hard court swing. And in the end the only person that can defeat her is herself, so this streak won't end anytime soon until Serena is ready to be beaten.
Unfortunately for Maria however as a result of her loss at the French Open she will now drop down the rankings to No.3 and Victoria Azarenka will overtake her to the No.2 spot. But I'm sure Maria being the ultimate warrior she is will bounce back fine in time for Wimbledon which is only two weeks away now.
Well that is the end of the French open for the ladies side of the tournament and well done to Serena Williams for her mighty impressive run at Roland Garros, which shows she is still very much the player to beat, and with 16 slams in the bag, it won't be long before she surpasses Roger Federer's record of 17, which she can do if she wins the next two slams at Wimbledon and the US Open. So its been a good tournament for the ladies game, and has featured some really good tennis, especially in the second week. Next up on the ladies tour will be in Birmingham and then followed by Eastbourne, but I don't think we will Serena or Maria play until Wimbledon, which should be great, oh and I'll be going there this year so can't wait!
And with that I shall leave it there and post back once the men's final is over.
No comments:
Post a Comment