Right ok its been a longgggg while since I've done a post on this blog but I thought I would do an update on the tennis from this week's Western and Southern Open from Cincinnati which is a joint tournament for the ATP/WTA tours. So I won't bother going too indepth on the results but I will cover some of them and there has been some terrific matches this week and its been a great tournament so let's have a look at some of the matches on both sides of the net....
Starting with the ladies, I thought would give Caroline Wozniacki who made good progress in Cincinnati as she managed to defeat Petra Kvitova for the first time in two years, and it saw her beat a top 10 player in quite a while. Her three set victory over the Czeck saw her set up a much anticipated match up with an old friend of hers and rival, Victoria Azarenka for the first time in two years since Indian Wells where Vika retired from injury. This time however it was Vika that took control of the match in the opening set, despite gamely play from Wozniacki, Victoria broke twice to take the opening set. The second set was far more competitive and it saw Caroline really dig deep and fight back after going a break down she broke back and continued fighting until she engineered a break of her own. But Caroline was unable to hold onto it as Vika wrestled the break back and play went to a tiebreak, which was a tight affair but in the end Vika sealed the deal after a hard fought 6-3, 7-6(5) win.
This was a very entertaining match with some great rallies, with one point in the first set at 4-2 to Azarenka which was quiet outstanding. It also shows that there is still pletny of life yet in Caroline Wozniacki who is far from done and while she still struggles for consistency she has shown this week that she is still a threat to the top players when her game is on.
So this brings me onto the ladies final which was between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka as both of them had to fight their way into the final, with Serena beating Li Na after a ropey performance, and Vika also struggling past Jelena Jankovic. The final however was a real treat as while the level of play was a bit up and down in places it was a terrific match with some incredible points and so many twists and turns. And it was Serena that off to the better start as Victoria struggled badly on her serve, to let Serena break twice to take the opening set. In the 2nd set Victoria started her fightback as she went on to break Serena twice and she levelled up the match at a set all. In the 3rd set there were plenty of dramatic twists and turns as Vika went a break up to go 4-2, but then Serena broke back to go 4-4, and then Serena made a key break to serve for the title at 5-4, but then Vika broke back again! Play then went by serve into a tiebreak where we were treated to a thrilling contest which saw the momentum swing one way then the other, and despite Serena having two match points on her serve, it was Azarenka that finally managed to grab a championship point and she ran with it to clinch only her third win over Serena with a dramatic and thrilling 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 victory.
This was easily one of the best matches of the year from the ladies tour and there were so many amazing points and twists in the tail made it all the more entertaining and unpredictable, as it looked likely at times that Serena would win the match easily, particularly in the first set and when she was in a position to serve for it in the 3rd set at 5-4. But it was credit to Victoria Azarenka that she was able to dig deep and fight her way back into the match and to also break Serena in the 3rd set to go 5-5 and then from there push play into a tiebreak. And this match also sees them continue to develop a thrilling rivalry which the women's game desparately needs. And the great thing is that Vika is now getting closer to Serena and she is literally the only player than can live with her on a tennis court just now and its great for the ladies game that they are playing at this level and here's hoping they continue to do so.
Now onto the men's matches and we were treated to some great stuff there as well, which I will get to soon. However I thought I would say a bit about Andy Murray who played at Cincinnati this week, and he was keen to get some matches under his belt this week, which he did as he reached the quarter finals. However in the quarters he met Tomas Berdych who outplayed him as Andy struggled on serve, and he was broken once in both sets and Berdy went on to close out the match in two straight sets in 6-3, 6-4. This was a disappointing effort from Andy and I was hoping to see a better match as he showed good form in his previous two matches against Mikhail Youhzny and Julienne Bennetau. But I also wonder if Andy was holding back a little as it looked like he was wanting to conserve his energies for his US Open title defence, which begins in just a week's time. But I'm sure come the start of the US Open that Andy will give his all in trying to defend his title, which sure won't be easy, but we'll see how he get's on.
Now moving onto other matches of the men's and one of the best of the tournament was between two of the great rivals in the modern game, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Roger has suffered a poor run of form lately having tried to adjust to using a larger racquet for added power, he had an early exit in a previous tournament, so here he went back to using his old Wilson racquet. However Rafa on the other hand has been the asbolute opposite as he has been on fire ever since his return to the tour, with 8 titles behind already this season, six on clay and two on hard court.
And they have played some magnificent matches in their career together, but their last couple have been so-so. However their quarter final clash in Cincinnati was anything but as they both played a thriller in a late night match which saw Roger revitalised as he played some terrific attacking tennis like he did in the days of old, and he took the opening set. In the 2nd set Roger's form continued, but Rafa get plugging away and he finally engineered a break to take the set and even up the scores. In the 3rd set a still game Roger went a break down and Rafa moved ahead, but even at 5-3 with Rafa serving for the match, Roger kept fighting as he pushed Rafa to deuce and even gained a break point before Rafa staved off his old rival and won the match in 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. This was one of their best encounters in quite a while as they haven't played a match this good since their Australian open semi final last year, and it was great to see a reminder of just how great these two are on a tennis court when their games are both on. It also showed encouraging signs for Roger's game which will hopefully give him more confidence going into the US Open, so here's hoping he will avoid another early exit there.
In another match we were treated to a semi final thriller between two big serving giants with Juan Martin Del Potro taking on the American John Isner. Isner had never previously beaten Delpo in their last three meetings but here he battled hard and dug deep to dig out a terrific win over his Argentine rival with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 win. This saw Isner reach his 2nd 1000 Masters final which was a great result in itself and it also shows that Isner clearly is more than just a big serve he has some delicate net skills and deft touch too. Meanwhile Rafa had a tough match against Tomas Berdych in the other semi final match as the Czeck pushed Rafa hard on serve, but Rafa showed his fighting abilities to dig out another win which saw him reach yet another final in 2013, with a 7-5, 7-6 win.
Which brings me onto the men's final which was between Rafa and John Isner and the match itself was quite an entertaing one, and Rafa had to battle against Isner's serve, which he found impossible to break, and in the end it took a tense long tiebreak to set them apart with Rafa edging it 10-8. In the 2nd set it was more of the same as play went by serve with Rafa at one point having a sniff at Isner's serve at 5-4, but Isner managed to escape and he on to hold. And it went to another tiebreak, but this time Rafa shut the barn door alot quicker and he sealed the victory and he contined his record breaking Masters title collection, now up to 26, he nabbed it with a hard fought 7-6(8), 7-6(3) win.
I think its fair to say that Rafa is playing somewhere approximate to his very best just now and he now has won 9 titles in 2013 and it looks he is no mood to stop now. And I think its also safe to say that he goes into the US Open as the hot favourite to win given his unbeaten record on hard court this year now stands at 15 matches. Also with Rafa's absence from the tour last year he stands to rack up alot of points which could see him nab back the No.1 ranking as he has already as a result of winning this week risen to No.2 in the world, surpassing Andy Murray who will go back to the No.3 spot. And it won't be long at this rate before he get's the No.1 spot back, with winning the US Open it will take him even closer.
But one man could still stand in his way and that man is Andy Murray, who is the defending champion at the US Open, and Rafa has not played him in two years and I think he will find him a completely different player. And I personally cannot wait to see them play one another again and depending on how the US Open seeding goes we could be looking at a semi final clash or maybe even in the final should they both get there, but that's a wee way off yet. Another thing to consider though is the US Open seedings will be based on this week's rankings on 19 August so as Andy has moved down to No.3 he may end up playing Novak in the semi finals if they are drawn on the same side, which means he would need to reach the final before he'd play Rafa. But the draw will be announced this Thursday coming so all will be revealed who will be drawn with who.
So that's it for my look at Western and Southern open from Cincinnati which was a great tournament and it brings a step closer to the final big one of the year, the US Open, which starts a week today, so can't for that one, and I will do some more posts on that over the next few weeks.
Till then that's it for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment