Well its time for an update on the ladies tennis tour as it has now come to an end (well actually not quite as the Sofia tournament of champions is still to be played this week and there are one or two other smaller tournaments as well still to wrap up). But the main showpiece of the WTA tour is now over which is what I mean as the WTA Championships from Istanbul took place last week where the world's top eight players went at it to try and lift the trophy that label them queen of the WTA tour (or the year end championships). So let's have a look at some the matches...
Starting with the first day we had Serena Williams, the defending champion take on Angelique Kerber and for Serena it was nothing more than a quick workout as she ruthlessly disatched Kerber in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to quickly stamp her authority on the proceedings. Also on the first day we had Victoria Azarenka face Sara Errani in a hard fought match with the first set going on for nearly an hour and a half which finally saw Vika battle past the plucky Italian. And in the 2nd set, Errani suffered a calf injury, which hampered her chances and she went down a double break as Vika sealed the match in 7-6, 6-2. And in the last match of the day there Agnieszka Radwanska who faced the former champion, Petra Kvitova, and Petra showed her champion qualities as she easily dispatched Aga in straight sets with a 6-4, 6-4 win.
On Day 2 we had Li Na face against Sara Errani in what turned out to be a real topsy turvey match which saw momentum swing one way then the other. However in the end it was Li Na who closed it out in a tough straight set win of 6-3, 7-6. Jelena Jankovic, who has made a great return to form this year continued to show her fine form as she outclassed an ailing Victoria Azarenka who appeared to be struggling badly on serve, but Jankovic managed to close down the Belarusian with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. And the last match of the day turned out to be the most entertaining as Serena took on Radwanska in a cat and mouse game, which saw Serena struggle on serve and let Radwanska take her to duece on several games, and the sly Pole managed to even get a break of serve off the World No.1 as well as produce some wonderful shots. But in the end Serena's might was just too strong and she went to break Aga to win the match with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 victory. While it wasn't the result Radwanska wasn't hoping for it did at least let her show the crowds once again what a delightful player she is to watch and her guile and ingenuity remain a breath of fresh air in the ladies game, which makes for a good depature from all the baseline bludgeoning you get these days.
Getting on day 3, Li Na took on Jelena Jankovic in the first match of the tournament that went the distance as the two players battled it out, but in the end it was Li Na that made the crucial move and broke in the 3rd set to win the match in 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. In contrast to that however Kerber had no trouble in getting past a jaded Radwanska, who in her final match struggled to get anything going and the German made short work of her, which saw Angie win in 6-2, 6-2. This was a disappointing end for Radwanska and I personally thought she was handed a raw deal with the schedule as she had to play three days in a row and she really suffered as a result, and it was also a great pity to see her lose without even taking a set, but hopefully she will have a better 2014. Serena Williams in the last match of the day made short work of Petra Kvitova as she put in an unbelievable serving performanec and hit the Czeck player off the court to win 6-2, 6-3.
Moving onto Day 4, Li Na was up against Victoria Azarenka in what could have been a really competitve match, however it turned out to be the opposite as Vika struggled badly with a back injury throughout. But rather than retire Vika struggled on into the 2nd set where Li Na whitewashed her and took the match with a 6-2, 6-1 emphatic win. So this was another disappointing end to the season for another player in Azarenka as she had gotten off to a strong start early on this season winning in Melbourne for the 2nd time, but after losing out in the US Open final just there, Vika certainly has lost some of her fire, but here's hoping she will get it back next year. Petra Kvitova went on and had a real humdinger of a match against Angelique Kerber which went to three sets but it was Petra managed battle past the German in the end winning in 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. And in the last match of the day Sara Errani managed to nab the consolation prize as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, however after this it was Jankovic who went through to the semi finals, and Errani and Azarenka both went home.
On day 5, the semi finals started with Li Na taking on Petra Kvitova for a place in the final and as they are both big hitters it promised to be quite a contest. However in the end it was Li Na that was the better player as she went on to close it out and take her place in the final with a straight set 6-4, 6-2 win that see Li reach her first ever WTA Tour Championships final. Now onto the second semi final of the day, which was between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic, which turned out to be the most bizzare match of the tournament, as Serena looked badly out of sorts for half the match as her movement was sluggish as anything and she went a break down early on in the first set, and she was even at one point sobbing into her towel. However Serena soon turned it around as she broke back and went on to nab the 1st set with a break of her own. In the 2nd set however Serena started to wobble badly again and she looked fatigued and barely able to move around the court she had to resort to hitting big winners from the back of the court to stay in the points. However Jelena managed to grab the initiative and a double break to level the match at a set all. In the 3rd set things got weird and we were treated to an at times thrilling set with quite a few twists and turns but Serena eventually closed it out after much difficulty to reach another final in Istanbul with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win.
So this set up the final between Serena Williams and Li Na, which again saw Serena get off to a puzzling slow start as she moved sluggishly around the court and Li Na got the perfect opportunity to win her first ever set against Serena since 2007! So with a set up, in the 2nd Li Na looked to be the favourite if she could keep her momentum going, however it was soon cut short as Serena weaved her web and broke Li to grab the 2nd set and level the match. And in the 3rd set it was all Serena as Li Na struggled badly on her serve and served some very costly double faults and before we knew it, Serena was 5-0 up. But Serena didn't have it all her way in trying to serve it out as Li made a last ditch effort to break back and pushed Serena to deuce a few times before the American finally nailed it and she sanks to her knees in delight as she won her fourth WTA Tour Championships title with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory.
Well once again Serena Williams is the year end championships WTA champion and it caps the perfect end to yet another near perfect year for her as she has won nearly 13 million dollars in prize money and 11 titles, among with are two grand slams at the French and the US Open. And in another scary statistic Serena has only lost four matches all year (two of those were to Azarenka) and she has won 78 out of 82, which is something in itself! And from here it is difficult to see how she can get any better as she is light years ahead of the rest of the field and the rest of the players on the tour are going to have mighty tough time trying to get anywhere near her. But in the meantime all the credit has to go to Serena for her incredible talent and showing that she really is one of the all time great players to have played the game and I'm sure there will be more to come.
And that's it for now and the for WTA tour for this year, which will start back again in January and its been a great season with plenty of drama, great matches, upsets and good stuff all round. And in the meantime the men's ATP season is almost close to an end as well as there are only two more weeks left and this week there is the Paris Masters and the next week will be the ATP world tour finals from the O2 in London, so I can't wait to see that. This week will also be crucial for Roger Federer as he lost to Del Potro in the final of the Swiss Indoors in Basel just there on Sunday, so in order to qualify for the o2 next week he will have to win his first match this week in Paris, which will be against either Mikhail Youzhny or Kevin Anderson, so he will have his work cut out, but hopefully he will win as the World Finals will never be the same without him.
Anyway that's it for now, more will follow on the ATP world tour finals next week and also the Paris Masters final as it comes up.
Until then bye for now!
Monday 28 October 2013
Monday 14 October 2013
ATP/WTA tour catch up
Right well it has been a long time since I've updated this blog so I thought I would finally get to it and have a quick update on what's been happening in the ATP/WTA tour.
OK so starting with the lasses, we had in recent weeks the Asian swing of the ladies tour, which started with the China open in Beijing, which was the last Premier mandatory event of the season, for which there was a 1000 points up for grabs for the winner. And the eventual winner turned out to be none other than Serena Williams, the world No.1, who won the 10th title of the year against Jelena Jankovic in the final as she won with an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 scoreline. Serena's achievement in Beijing was in itself remarkable purely because she had been suffering from back pain and the fact that she was able to pull through shows just how good she is even when she isn't playing her best. And it also sees her taken an emphatic lead over any of her competitors and the current world no.2, Victoria Azarenka who trails an increidble 5000 points behind her! So with the WTA Championships next up for Serena in Istanbul, where she is the defending champion, it will be difficult to see anyone get near her or knock her off the top spot anytime soon.
In other tournament events on the ladies we had some good results such as in the HP Open in Osaka, where Sam Stosur in the final battled from a set down against Eugenie Bouchard to win her 2nd title of the year with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. It was great to see Sam Stosur win another title again as she has suffered a real drought in her career and it was two years between her US Open title and her first title of the season in Carlsbad in California earlier this year, so it will see her finish her year in fine form, which isn't quite over yet as she will next play the Kremlin cup in Moscow, where she was last year's finalist losing out to Caroline Wozniacki in a closely fought contest, so maybe she could do a hattrick, but we will see.
Also last week in Austria we had the Generali Ladies in Linz in which Angelique Kerber had a great as she not only walked away with the title but she also secured her place in the WTA Championships as she nabbed the last place in the top eight to play in Istanbul. Its also good to see that Kerber is back on form as she had taken a dip in form this year after her stellar rise last season up the rankings. And in the final Kerber was given a stern test from the former Linz champion, Ana Ivanovic as she was pushed hard by the Serb but eventually came through in 6-4, 7-6(6). Kerber was set to play in Moscow this week but she was forced to pull out with abdominal injury so no doubt she will saving herself for the big finale in Istanbul, where we will just need to wait and see what impact she can make on the other seven players.
So now onto the men's starting with the bad news for Andy Murray who decide shortly after his Davis cup triumph for Great Britain in securing their team a place back in the world group, to undergo back surgery to correct a disc problem in his lower back, which had aggravated his back injury for nearly two years. This decision was undoubtedly the right one for Andy as he has to consider his careeer for the long term and in undergoing the surgery it will hopefully ensure it will stay corrected. And as a result of his surgery and rehab recovery time, Andy has been forced to withdraw from the events for the rest of the season, which includes the ATP world tour finals at the o2 arena in London, which is pity, but undoubtedly the right decision. But Andy however has said he will hope to be ready again for an exhibition event in Barbados, the dream cup at the end of November, which will be a four man event including Juan Martin Del Potro, Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Almagro as well as the Abu Dhabi exhbition event at the end of the year in December. So let's hope the Muzza will recover real soon for those events.
Now for the men's atp tour events, starting with the China open at which Novak Djokovic, now the former World No.1, lost the top spot to Rafa afer the Spaniard managed to reach the final of the event, as did Nole. And given Rafa's hot form in 2013 you would expect with having reached 13 finals out of the 14 tournaments that he has played in this year that he would emerge victorious here. However Nole had other ideas as he has been unbeaten in China since 2010 (he didn't play in 2011 where Tomas Berdych won) and he managed to continue that run as he put in a superb display of serving, as Rafa for the first time in quite a while faltered badly and before we knew it Nole served it out to win in 6-3, 6-4. This was Nole's 4th title of the year and it saw him get back on form after suffering a dip in form since losing to Rafa at the French Open earlier this year in their epic semi final.
And Nole managed to continue his fine form in Shanghai at the Rolex Masters where he was also the defending champion after he defeated Andy Murray last year in an amazing final. And in the final this year we were treated to a real cracker, as Novak reached the final again and despite Rafa being the odds on favourite opponent for him, it was big Juan Martin Del Potro that put in a stunning performance which knocked out Rafa in straight sets to reach the final. And in the final Nole as expected came out firing as he blasted past Delpo as tore him up to nab a double break to close out the first set. In the 2nd set however Nole literally started to wobble on serve as he played a bizarre service game which gave Delpo the chance he needed to get himself back in the match as he broke to move ahead with a 3-0 lead. After this Delpo managed to consolidate his break and he ended up serving out the second set with relative ease to level the match and take it to a decider. And the decider proved to be a thrilling contest between both men with not much in at all, and even Delpo defied the odds as he managed to rescue his serve at 4-5 down being 15-40 own on his serve, giving Djoko two championship points. However in the end as play was pushed to a final set tiebreak it was Djokovic that took the initative and he ended Delpo's hopes of winning his first Masters title for a third time with a superb 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) victory.
This really was a terrific match between two great players, and it shows along with Stan Wawrinka that Del Potro also poses a serious threat to the Serb. And Del Potro himself deserves a great deal of credit for his performance in this final as he gave it his absolute all and I was pretty gutted for him myself that he came up short in the end, especially as he has been fighting so hard in his career to win that elusive Masters title. And in a way seems a bit funny that as Delpo has already won a grand slam, it almost feels like winning a Masters is more important to him. But I'm sure Del Potro will have many more chances ahead of him to win his first Masters title and with the last one of the season ahead in Paris, he might just end up taking it. Del Potro also in having reached the final of Shanghai has secured his place in the ATP world tour finals at the o2 in London so it will be great to see how he will do there as well, and given his current form he is sure to do some real damage there.
As for Nole well his victory in Shanghai contines to show he is back on form, just like he did last year as he regrouped toward the end of the season, and so far he has defending two out of the three title he has played at so far in this part of the tour, and all he needs to do is defend at the o2. And in between that is the Paris Masters where Novak suffered an early exit last year but this year he has chance to make some extra points which might help him in his quest to regain the No.1 spot but that will still all depend on how Rafa will do. And it has to be said in the last two tournaments Rafa has taken a slight dip in form, so just maybe the effects of his hugely successful season are starting to catch up with him, so time will tell how well he will respond for the reaminder of the year in Basel, Paris and London.
And lastly for Roger Federer well its safe to say that he is having the worst season of his career in the last ten years or so, as this year alone he has failed to win a major and has suffered a worrying lapse in form in the majors at Wimbledon and the US Open where he went out early on. This has also affected him in the tour events as well as this week alone he suffered another early exit at the hands of Gael Monfils, who beat him in three sets. And Roger has also announced his split with his coach Paul Annaconne, whom he has worked with for the last three years, as I'd imagine he felt he needed a change of direction, however whether or not that will make any difference to his game or not seems doubtful. Perhaps at this point in his career Roger just has to face up to the fact that his best days are behind him and while its impossible to write him off, it will be tough to see him make another strong comeback like he did last year.
Anywayyyy that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA championships which are not far away now as they start next week in Istanbul, which sees the full line up of Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, Jelena Jankovic, Li Na and Angelique Kerber. Now that is quite a line up to look forward to!
So until then bye for now.
OK so starting with the lasses, we had in recent weeks the Asian swing of the ladies tour, which started with the China open in Beijing, which was the last Premier mandatory event of the season, for which there was a 1000 points up for grabs for the winner. And the eventual winner turned out to be none other than Serena Williams, the world No.1, who won the 10th title of the year against Jelena Jankovic in the final as she won with an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 scoreline. Serena's achievement in Beijing was in itself remarkable purely because she had been suffering from back pain and the fact that she was able to pull through shows just how good she is even when she isn't playing her best. And it also sees her taken an emphatic lead over any of her competitors and the current world no.2, Victoria Azarenka who trails an increidble 5000 points behind her! So with the WTA Championships next up for Serena in Istanbul, where she is the defending champion, it will be difficult to see anyone get near her or knock her off the top spot anytime soon.
In other tournament events on the ladies we had some good results such as in the HP Open in Osaka, where Sam Stosur in the final battled from a set down against Eugenie Bouchard to win her 2nd title of the year with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. It was great to see Sam Stosur win another title again as she has suffered a real drought in her career and it was two years between her US Open title and her first title of the season in Carlsbad in California earlier this year, so it will see her finish her year in fine form, which isn't quite over yet as she will next play the Kremlin cup in Moscow, where she was last year's finalist losing out to Caroline Wozniacki in a closely fought contest, so maybe she could do a hattrick, but we will see.
Also last week in Austria we had the Generali Ladies in Linz in which Angelique Kerber had a great as she not only walked away with the title but she also secured her place in the WTA Championships as she nabbed the last place in the top eight to play in Istanbul. Its also good to see that Kerber is back on form as she had taken a dip in form this year after her stellar rise last season up the rankings. And in the final Kerber was given a stern test from the former Linz champion, Ana Ivanovic as she was pushed hard by the Serb but eventually came through in 6-4, 7-6(6). Kerber was set to play in Moscow this week but she was forced to pull out with abdominal injury so no doubt she will saving herself for the big finale in Istanbul, where we will just need to wait and see what impact she can make on the other seven players.
So now onto the men's starting with the bad news for Andy Murray who decide shortly after his Davis cup triumph for Great Britain in securing their team a place back in the world group, to undergo back surgery to correct a disc problem in his lower back, which had aggravated his back injury for nearly two years. This decision was undoubtedly the right one for Andy as he has to consider his careeer for the long term and in undergoing the surgery it will hopefully ensure it will stay corrected. And as a result of his surgery and rehab recovery time, Andy has been forced to withdraw from the events for the rest of the season, which includes the ATP world tour finals at the o2 arena in London, which is pity, but undoubtedly the right decision. But Andy however has said he will hope to be ready again for an exhibition event in Barbados, the dream cup at the end of November, which will be a four man event including Juan Martin Del Potro, Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Almagro as well as the Abu Dhabi exhbition event at the end of the year in December. So let's hope the Muzza will recover real soon for those events.
Now for the men's atp tour events, starting with the China open at which Novak Djokovic, now the former World No.1, lost the top spot to Rafa afer the Spaniard managed to reach the final of the event, as did Nole. And given Rafa's hot form in 2013 you would expect with having reached 13 finals out of the 14 tournaments that he has played in this year that he would emerge victorious here. However Nole had other ideas as he has been unbeaten in China since 2010 (he didn't play in 2011 where Tomas Berdych won) and he managed to continue that run as he put in a superb display of serving, as Rafa for the first time in quite a while faltered badly and before we knew it Nole served it out to win in 6-3, 6-4. This was Nole's 4th title of the year and it saw him get back on form after suffering a dip in form since losing to Rafa at the French Open earlier this year in their epic semi final.
And Nole managed to continue his fine form in Shanghai at the Rolex Masters where he was also the defending champion after he defeated Andy Murray last year in an amazing final. And in the final this year we were treated to a real cracker, as Novak reached the final again and despite Rafa being the odds on favourite opponent for him, it was big Juan Martin Del Potro that put in a stunning performance which knocked out Rafa in straight sets to reach the final. And in the final Nole as expected came out firing as he blasted past Delpo as tore him up to nab a double break to close out the first set. In the 2nd set however Nole literally started to wobble on serve as he played a bizarre service game which gave Delpo the chance he needed to get himself back in the match as he broke to move ahead with a 3-0 lead. After this Delpo managed to consolidate his break and he ended up serving out the second set with relative ease to level the match and take it to a decider. And the decider proved to be a thrilling contest between both men with not much in at all, and even Delpo defied the odds as he managed to rescue his serve at 4-5 down being 15-40 own on his serve, giving Djoko two championship points. However in the end as play was pushed to a final set tiebreak it was Djokovic that took the initative and he ended Delpo's hopes of winning his first Masters title for a third time with a superb 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) victory.
This really was a terrific match between two great players, and it shows along with Stan Wawrinka that Del Potro also poses a serious threat to the Serb. And Del Potro himself deserves a great deal of credit for his performance in this final as he gave it his absolute all and I was pretty gutted for him myself that he came up short in the end, especially as he has been fighting so hard in his career to win that elusive Masters title. And in a way seems a bit funny that as Delpo has already won a grand slam, it almost feels like winning a Masters is more important to him. But I'm sure Del Potro will have many more chances ahead of him to win his first Masters title and with the last one of the season ahead in Paris, he might just end up taking it. Del Potro also in having reached the final of Shanghai has secured his place in the ATP world tour finals at the o2 in London so it will be great to see how he will do there as well, and given his current form he is sure to do some real damage there.
As for Nole well his victory in Shanghai contines to show he is back on form, just like he did last year as he regrouped toward the end of the season, and so far he has defending two out of the three title he has played at so far in this part of the tour, and all he needs to do is defend at the o2. And in between that is the Paris Masters where Novak suffered an early exit last year but this year he has chance to make some extra points which might help him in his quest to regain the No.1 spot but that will still all depend on how Rafa will do. And it has to be said in the last two tournaments Rafa has taken a slight dip in form, so just maybe the effects of his hugely successful season are starting to catch up with him, so time will tell how well he will respond for the reaminder of the year in Basel, Paris and London.
And lastly for Roger Federer well its safe to say that he is having the worst season of his career in the last ten years or so, as this year alone he has failed to win a major and has suffered a worrying lapse in form in the majors at Wimbledon and the US Open where he went out early on. This has also affected him in the tour events as well as this week alone he suffered another early exit at the hands of Gael Monfils, who beat him in three sets. And Roger has also announced his split with his coach Paul Annaconne, whom he has worked with for the last three years, as I'd imagine he felt he needed a change of direction, however whether or not that will make any difference to his game or not seems doubtful. Perhaps at this point in his career Roger just has to face up to the fact that his best days are behind him and while its impossible to write him off, it will be tough to see him make another strong comeback like he did last year.
Anywayyyy that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA championships which are not far away now as they start next week in Istanbul, which sees the full line up of Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, Jelena Jankovic, Li Na and Angelique Kerber. Now that is quite a line up to look forward to!
So until then bye for now.
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