OK so its time for my first post on the 2014 Australian open, the first grand slam of the tennis season which is from Melbourne park down under. So far the tournament has proven to be quite dramatic, not so much in the matches (although there have been one or two upsets already) but morely in the extreme heat on the courts as temperatures have risen as high 43.3 celsius with several players already having retired from exhaustion as a result of the heat. But I'll get to that a bit later first up let's have a look at the first four days of play as this post will cover the 1st and 2nd round matches for the ladies events and I will do another separate post for the men's. Rather than do my usual lenghty diatribe on the matches I thought I would cut it down a bit by summarising the scores for the lower ranked players more quickly. So with that let's slap on the sun block, get out the shades and look at the first slam of the year....
Right so on day one we had Serena Williams out on court, who played against the Australian wildcard player in what proved to be a very straightforward encounter which saw Serena emerge victorious in just under an hour with a 6-2, 6-1 score. As far as good starts go this is what you would expect from Serena as she breezed her way through this one and she remains the top favourite to win the title. Next up we had Angelique Keber, the German no.1 and world no.9, who beat another Aussie player Jamila Gajdasova in a three set scrap which saw Angie win in 6-3, 0-6, 6-2. Last year's finalist Li Na managed to thump her way through her opponent Ana Konjuh as she blasted her off the court with a 6-2, 6-0 win. And Sam Stosur, the Aussie favourite made her way past Klara Zakopalova in straight sets, which made up her for loss to her in Hobart just last weekend, and Sam won this match in 6-3, 6-4.
And quickly in other match results:
Ana Ivanovic vs Kik Bertens, Ana won 6-4, 6-4.
Julia Goerges of Germany stunned Sara Errani in 6-3, 6-2.
Ekaterina Makarova of Russia also stunned Venus Williams in 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
And the biggest upset on day 1 had to be Petra Kvitova who lost to Luksika Kumkhum who won in 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
And lastly the two British players, Laura Robson and Heather Watson both took an early exit as Laura was beaten by Kirsten Flipkens with a lucklustre performance from Laura as she won only three games and the Belgian won 6-3, 6-0. Heather played a much tighter match against Daniela Hantuchova as she levelled the match at a set all but lost her way in the 3rd and the Slovakian won 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Moving onto day two which saw the defending champion Victoria Azarenka make her way onto court and she didn't have it easy against her Swedish opponent, Johanna Larsson as she pushed Vika hard in the first set, which Vika eventually took on a tiebreak, but in the 2nd Victoria stepped it up and got the job done with a double to win the match in 7-6, 6-2. Maria Sharapova made an erratic start against the American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, but she still got the job done in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 and it shows that while she was under prepared she is here to play. Caroline Wozniacki on the other hand got her campaign off to a solid beginning as she gubbed Lourdes Dominguez Lino conceding only two games, 6-0, 6-2, Caroline also made mention of the heat on the day as she said it was so hot her water bottle started to melt! This sees Caroline make the best possible start to her campaign and hopefully she can go fairly deep although she could face Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round. And Agnieszka Radwanska had to battle her way past her first round opponent Yulia Putintseva as she eventually prevailed in three sets 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.
As for the round of other match results on Day 2:
Jelena Jankovic beat the Japanese player Misaki Doi in 6-1, 6-2.
Simona Halep, the inform Romanian thumped Katarzyna Piter 6-0, 6-1.
Dominika Cibulkova took down Francesca Schiavone in 6-3, 6-4.
Now onto day 3 which saw the temperatures seriously start to rise up as some of the players started to seriously struggle in the blazing heat which saw temperatures rise as high as 42 degrees celsius and the Aussie open organisers were yet to deploy their extreme heat policy. As a result there were some retirals, especially on the men's side, but I'll get to that in another post.
As for the ladies matches Li Na opened up play on the Rod Laver arena and she had to work much harder to get past her opponent Belinda Bencic as after a dishing out a bagel to her opponent in the first set, she was pushed all the way in the second which went to a tiebreak, but Li Na took the breaker and the match 7-5 to win in 6-0, 7-6. Serena Williams up next had very little trouble getting past Vesna Dolonc, despite her fears of succumbing to the heat, the World No.1 flattened the Serbian player in just 6-1, 6-2. Sam Stosur also continued her fine form as she breezed past Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria with an emphatic 6-2, 6-0 score and she looks to carry on her passage to win her home slam. And next up Angelique Kerber made her way into the 3rd round after defeating Alla Kudryavtseva (good surname!) with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 victory.
And here's a quick round up of the other matches of day 3:
Casey Dellacqua the upcoming Aussie upset Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-0.
Monica Niculescu also upset Sabine Lisicki of Germany after a three set tussle in 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Flavia Pennetta also beat Monica Puig with an easy 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
So now we get onto day 4 and this is where things really started to heat up as in the tennis on the court started to catch fire (well not literally!) after a slow three day start this is where things get interesting. Day 4 also saw the hottest temperatures so far of the tournament as the temps rose as high as 43.3 degrees which saw the organisers finally enforce their extreme heat policy and they suspended play on the outside courts for four hours to let the players recuperate and the roofs were closed on the Rod Laver and Hisense arenas. So with that drama let's have a look at day 4....
Right well things started off with Maria Sharapova, the former 2008 champion, who took to the court in a boiling 42C as she did battle with Karin Knapp in a match in which play was interrupted while the roof was closed. And Maria was pushed all the way by Knapp after a set all the two players engaged in an intense final set which lasted nearly two hours and eventually saw Maria emerge victorious after three hours and 28 minutes with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 scoreline. This really was a test of Maria's mettle and despite the extreme conditions on court she somehow managed to find a way to get things done, which once again shows she truly is one of the greatest female warriors in the game. Caroline Wozniacki faced her first test as she was up against the young American player, Christina McHale and she eventually won a lop-sided match in 6-0, 1-6, 6-2. Victoria Azarenka next up had a bit of a tricky time also against her opponent, the temperamental Barbora Zahlalova Strycova but she overcame her in 6-1, 6-4. And lastly Agnieszka Radwanska had an easier time of it than her first round as she defeated Olga Govortsova in 6-0 7-5.
Which brings me into the last round of other matches on day 4:
Alize Cornet battled past the Italian player Camilla Ciorgi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and she had to not only overcome her opponent but also her emotions as she fought back tears due to the strain of playing in such brutally oppressive conditions. And lastly Sloane Stephens also had a real scrap on her hands as she eventually slogged her way past 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Right so that's it for the ladies, next up its the men....
See ya soon!
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