Right so now I'm onto my third part of the Sony Open tennis tournament covarge, which will cover the men's and ladies quarter and semi final matches, which will set up the finals for both. So let's have look at the matches.
Starting with Serena Williams who in her quarter final match was up against Angelique Kerber of Germany, in what promised to be an intruiging clash. Serena earlier in the week had to battle against her first two opponents, but by this time she had shaken off the cobwebs and played sharp tennis and proved too strong for Kerber as romped to a convincing 6-2, 6-2 victory. And next up was another showdown with Maria Sharapova, who has never won a match against Serena in their last umpteen meetings and Sharapova came through her match against Petra Kvitova in 7-5, 6-1. And unfortunately for Maria it was no different this time either as Serena beat the Russian/American comfortably to reach another final in Miami with a 6-4, 6-3. This sees Serena doing what she does better than anyone else and once again she took down the mighty Pova with ease and come Saturday (i.e. today) I would be very surprised if she didn't lift her 59th career title.
In the other quarter finals, Dominika Cibulkova, this year's Aussie open finalist, battled her was past Agnieszka Radwanska for a place in the semis, and it was a far cry from their Melbourne semi final as Aggie really stuck to the pint sized Slovak. But in the end it was Cibulkova that came through after a tough two and a half hour scrap with a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 scoreline. Li Na also had a bit of a fight on her hands against Caroline Wozniacki as the Chinese player and World No.2, dispatched a plucky Caroline in straight sets 7-5, 7-5. Which left the remaining semi final between Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova, which was a tight encounter, but in the same result as the Australian open final, Li Na battled her way to victory as she reached the final in 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
So this sets up what should be a pretty good final as Serena and Li Na have had their fair share of tough matches over the years and this one should hopefully prove to be no different. But you would be mad or both to not see Serena as the winner of this one given that she has, like pretty much every other player on the WTA tour, a winning head to head record over Li Na, which is quite emphatic 10-1. So for me it will be a tight match but I think Serena will take it in straight sets.
So now we go onto the men's quarter finals starting with the mouth watering clash between Andy Murray, the defending champion and Novak Djokovic. The match itself proved to be quite a tight high quality one and the first set saw very little to separate the two. That was until 5-6 on Andy's serve as he was serving to level the scores and take the set into a tiebreak, when Djokovic played a volley at the net and his racquet passed over the other side of the net. Andy then disputed the call with the umpire who insisted that the point belonged to Djokovic but Andy continued to argue with the umpire to no avail, which ultimately lead to him losing his serve and the first set. In the 2nd set Andy managed to refocus and he nabbed a break to move ahead, but he sqaundered it by putting in two double faults and let Novak back on even terms. And from here on, Andy struggled and capitulated on serve for Novak to go 5-3 up and he served it out with ease to reach the semi finals and end Andy's title defence with a 7-5, 6-3 result.
This was a good match with some excellent rallies and it also showed really encouraging signs for Andy, who in his previous match demolished Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, which shows his game is definitely getting back on track. However the controversial line call was the main point of the match and it was a bad call from the umpire who overruled Andy's dispute even though it was blatantly clear that Novak's racquet was way over the other side of the net and Djokovic was awarded the point regardless. It was also disappointing that even though Novak admitted his racquet was over the net that he didn't concede the point, and as a result Andy played a sloppy service game, which knocked him off his rythym. But perhaps in the end it didn't make a heap of difference as Andy once again proved his main problem was his second serve, which was way too slow and he also throw in a couple of costly double faults that cost him his break, which could have seen him level the match. So it was a disappointing end to an otherwise fine match, which will now see Andy's ranking drop to No.8 in the world, which is the lowest it has been for over five years.
However Andy will have a chance in the clay court season to make up his points, so I'm sure he will do his best to try and gain as many points as he can leading up to and during the French open, especially as he missed it last year. But he doesn't want to drop any further down the rankings if he can avoid it as that means he will meet the likes of Djokovic or Federer even earlier in the tournaments which is not good. But next up for Andy is the Davis cup tie with Italy, which is held in Naples and it will be on clay, so it will be good preparation for him for the European clay court season that lies ahead. And with Italy's top player, Fabio Fognini in some doubt over whether or not he will play due to a quadriceps injury, this could be an excellent chance for Andy and team GB to win the tie and reach the semis and let's hope they will. And I definitely think Andy's tennis as he said himself isn't far off the level he wants it to be, so hopefully come the clay court season when he plays next in Madrid he will be close to his best (as he opted not to play in Monte Carlo to take some rest, and it is the only non mandatory Masters title so he won't lose any points there).
So moving onto the other men's quarter finals, there was a big upset for Roger Federer as he took on the Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, and Kei really stunned Fed as he came from a set down to beat the Swiss maestro in three sets and reached his first semi in Miami with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win. This was a great win for Nishikori who really is one of the most promising players on tour just now, although he has already been around for a few years anyway. And given Roger's recent form it was surprising to see him go out, but then Miami is a tournament where he struggled to do well at as he has never won it since 2006. Rafa Nadal also didn't have it all his way as he was forced to battle against the big serving Canadian, Milos Raonic whom he had to fight from a set down against to come back and win the match in 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. This again shows what a great champion Rafa is and he has the spirit and guts to come back from just about any situation. And the last quarter final match was between Tomas Berdych and the in form Alexandr Dolgopolov, who made his 2nd Masters quarter final in so many tournaments. However the Dog has never beaten Berdych and this match proved no different, and after Berdych took the first set, the Dog went a break up in the second but he couldn't hold onto it and he was defeated in the tiebreak, which saw Berdy win the match with a 6-4, 7-6 result.
And now we move onto the men's semi finals....... well in short there weren't any! This was a bit of a surprise as both Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych were forced to withdraw as Nishikori had a groin injury from the exertions of his previous matches and Berdych contracted stomach gastroenteritis (not sure if that's the right spelling!). So this gave a walkover for both Rafa and Nole to set up another big showdown between the two old rivals, who will contest their 40th match together, which is more than any other two players have faced each other in the open era! And while its a pity the Miami crowds will be denied their tennis today, it seems almost a bit peculiar that the both players got a walkover into the final and it seems almost a bit convenient as well! Whether or not there was any foul play there so we could safely get the final everyone wanted or not is highly debatable but let's face it, it would be the final we would get regardless of whether Berdych or Nishikori played or not.
So who will win the men's final???? Well I'm going with Djokovic simply because he has already won the title there three times before and he also has been playing better tennis this week and given that he has already won Indian Wells despite not playing his best in that final, he has the belief that he can come back from anything as well. However just like their previous epic Miami final in 2011, I think this will be a really close one as well, and I fully expect Rafa to come out all guns blazing as he has been looking razor sharp this week. But I still think the result will be the same as it was three years ago and we will see Djokovic lift a 4th Miami title come tomorrow, and it should be a great match and one to watch.
Right so that's it for now, more will follow as the results of the men's and ladies final are in.
Till then bye the now.
Saturday 29 March 2014
Wednesday 26 March 2014
Miami Part 2: Things are heating up......
Right so let's get onto the second part of my posts on the Sony Open tennis tournament from Miami and things are getting interesting as we approach just over the mid-way mark in the event as this entry will cover the 4th round matches on the men's and ladies. So let's crack on....
So starting with the ladies Serena Williams after two tough matches finally settled into her rythym as she took on the American Coco Vandeweghe and dismissed her in just 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter finals. Li Na also showed her impressive for as she dispatch the Spaniard, Carla Suarez-Navarro and conceding just two games on the way with a crushing 6-0, 6-2 win. Caroline Wozniacki continued the pattern of straight set routs as she destroyed Varvara Lepchenko with an emphatic 6-0, 6-1, which shows her maintain her impressive and aggressive form in Miami. Agnieszka Radwanska had it much tougher against a qualifier, Elina Svitolina, as she was forced to go the distance against the plucky Ukrainian player, who she overcame in 7-6, 5-7, 6-2. Maria Sharapova was also under the cosh as she fought against Kirsten Flipkens, and she rallied from a set down to beat the Belgian player in 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Angelique Kerber also had a fight on her hands too as she had a tough three set scrap against the Russian player, Ekaterina Makarova and she survived to reach the quarter finals with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. And lastly Petra Kvitova made it past Ana Ivanovic as after dropping the first set, she never looked back with a double bagel dished out to the Serb in sets 2 and 3 to win in 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
So moving onto the men's matches starting off with Novak Djokovic, who was up against Tommy Robredo for a place in the quarter finals. Nole having never lost to Robredo in their last five meetings was in no mood to change the result as he took the first set with a break, and despite a tighter second set, Nole managed to seal the break at 5-5 to go on and clinch his place in the last eight with a 6-3, 7-5 win. Roger Federer also continued his dominating form as he trounced Richard Gasquet with an incredible performance as he dismissed the Frenchman dropping just three games, with a 6-1, 6-2 win. David Ferrer on the other hand a real battle on his hands as he took on the Japenese player, Kei Nishikori in a scrap that lasted three hours, but it was Nishikori that upset the odds and put out the Spaniard after a mighty tough 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 battle.
And the biggest upset so far came from Stan Wawrinka, the current Australian open champion, was also not so lucky as he faced an in form Alexandr Dogopolov, who put in another fine performance to dispatch the first time major champion in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. This sees Stan's puzzling poor form continue after his incredible run in Australia, he seems to have been struggling with his confidence after pulling off such a great achievement in Melbourne, perhaps it is first time champion nerves, but hopefully Stan's game will improve as the season progresses. And lastly Milos Raonic continued his solid progress as he powered his way to victory over the German player, Benjamin Becker in 6-3, 6-4.
And last but not least we have Andy Murray who had an intruiging clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which promised to be quite a tight match. However, it was Andy that made the better start and came out firing on all cylinders, serving superbly, moving and returning well as he moved ahead in the first set and took it with a single break. Althought there was some cause for concern as Andy appeared to be feeling pain from his back again during the first set, for which he requested for the doctor to come on court and he received some painkillers. However in the 2nd set, Andy looked unfazed by his back and went on to dominate Tsonga, who had no answer for his superb net play and his (for once) sharp serving, which saw Andy reach the last eight with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory.
This was Andy's first win over a player ranked inside top 20 this year and with Tsonga ranked 11, its certainly the most impressive win so far this year, and it sees him starting to get back to his best form. Andy's back pain however he seemed to rear its ugly head in the match however, which threatened to overshadow his win, although hopefully it won't be anything too serious and he will be fit and ready for his next match. And this match will be with Novak Djokovic, which promises, fitness permitting for Andy, a real belter and it will also be the first time they will have played each other since the Wimbledon final last year. So there is alot on the line here for Andy as he will have to play a great match in order for him to get past Nole and he can do it, but it will be very tough, and let's hope his back is not issue tomorrow as he sure will need his movement if he is to beat Nole. However I would have to say while Andy has a decent chance of winning, I think Novak will win it in three sets, but it should be hopefully a real tight match, but we will soon find out.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon.
Bye for now!
So starting with the ladies Serena Williams after two tough matches finally settled into her rythym as she took on the American Coco Vandeweghe and dismissed her in just 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter finals. Li Na also showed her impressive for as she dispatch the Spaniard, Carla Suarez-Navarro and conceding just two games on the way with a crushing 6-0, 6-2 win. Caroline Wozniacki continued the pattern of straight set routs as she destroyed Varvara Lepchenko with an emphatic 6-0, 6-1, which shows her maintain her impressive and aggressive form in Miami. Agnieszka Radwanska had it much tougher against a qualifier, Elina Svitolina, as she was forced to go the distance against the plucky Ukrainian player, who she overcame in 7-6, 5-7, 6-2. Maria Sharapova was also under the cosh as she fought against Kirsten Flipkens, and she rallied from a set down to beat the Belgian player in 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Angelique Kerber also had a fight on her hands too as she had a tough three set scrap against the Russian player, Ekaterina Makarova and she survived to reach the quarter finals with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. And lastly Petra Kvitova made it past Ana Ivanovic as after dropping the first set, she never looked back with a double bagel dished out to the Serb in sets 2 and 3 to win in 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
So moving onto the men's matches starting off with Novak Djokovic, who was up against Tommy Robredo for a place in the quarter finals. Nole having never lost to Robredo in their last five meetings was in no mood to change the result as he took the first set with a break, and despite a tighter second set, Nole managed to seal the break at 5-5 to go on and clinch his place in the last eight with a 6-3, 7-5 win. Roger Federer also continued his dominating form as he trounced Richard Gasquet with an incredible performance as he dismissed the Frenchman dropping just three games, with a 6-1, 6-2 win. David Ferrer on the other hand a real battle on his hands as he took on the Japenese player, Kei Nishikori in a scrap that lasted three hours, but it was Nishikori that upset the odds and put out the Spaniard after a mighty tough 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 battle.
And the biggest upset so far came from Stan Wawrinka, the current Australian open champion, was also not so lucky as he faced an in form Alexandr Dogopolov, who put in another fine performance to dispatch the first time major champion in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. This sees Stan's puzzling poor form continue after his incredible run in Australia, he seems to have been struggling with his confidence after pulling off such a great achievement in Melbourne, perhaps it is first time champion nerves, but hopefully Stan's game will improve as the season progresses. And lastly Milos Raonic continued his solid progress as he powered his way to victory over the German player, Benjamin Becker in 6-3, 6-4.
And last but not least we have Andy Murray who had an intruiging clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which promised to be quite a tight match. However, it was Andy that made the better start and came out firing on all cylinders, serving superbly, moving and returning well as he moved ahead in the first set and took it with a single break. Althought there was some cause for concern as Andy appeared to be feeling pain from his back again during the first set, for which he requested for the doctor to come on court and he received some painkillers. However in the 2nd set, Andy looked unfazed by his back and went on to dominate Tsonga, who had no answer for his superb net play and his (for once) sharp serving, which saw Andy reach the last eight with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory.
This was Andy's first win over a player ranked inside top 20 this year and with Tsonga ranked 11, its certainly the most impressive win so far this year, and it sees him starting to get back to his best form. Andy's back pain however he seemed to rear its ugly head in the match however, which threatened to overshadow his win, although hopefully it won't be anything too serious and he will be fit and ready for his next match. And this match will be with Novak Djokovic, which promises, fitness permitting for Andy, a real belter and it will also be the first time they will have played each other since the Wimbledon final last year. So there is alot on the line here for Andy as he will have to play a great match in order for him to get past Nole and he can do it, but it will be very tough, and let's hope his back is not issue tomorrow as he sure will need his movement if he is to beat Nole. However I would have to say while Andy has a decent chance of winning, I think Novak will win it in three sets, but it should be hopefully a real tight match, but we will soon find out.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon.
Bye for now!
Sunday 23 March 2014
Miami Part 1: Toughing it out in the heat and good starts
Well its time for my first post on the Sony Open tennis tournament from Miami, which is the second 1000 Masters series ATP title on the men's tour and the second Premier Mandatory title on the ladies WTA tour (also worth a 1000 ranking points). Andy Murray and Serena Williams are both the defending champions in Miami so let's have a look at the latest results of the matches on both sides of the net (the sexes net that is and no that's not being dirty!).
Right so starting the ladies the defending champion Serena Williams had a tough opener against Yaroslava Shvedova as the World No.1 was forced to battle hard to win the first set which went to a tiebreak, which Serena finally won 9-7. In the 2nd set Serena had it more her way despite one or two tough moments of resistance from Shvedova, but in the end Serena showed her grit and won the match in 7-6, 6-2 to reach the 3rd round. And in the 3rd round Serena had an even tougher test ahead of her as she battled her way past the French player, Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. This shows that Serena is somewhat below par in her form so far this year, which is a bit on an alarm for her, but she did what she had to do in the end to win and it sees her in the 4th round.
Next up we had Maria Sharapova who after a straight forward win oveer Kurumi Nara of Japan in 6-3, 6-4, went on to have a real battle on her hands as she played Lucie Safarova of the Czeck Republic. Safarova put Sharapova through her paces in their 3rd round match as she the Czeck player kept blasting powerful winners back at Sharapova and they soon levelled at a set all. And in the final set Sharapova went a double break up to serve it out, Safarova still wasn't done as she kept bringing up winner after winner, and after 9 match points, Safarova finally lost as Sharapova battled to victory after nearly three hours in 6-4, 6-7, 6-2. This was quite an incredible battle from Sharapova and she once again showed what a real warrior she is on the court as she just kept taking what Safarova kept throwing at her. So it was tough test for both of the two big names in the tournament so far.
In other matches Agnieszka Radwanska who was runner up in Indian Wells last week has enjoyed a more straight forward progress so far in Miami as she defeated Romina Oprandi in 6-0, 6-4, although she had a bit tougher test against Elena Vesnina in 7-5, 6-3. Caroline Wozniacki survived her first match as she fought past Monica Puig to win 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Angelique Kerber also survived a real scare against Peng Shuai of China, as after a set all, Keber went a break down and she battled back from 4-1 down to level the scores and push the match to a tiebreak and win the match in 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. Keber however had it much easier against her next opponent which was Tsetvana Pironokova in 6-0, 6-2 as she reached the 4th round. Petra Kvitova also made it into the fourth as she beat both of her opponents surprisingly with both the same scoreline of 6-3, 6-4 (don't see that often!). Ana Ivanovic also has shown good form so far in this tournament as she thumped Lauren Davis in 6-1, 6-1 and also the newly crowned champion from Indian Wells, Flavia Pennetta in 6-4, 6-3. And Li Na benefited from a walkover Alisa Kleybanova to reach the 3rd round where she beat Madison Keys in 7-6, 6-3.
And there were also a few upsets as well, such as Sara Errani who went down to the Russian player, Ekaterina Makarova in three sets as the Russian won in 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Sam Stosur also lost out to the American player, Coco Vandeweghe who beat the Aussie and former US Open champion in 5-7, 7-5, 7-5. And Jelena Jankovic also was beaten by Vervara Lepchenko in another tight battle in 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 which shows there have been quite alot of battles in Florida going on this week!
Right so now onto the men's starting Andy Murray the defending champion who announced his split with Ivan Lendl just last week, which shocked everybody and it left him with a bigger question mark over his form and will he recover well enough to do better in Miami??? Well so far he has done so as despite a slow start in his first match against Matthew Ebden, where he dropped the opening set, he then went on to speed to victory as he dished out a bagel set to Ebden in the 2nd and dropped only one game in the 3rd as he won the match in 3-6, 6-0, 6-1. It was a tricky opener for Andy as Ebden played well in the first set, but it appeared to be just a rusty start as he really cranked up the gears as he moved on in the match and despite one break in the 3rd set in the opening game, Andy never looked back.
Which brings me onto Andy's 3rd round match where he played Feliciano Lopez, whom he has never lost to and has an excellent record in his match results as he has only dropped two sets against him in total. And this match proved to be no different as after a fairly tight first set and despite Andy dropping serve once, he took the set with a break and in the 2nd set, Lopez started to struggle with the heat and his movement, due to the extensive taping on his back, he capitulated on serve twice as Andy secured a much needed straight set win to advance to the 4th round in 6-4, 6-1. This was an excellent result for Andy and after having to dig out so many matches on the tour over three sets, it was good to see he was able to get a straight set victory here.
Next up for Andy however will be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who survived a tough battle against Marcos Baghdatis as he came from a set and a double break down to win the match in 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, and that will be no easy task. However Andy does have an excellent record over Tsonga as he has only lost once to him but Tsonga poses a much bigger threat all the same due to his big serve and powerful forehand, so Andy will need to be on top of his game if he is to beat him. But if Andy does beat Tsonga then that is a big step forward for him this year as Tsonga being ranked No.11 in the world, he will be the highest ranked player that Andy will have beaten so far this year. So let's hope Andy wins and if he does we could be set for a quarter final clash with Novak Djokovic, which would promise to be a real cracker, but we can deal with that if and when it happens.
So now onto the other matches, starting with Novak Djokovic who took on the Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, in an entertaining match, which saw the Frenchman compete well but ultimately Nole was more than enough for Chardy to deal with, as the Serb won in 6-4, 6-3. The most notable thing about this match however was Novak had an outburst with the umpire who gave him a warning for taking too long between serves, and he yelled "You do not understand the game!" to the umpire, but despite that Nole shrugged it off and went on to win. Nole has so far benefited from a relatively easy draw and he has received a walkover into the 4th round as Florian Mayer withdrew with a groin injury and he will next face Tommy Robredo whom he has never lost to, although from the quarter final onwards, it doesn't get any easier for him as Andy could await and Roger in the semis.
Which brings me onto Roger Federer who so far has been looking sharp this year and in Miami he if anything is looking even sharper, as he effectively dealt with the giant serving Ivo Karlovic, whom he dispatched in 6-4, 7-6. And Rog then went on to dismiss the Thiemo De Bakker in just 6-3, 6-3 to reach the 4th round in just over an hour and six minutes, where he will next face Richard Gasquet. Gasquet could be a tougher proposition but given the way Rog is playing I don't really see him troubling the Swiss Maestro much. And Rafa so far has made a strong start in Miami as well as he ruthlessly dispatched Lleyton Hewitt, just dropping four games on the way to victory as he won in 6-1, 6-3. Rafa has never won in Miami but on this form he could very well do this year if he continues like he did against Hewitt and the Spaniard definitely means business.
In other men's matches, David Ferrer made a good comeback from injury as he defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in 6-4, 6-0 and he will next take on Andreas Seppi for a place in the last 16. Grigor Dimitrov also won his match against Albert Montanes of Spain as he battled to win in 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 to face Kei Nishikori of Japan. Tomas Berdych also got revenge over Stephane Robert who upset Berdych a few years ago at the French open in the first round in a five set epic, but this match was way short as the big Czeck dismissed him in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. Stan Wawrinka, the Australian open champion, had a tougher test on his hands as he faced another Spaniard, Daniel Gimeno-Tarver who he beat in 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Milos Raonic also made it past the American player, Jack Sock whom he beat in 6-4, 7-6. And lastly big John Isner fought his way to victory against the young African American, Donald Young, as he recovered from losing the first set to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with more results later on once the 4th round match results are in.
So until the next un bye for now.
Right so starting the ladies the defending champion Serena Williams had a tough opener against Yaroslava Shvedova as the World No.1 was forced to battle hard to win the first set which went to a tiebreak, which Serena finally won 9-7. In the 2nd set Serena had it more her way despite one or two tough moments of resistance from Shvedova, but in the end Serena showed her grit and won the match in 7-6, 6-2 to reach the 3rd round. And in the 3rd round Serena had an even tougher test ahead of her as she battled her way past the French player, Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. This shows that Serena is somewhat below par in her form so far this year, which is a bit on an alarm for her, but she did what she had to do in the end to win and it sees her in the 4th round.
Next up we had Maria Sharapova who after a straight forward win oveer Kurumi Nara of Japan in 6-3, 6-4, went on to have a real battle on her hands as she played Lucie Safarova of the Czeck Republic. Safarova put Sharapova through her paces in their 3rd round match as she the Czeck player kept blasting powerful winners back at Sharapova and they soon levelled at a set all. And in the final set Sharapova went a double break up to serve it out, Safarova still wasn't done as she kept bringing up winner after winner, and after 9 match points, Safarova finally lost as Sharapova battled to victory after nearly three hours in 6-4, 6-7, 6-2. This was quite an incredible battle from Sharapova and she once again showed what a real warrior she is on the court as she just kept taking what Safarova kept throwing at her. So it was tough test for both of the two big names in the tournament so far.
In other matches Agnieszka Radwanska who was runner up in Indian Wells last week has enjoyed a more straight forward progress so far in Miami as she defeated Romina Oprandi in 6-0, 6-4, although she had a bit tougher test against Elena Vesnina in 7-5, 6-3. Caroline Wozniacki survived her first match as she fought past Monica Puig to win 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Angelique Kerber also survived a real scare against Peng Shuai of China, as after a set all, Keber went a break down and she battled back from 4-1 down to level the scores and push the match to a tiebreak and win the match in 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. Keber however had it much easier against her next opponent which was Tsetvana Pironokova in 6-0, 6-2 as she reached the 4th round. Petra Kvitova also made it into the fourth as she beat both of her opponents surprisingly with both the same scoreline of 6-3, 6-4 (don't see that often!). Ana Ivanovic also has shown good form so far in this tournament as she thumped Lauren Davis in 6-1, 6-1 and also the newly crowned champion from Indian Wells, Flavia Pennetta in 6-4, 6-3. And Li Na benefited from a walkover Alisa Kleybanova to reach the 3rd round where she beat Madison Keys in 7-6, 6-3.
And there were also a few upsets as well, such as Sara Errani who went down to the Russian player, Ekaterina Makarova in three sets as the Russian won in 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Sam Stosur also lost out to the American player, Coco Vandeweghe who beat the Aussie and former US Open champion in 5-7, 7-5, 7-5. And Jelena Jankovic also was beaten by Vervara Lepchenko in another tight battle in 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 which shows there have been quite alot of battles in Florida going on this week!
Right so now onto the men's starting Andy Murray the defending champion who announced his split with Ivan Lendl just last week, which shocked everybody and it left him with a bigger question mark over his form and will he recover well enough to do better in Miami??? Well so far he has done so as despite a slow start in his first match against Matthew Ebden, where he dropped the opening set, he then went on to speed to victory as he dished out a bagel set to Ebden in the 2nd and dropped only one game in the 3rd as he won the match in 3-6, 6-0, 6-1. It was a tricky opener for Andy as Ebden played well in the first set, but it appeared to be just a rusty start as he really cranked up the gears as he moved on in the match and despite one break in the 3rd set in the opening game, Andy never looked back.
Which brings me onto Andy's 3rd round match where he played Feliciano Lopez, whom he has never lost to and has an excellent record in his match results as he has only dropped two sets against him in total. And this match proved to be no different as after a fairly tight first set and despite Andy dropping serve once, he took the set with a break and in the 2nd set, Lopez started to struggle with the heat and his movement, due to the extensive taping on his back, he capitulated on serve twice as Andy secured a much needed straight set win to advance to the 4th round in 6-4, 6-1. This was an excellent result for Andy and after having to dig out so many matches on the tour over three sets, it was good to see he was able to get a straight set victory here.
Next up for Andy however will be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who survived a tough battle against Marcos Baghdatis as he came from a set and a double break down to win the match in 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, and that will be no easy task. However Andy does have an excellent record over Tsonga as he has only lost once to him but Tsonga poses a much bigger threat all the same due to his big serve and powerful forehand, so Andy will need to be on top of his game if he is to beat him. But if Andy does beat Tsonga then that is a big step forward for him this year as Tsonga being ranked No.11 in the world, he will be the highest ranked player that Andy will have beaten so far this year. So let's hope Andy wins and if he does we could be set for a quarter final clash with Novak Djokovic, which would promise to be a real cracker, but we can deal with that if and when it happens.
So now onto the other matches, starting with Novak Djokovic who took on the Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, in an entertaining match, which saw the Frenchman compete well but ultimately Nole was more than enough for Chardy to deal with, as the Serb won in 6-4, 6-3. The most notable thing about this match however was Novak had an outburst with the umpire who gave him a warning for taking too long between serves, and he yelled "You do not understand the game!" to the umpire, but despite that Nole shrugged it off and went on to win. Nole has so far benefited from a relatively easy draw and he has received a walkover into the 4th round as Florian Mayer withdrew with a groin injury and he will next face Tommy Robredo whom he has never lost to, although from the quarter final onwards, it doesn't get any easier for him as Andy could await and Roger in the semis.
Which brings me onto Roger Federer who so far has been looking sharp this year and in Miami he if anything is looking even sharper, as he effectively dealt with the giant serving Ivo Karlovic, whom he dispatched in 6-4, 7-6. And Rog then went on to dismiss the Thiemo De Bakker in just 6-3, 6-3 to reach the 4th round in just over an hour and six minutes, where he will next face Richard Gasquet. Gasquet could be a tougher proposition but given the way Rog is playing I don't really see him troubling the Swiss Maestro much. And Rafa so far has made a strong start in Miami as well as he ruthlessly dispatched Lleyton Hewitt, just dropping four games on the way to victory as he won in 6-1, 6-3. Rafa has never won in Miami but on this form he could very well do this year if he continues like he did against Hewitt and the Spaniard definitely means business.
In other men's matches, David Ferrer made a good comeback from injury as he defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in 6-4, 6-0 and he will next take on Andreas Seppi for a place in the last 16. Grigor Dimitrov also won his match against Albert Montanes of Spain as he battled to win in 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 to face Kei Nishikori of Japan. Tomas Berdych also got revenge over Stephane Robert who upset Berdych a few years ago at the French open in the first round in a five set epic, but this match was way short as the big Czeck dismissed him in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. Stan Wawrinka, the Australian open champion, had a tougher test on his hands as he faced another Spaniard, Daniel Gimeno-Tarver who he beat in 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Milos Raonic also made it past the American player, Jack Sock whom he beat in 6-4, 7-6. And lastly big John Isner fought his way to victory against the young African American, Donald Young, as he recovered from losing the first set to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with more results later on once the 4th round match results are in.
So until the next un bye for now.
Thursday 20 March 2014
The Iron Man departs
Well the Sony Open tournament from Miami is already under way this week for the men's and ladies tour but this post will cover something a bit different as there has been a dramatic revelation this week in men's game as Andy Murray has announced his split with his coach Ivan Lendl after two years working together.
And there is no doubt that this comes as a real surprise to the tennis world and to the public especially considering how much success Andy has enjoyed working with Lendl who has helped him win the three biggest titles of his career. And the split seems to be more on Lendl's part than on Andy's as Ivan has stated he wishes to play more senior tour matches as well as concentrate on developing his tennis coaching academies. And this all seems fair enough as Lendl wants to move onto other projects, however it does leave Andy with a gaping hole in his team needing to be filled and it begs the question: how will Andy fare without Lendl??? Well only time will tell on that one but I think it hasn't happened at the most opportune time especially given Andy's ropey form of late. Also given that Andy is the defending champion at the Sony Open this year he has a tough field ahead of him in trying to defend it, as he will have to face Djokovic, Federer and then Nadal in succession to win it again from the quarter finals onward.
However with Lendl now gone it does open an interesting new chapter in Andy's career and while he is still searching to find his form, it will be intruiging to see how he will cope on his own without a coach. For now his hitting partner, Dani Vallverdu will probably provide support on a temporary basis in this role as he has done in the past. And its also a reminder of his split from Miles McClaghan back in 2011 and he actually went on to have a really good year after his slow start and disappointment of losing out to Djokovic in the Australian open final that year, he had his most consistent year in the slams by reaching all four semi finals and won five titles as well.
So while Andy has gotten off to a slow start in 2014 we still also have to take into consideration that he has just returned from surgery, but now that his back has improved, and he has his match fitness back, what he needs to work on is his match sharpness. And hopefully over the next few months that will come and by the time he plays the French Open even he will be back to near his best form. Also Andy has the chance to build up alot of points over the clay court season given that he didn't play for most of it last year mainly due to his back injury. And this year Andy is pain free with his back no longer an issue, its now just purely a matter of getting his game back up to scratch (not his back!).
And whether or not Andy can go on and win the Sony Open in Miami this week or not is not entirely relevant at this stage, given that there are so many players out there already gunning for him, as well as the resurgence of Federer and Nadal making his return after missing the tournament last year. But if he does lose out in Miami then I hope it will be later rather sooner as the deeper he goes the better a chance he has of winning and if he doesn't and does manage to beat Djokovic or even Federer on the way and loses in the final, he will at least take confidence from having beaten two (or one) top ten player. And this is something Andy realy needs to start doing in order to build that confidence is to beat players ranked lower than him but are close to his ranking (now No.6) such as Grigor Dimitrov or Milos Raonic, who have already beaten him this year in other tournaments.
Andy might already face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 4th round in Miami just prior to a potential showdown with Djokovic and he has an excellent head to head over Tsonga as it is (i.e. he has only lost once to him) . And if Andy can beat Tsonga then that will surely give him enough confidence to go forward and beat higher ranked players, as Tsonga is currently ranked No.11, it would be the highest ranked player he will have beaten so far this year. But that still lies ahead and for now we stil have to wait and see what the impact of Lendl's departure will take on Andy.
So I will finish by wishing Andy the best of luck for the future and let's hope his mutual split with Lendl will not backfire on him. But we have to remind ourselves that even though Lendl gave Andy the mental edge he needed to win a major, it was Andy that carried himself there as well and even without Lendl in his corner, Andy is and always will be one hell of a player. And even if Andy's patchy spell continues this year, I'm pretty sure we haven't seen anything yet and he will be back to his best soon enough.
And on that note I shall leave you there and report back once Miami get's well under way and maybe also the result of Andy's first match, which is against the Aussie player, Matthew Ebden.
And that's it, bye the now!
And there is no doubt that this comes as a real surprise to the tennis world and to the public especially considering how much success Andy has enjoyed working with Lendl who has helped him win the three biggest titles of his career. And the split seems to be more on Lendl's part than on Andy's as Ivan has stated he wishes to play more senior tour matches as well as concentrate on developing his tennis coaching academies. And this all seems fair enough as Lendl wants to move onto other projects, however it does leave Andy with a gaping hole in his team needing to be filled and it begs the question: how will Andy fare without Lendl??? Well only time will tell on that one but I think it hasn't happened at the most opportune time especially given Andy's ropey form of late. Also given that Andy is the defending champion at the Sony Open this year he has a tough field ahead of him in trying to defend it, as he will have to face Djokovic, Federer and then Nadal in succession to win it again from the quarter finals onward.
However with Lendl now gone it does open an interesting new chapter in Andy's career and while he is still searching to find his form, it will be intruiging to see how he will cope on his own without a coach. For now his hitting partner, Dani Vallverdu will probably provide support on a temporary basis in this role as he has done in the past. And its also a reminder of his split from Miles McClaghan back in 2011 and he actually went on to have a really good year after his slow start and disappointment of losing out to Djokovic in the Australian open final that year, he had his most consistent year in the slams by reaching all four semi finals and won five titles as well.
So while Andy has gotten off to a slow start in 2014 we still also have to take into consideration that he has just returned from surgery, but now that his back has improved, and he has his match fitness back, what he needs to work on is his match sharpness. And hopefully over the next few months that will come and by the time he plays the French Open even he will be back to near his best form. Also Andy has the chance to build up alot of points over the clay court season given that he didn't play for most of it last year mainly due to his back injury. And this year Andy is pain free with his back no longer an issue, its now just purely a matter of getting his game back up to scratch (not his back!).
And whether or not Andy can go on and win the Sony Open in Miami this week or not is not entirely relevant at this stage, given that there are so many players out there already gunning for him, as well as the resurgence of Federer and Nadal making his return after missing the tournament last year. But if he does lose out in Miami then I hope it will be later rather sooner as the deeper he goes the better a chance he has of winning and if he doesn't and does manage to beat Djokovic or even Federer on the way and loses in the final, he will at least take confidence from having beaten two (or one) top ten player. And this is something Andy realy needs to start doing in order to build that confidence is to beat players ranked lower than him but are close to his ranking (now No.6) such as Grigor Dimitrov or Milos Raonic, who have already beaten him this year in other tournaments.
Andy might already face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 4th round in Miami just prior to a potential showdown with Djokovic and he has an excellent head to head over Tsonga as it is (i.e. he has only lost once to him) . And if Andy can beat Tsonga then that will surely give him enough confidence to go forward and beat higher ranked players, as Tsonga is currently ranked No.11, it would be the highest ranked player he will have beaten so far this year. But that still lies ahead and for now we stil have to wait and see what the impact of Lendl's departure will take on Andy.
So I will finish by wishing Andy the best of luck for the future and let's hope his mutual split with Lendl will not backfire on him. But we have to remind ourselves that even though Lendl gave Andy the mental edge he needed to win a major, it was Andy that carried himself there as well and even without Lendl in his corner, Andy is and always will be one hell of a player. And even if Andy's patchy spell continues this year, I'm pretty sure we haven't seen anything yet and he will be back to his best soon enough.
And on that note I shall leave you there and report back once Miami get's well under way and maybe also the result of Andy's first match, which is against the Aussie player, Matthew Ebden.
And that's it, bye the now!
Monday 17 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 4: The ultimate desert showdown
Right so this is the final part of my look at the BNP Paribas open from Indian Wells in California, which will cover the mens and ladies finals to see who came out on top to win that big awkward star shaped glass trophy thing.
So to start with the ladies final we had the World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska take on the 20th seed, Flavia Pennetta and Aga lead their head to head going into this match 4-2. However Pennetta looked determined to upset the odds as she made a strong start in the first set and got an early break to move ahead, but as the set continued Radwanska started to look in some discomfort as her knee, which was taped looked to be hampering her movement, and soon enough Pennetta got a double break to close the set. In the second set Aga's problem continued with her knee as she took a medical timeout to get it re-bandaged but it hardly helped her game as she struggled to move and Pennetta took full advantage as the errors kept piling up in Radwanska's game and she found herself a double break down. And despite one last ditch attempt to hold serve, Radwanska soon captiluated on serve and handed Pennetta the big title win of her career as she won the final in 6-2, 6-1.
It was a pity this match didn't deliver on its promise as the early stages in the first set looked good but it was just unfortunate that Radwanska's knee injury flared up. And in a way it was a reminder of Rafa's back injury in the Australian Open final, where once again a player who has gone through all the hard work to reach a big final, in the last match cannot compete as they would like to. So it was a shame for Aga to lose out on the chance of her first big title in some time especially after the letdown of coming so close in Melbourne earlier this year as well before she downed in the semis by Dominika Cibulkova. As for Flavia Pennetta well she deserves alot of credit for her title win and she has had a terrific week in the desert and will look to improve on her results as last year she showed great signs as she even reached her first major semi final at the US Open, so if she carries on like this 2014 could be a really bright year for her.
Now we move onto the men's final which was a heavyweight showdown between two of the greats in the game, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. And given their very tight head to head 17-15 in Roger's favour going into this match, it promised to be a real cracker. And the match itself certainly didn't disappoint as in the first set Roger came out firing on all cylinders and he produced sublime tennis as he broke an edgy looking Novak to move up 3-0 and he went on to confidently nab the first set. In the 2nd however, the errors started to creep into Fed's game and Nole fought back as he managed to fashion a break of his own and he went on to level the match at a set apiece. And in the 3rd set we were treated to a thrilling contest between both men as they raised their levels for the thrilled crowd on Stadium 1 and played some terrific tennis. However after a tense service game it was Roger that blinked first and he went down a break to Nole, but he still managed to keep it close by keeping to the single break. And when it came for Novak to serve for the title at 5-4, he got tight and was broken by Roger and then before we knew it, the match went into a tiebreak. And despite Roger's superb tiebreak record he unfortunately made some uncharacteristic errors and it saw Novak take the lead at 6-3, with three championship points he served out the match to win his third Indian Wells title after a hard fought and thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory.
It has to be said I was somewhat surprised by the result of this match as for the most part Roger was the better player, despite a few lapses here and there. But in the end its testament again to Novak's champion qualities that he was able to win this title even though he wasn't playing his best tennis and didn't really start to fire until mid-way into the 2nd set. And throughout the tournament Novak's play was mixed in quality as there were some rounds were he was sloppy on serve, especially against Isner and even against the qualifier, Gonzalez and Cilic. But that's what the great champs do when they don't play their best they find a way to get the job done. So no doubt this title will give Djokovic much confidence for the rest of the season as it was the first year in his career since probably 2006 that he wasn't won a title going into the American hard court swing. And no doubt this will be a springboard for Djokovic to do well in Miami next week and also looking beyond to the clay court season.
As for Federer well despite his loss, he has played some superb and highly aggressive tennis this week and there were certainly alot of moments where it looked like it was going to come right for him. But I'm sure Fed will not be too disheartened by this defeat and it was still a great result and it sees him continue his impressive form and consistency in 2014, which will no doubt get better and I'm sure the time Wimbledon comes around, Roger will be a big threat again and will look reclaim his favourite trophy at the All England Club.
So that's it for my posts on the BNP Paribas Open which was given a terrific finale by the men (if not the ladies) and it now paves the way for the Sony Open in Miami, which is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. Andy Murray is the defending champion in Miami as he battled to lift the title last year against David Ferrer, so he has alot of points to defend this upcoming week and given his current ropey form, he has alot of work ahead of him if he is to have a chance to defend his title. Thankfully for Andy however he uses Miami as his training base, so it is a tournament where he has played some of his best tennis and hopefully he can use that to gain some inspiration in order to try and win a much needed title to get his season up and running. But whether or not Andy can win the title again this year remains in doubt, it would be great to see him do it or at least reach the final again, but time will tell on that one.
What we do know now is that the Sony Open draw is now out (as of 17.03.14 which is when I've updated this) and it isn't too kind for Andy as he may face Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals and Roger Federer in the semis! So I hate to say it but he may have to kiss his title defence goodbye. Up until the quarters though things aren't too bad though as Andy could play Lukas Kubot or Mathew Ebden in the 2nd round, Feliciano Lopez in the 3rd, whom beat he in Melbourne earlier this year. Although his possible 4th round opponent could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga which could be a very dangerous test for Andy, but he does have a good head to head against Tsonga so hopefully he can find the form to beat him again.
But its going to be mighty tough for Andy to defend his title in Miami given the draw and if he loses out in the quarter finals or before, then I hope he refocuses for the clay court season and does better there. And despite it all I think Andy could have a very good clay court season this year as over the last two years his poor run of form on clay was in part attributed toward his back injury. But Andy is now playing pain free after his surgery and while every one is set to write him off on the red dirt I think he has an excellent chance to prove himself on clay. And I'm sure he will try and go out of his way to do well this year given if he goes out early in Miami he will have plenty of points to make up during the clay court season, especially after missing the French Open last year. So while we have to wait and see how he get's on this week in Miami before we get to the red dirt.
Soooo that's it for now and I will report back once the Sony Open from Miaimi get's underway.
Till the next one bye for now.
So to start with the ladies final we had the World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska take on the 20th seed, Flavia Pennetta and Aga lead their head to head going into this match 4-2. However Pennetta looked determined to upset the odds as she made a strong start in the first set and got an early break to move ahead, but as the set continued Radwanska started to look in some discomfort as her knee, which was taped looked to be hampering her movement, and soon enough Pennetta got a double break to close the set. In the second set Aga's problem continued with her knee as she took a medical timeout to get it re-bandaged but it hardly helped her game as she struggled to move and Pennetta took full advantage as the errors kept piling up in Radwanska's game and she found herself a double break down. And despite one last ditch attempt to hold serve, Radwanska soon captiluated on serve and handed Pennetta the big title win of her career as she won the final in 6-2, 6-1.
It was a pity this match didn't deliver on its promise as the early stages in the first set looked good but it was just unfortunate that Radwanska's knee injury flared up. And in a way it was a reminder of Rafa's back injury in the Australian Open final, where once again a player who has gone through all the hard work to reach a big final, in the last match cannot compete as they would like to. So it was a shame for Aga to lose out on the chance of her first big title in some time especially after the letdown of coming so close in Melbourne earlier this year as well before she downed in the semis by Dominika Cibulkova. As for Flavia Pennetta well she deserves alot of credit for her title win and she has had a terrific week in the desert and will look to improve on her results as last year she showed great signs as she even reached her first major semi final at the US Open, so if she carries on like this 2014 could be a really bright year for her.
Now we move onto the men's final which was a heavyweight showdown between two of the greats in the game, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. And given their very tight head to head 17-15 in Roger's favour going into this match, it promised to be a real cracker. And the match itself certainly didn't disappoint as in the first set Roger came out firing on all cylinders and he produced sublime tennis as he broke an edgy looking Novak to move up 3-0 and he went on to confidently nab the first set. In the 2nd however, the errors started to creep into Fed's game and Nole fought back as he managed to fashion a break of his own and he went on to level the match at a set apiece. And in the 3rd set we were treated to a thrilling contest between both men as they raised their levels for the thrilled crowd on Stadium 1 and played some terrific tennis. However after a tense service game it was Roger that blinked first and he went down a break to Nole, but he still managed to keep it close by keeping to the single break. And when it came for Novak to serve for the title at 5-4, he got tight and was broken by Roger and then before we knew it, the match went into a tiebreak. And despite Roger's superb tiebreak record he unfortunately made some uncharacteristic errors and it saw Novak take the lead at 6-3, with three championship points he served out the match to win his third Indian Wells title after a hard fought and thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory.
It has to be said I was somewhat surprised by the result of this match as for the most part Roger was the better player, despite a few lapses here and there. But in the end its testament again to Novak's champion qualities that he was able to win this title even though he wasn't playing his best tennis and didn't really start to fire until mid-way into the 2nd set. And throughout the tournament Novak's play was mixed in quality as there were some rounds were he was sloppy on serve, especially against Isner and even against the qualifier, Gonzalez and Cilic. But that's what the great champs do when they don't play their best they find a way to get the job done. So no doubt this title will give Djokovic much confidence for the rest of the season as it was the first year in his career since probably 2006 that he wasn't won a title going into the American hard court swing. And no doubt this will be a springboard for Djokovic to do well in Miami next week and also looking beyond to the clay court season.
As for Federer well despite his loss, he has played some superb and highly aggressive tennis this week and there were certainly alot of moments where it looked like it was going to come right for him. But I'm sure Fed will not be too disheartened by this defeat and it was still a great result and it sees him continue his impressive form and consistency in 2014, which will no doubt get better and I'm sure the time Wimbledon comes around, Roger will be a big threat again and will look reclaim his favourite trophy at the All England Club.
So that's it for my posts on the BNP Paribas Open which was given a terrific finale by the men (if not the ladies) and it now paves the way for the Sony Open in Miami, which is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. Andy Murray is the defending champion in Miami as he battled to lift the title last year against David Ferrer, so he has alot of points to defend this upcoming week and given his current ropey form, he has alot of work ahead of him if he is to have a chance to defend his title. Thankfully for Andy however he uses Miami as his training base, so it is a tournament where he has played some of his best tennis and hopefully he can use that to gain some inspiration in order to try and win a much needed title to get his season up and running. But whether or not Andy can win the title again this year remains in doubt, it would be great to see him do it or at least reach the final again, but time will tell on that one.
What we do know now is that the Sony Open draw is now out (as of 17.03.14 which is when I've updated this) and it isn't too kind for Andy as he may face Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals and Roger Federer in the semis! So I hate to say it but he may have to kiss his title defence goodbye. Up until the quarters though things aren't too bad though as Andy could play Lukas Kubot or Mathew Ebden in the 2nd round, Feliciano Lopez in the 3rd, whom beat he in Melbourne earlier this year. Although his possible 4th round opponent could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga which could be a very dangerous test for Andy, but he does have a good head to head against Tsonga so hopefully he can find the form to beat him again.
But its going to be mighty tough for Andy to defend his title in Miami given the draw and if he loses out in the quarter finals or before, then I hope he refocuses for the clay court season and does better there. And despite it all I think Andy could have a very good clay court season this year as over the last two years his poor run of form on clay was in part attributed toward his back injury. But Andy is now playing pain free after his surgery and while every one is set to write him off on the red dirt I think he has an excellent chance to prove himself on clay. And I'm sure he will try and go out of his way to do well this year given if he goes out early in Miami he will have plenty of points to make up during the clay court season, especially after missing the French Open last year. So while we have to wait and see how he get's on this week in Miami before we get to the red dirt.
Soooo that's it for now and I will report back once the Sony Open from Miaimi get's underway.
Till the next one bye for now.
Sunday 16 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 3: Getting down to the wire....
Right OK so its time for part 3 of my posts on the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells city in California and we are now getting to the business end of the tournament as I will cover the men's and ladies quarter and semi final matches.
So to start with the lasses and the last remaining quarter final in the ladies, which I didn't cover in the last post was between Flavia Pennetta and the American Sloane Stephens. And it was a real tight encounter as the match went the distance in the desert but it was experience that got Pennetta through in the end as she continued her fine form with a tough 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win, which saw her take her place in the semis. And now moving onto the semis, first up we had Li Na who faced off against Flavia Pennetta and it was another tight match, but despite Li being the top seed (with Serena Williams not playing in the tournament as Li Na is now No.2) Pennetta pulled off another stunning upset as she fought her way to victory to reach the biggest singles final of her career with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This is a great result for Pennetta who has had a real killer run this week having taken some big names out such as Sam Stosur, Sloane Stephens and now Li Na. But this is the biggest final of her career so it remains to be seen if she will have the nerve to close out the win in the big finale and it all hinges on the winner of the next match.
And this match was between Agnieszka Radwanska and the in form Romanian player, Simona Halep who capped the biggest title of her career earlier this year in Doha and the odds were in Halep's favour given that she had won their last two meetings. However Radwanska had other ideas as she came out playing very aggressive tennis and she outwitted her opponent in the first set as she broker to take the first set. In the 2nd set it was Halep's turn as she broke Radwanska to move ahead as the match looked to get to a decider but Aga once again broke back and fashioned a break of her own as she sealed her place in her first Indian Wells final with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
So this sets up the ladies final between Radwanska and Pennetta and looking at their head to head, Radwanska looks to be the favourite as she leads it 4-2. However head to heads can be decieving so we will just have to wait and see how it goes, but my money is on Radwanska as she has had more experience in bigger finals than Pennetta has. And even though their last encounters have always been won in straight sets I do think this could still be a tight one so I will go with Radwanska in three sets, but then I've been wrong before and Pennetta will definitely go in as the underdog so she will also have her chance. Whatever way it goes it promises to be quite an entertaining final given their contrast in styles as players.
So now we go onto the men's and I will start with the quarter finals and the first one was between Alexandr Dolgopolov who has had a real good run so far and he was up against the big serving Milos Raonic, who knocked out Andy Murray in the previous round. But it was the Dog who made the better start as he played some terrific free flowing tennis to flummox the big Canadian as he got a perfect read on the big guy's serves and broke him to go ahead in the first set. In the 2nd Raonic got a break but it wasn't long before Dolgopolov wrestled it back and he went on to break Raonic and won the match in straight sets to reach his first ever 1000 Masters series semi final in 6-3, 6-4. Roger Federer next up continued his impressive form as he took on the giant Kevin Anderson, who knocked out Stan Wawrinka and denied the crowd an all Swiss quarter final. But Roger proved to be more than good enough to defeat the big South African and after a tight first set, he dismissed Anderson in the 2nd as he won the match convincingly in 7-5, 6-1.
Next we had John Isner, the American no.1 and the second tallest player on the men's tour who took on the tempermental but talented, Ernests Gulbis. But big John was able to rely on his big powerful serve once again as he battled past Gulbis in two tight sets as he won them on two tiebreaks, which saw him reach his second Indian Wells semi final with a 7-6, 7-6 score. And the last quarter final was between Novak Djokovic, the former champion and Julien Benneteau the Frenchman, who has enjoyed a good run in the desert this week. But the Frenchman had no answer for Nole his time as the Serb dismissed with little effort as Novak defeated Benneteau in just over an hour with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Which brings me onto the semi finals, and the first was between Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov. This was an intruiging match up as they had only played once before and Roger won in on a retiral four years ago in Basel, his home town. And despite a fairly tight start from both men, the match soon unravlled for the Dog who soon found his erratic game had now answer for Roger's might as he got broken in the first set. And in the 2nd, Dolgopolov's errors increased dramatically as his erratic serve got worse and first serve percentage dropped way down to 35%! (all of a sudden Andy Murray's doesn't look too bad!). And in the end Roger outclassed the Dog as he put in a sublime serving performance in the 3rd and he sealed the win in 6-3, 6-1 to reach another final in the desert with a chance to lift his fifth title there.
And the last match of the day was between Novak Djokovic and John Isner, which proved to be a much tougher and tighter affair. Nole made a good start, but he ended up getting himself into hot water at 4-5, as he went three break points down to hand set points to the big Yank, but he saved them all and held on. Nole soon then managed to get a break on Isner's serve and he closed out the first set and in the 2nd set he managed to get another break, which saw him serve for the match at 5-4. However Nole played a poor service game and Isner broke back to go 5-5, but Isner handed the initiative to Novak once more, only for him to hand it straight back and the match headed into a tiebreak, which Isner won comfortably to level the match. And despite the danger of another upset looming as Isner beat Djokovic two years ago at the same stage in Indian Wells, Nole this time managed to avoid the danger and he went on to wear down the big guy and broke twice to secure his place in the final with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 victory.
So this sets up another potentially exciting final in the desert between two of the world's all time greats in Roger and Nole and it promises to be a cracker. But who will win????? Well for me I have to go with Federer as he has been in great form all week and he looks like he is getting back to his best and he hasn't dropped a set all week. Roger will also have taken much confidence from defeating Novak in the semi finals in Dubai two weeks ago and he has already beaten four top 10 players this year and Nole has yet to beat even one! Novak on the other hand certainly has a chance to win but he will have to play better than he has done all week and certainly better than he did against Isner as he cannot afford to hand service breaks to Roger, who will take them and run. So I think it will be a tight one and it promises to be a great match but I think Roger will win in three sets to claim his fifth Indian Wells title, but we will soon find out however it goes.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with the results of the finals of the mens and ladies.
Until the next one see you later.
So to start with the lasses and the last remaining quarter final in the ladies, which I didn't cover in the last post was between Flavia Pennetta and the American Sloane Stephens. And it was a real tight encounter as the match went the distance in the desert but it was experience that got Pennetta through in the end as she continued her fine form with a tough 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win, which saw her take her place in the semis. And now moving onto the semis, first up we had Li Na who faced off against Flavia Pennetta and it was another tight match, but despite Li being the top seed (with Serena Williams not playing in the tournament as Li Na is now No.2) Pennetta pulled off another stunning upset as she fought her way to victory to reach the biggest singles final of her career with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This is a great result for Pennetta who has had a real killer run this week having taken some big names out such as Sam Stosur, Sloane Stephens and now Li Na. But this is the biggest final of her career so it remains to be seen if she will have the nerve to close out the win in the big finale and it all hinges on the winner of the next match.
And this match was between Agnieszka Radwanska and the in form Romanian player, Simona Halep who capped the biggest title of her career earlier this year in Doha and the odds were in Halep's favour given that she had won their last two meetings. However Radwanska had other ideas as she came out playing very aggressive tennis and she outwitted her opponent in the first set as she broker to take the first set. In the 2nd set it was Halep's turn as she broke Radwanska to move ahead as the match looked to get to a decider but Aga once again broke back and fashioned a break of her own as she sealed her place in her first Indian Wells final with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
So this sets up the ladies final between Radwanska and Pennetta and looking at their head to head, Radwanska looks to be the favourite as she leads it 4-2. However head to heads can be decieving so we will just have to wait and see how it goes, but my money is on Radwanska as she has had more experience in bigger finals than Pennetta has. And even though their last encounters have always been won in straight sets I do think this could still be a tight one so I will go with Radwanska in three sets, but then I've been wrong before and Pennetta will definitely go in as the underdog so she will also have her chance. Whatever way it goes it promises to be quite an entertaining final given their contrast in styles as players.
So now we go onto the men's and I will start with the quarter finals and the first one was between Alexandr Dolgopolov who has had a real good run so far and he was up against the big serving Milos Raonic, who knocked out Andy Murray in the previous round. But it was the Dog who made the better start as he played some terrific free flowing tennis to flummox the big Canadian as he got a perfect read on the big guy's serves and broke him to go ahead in the first set. In the 2nd Raonic got a break but it wasn't long before Dolgopolov wrestled it back and he went on to break Raonic and won the match in straight sets to reach his first ever 1000 Masters series semi final in 6-3, 6-4. Roger Federer next up continued his impressive form as he took on the giant Kevin Anderson, who knocked out Stan Wawrinka and denied the crowd an all Swiss quarter final. But Roger proved to be more than good enough to defeat the big South African and after a tight first set, he dismissed Anderson in the 2nd as he won the match convincingly in 7-5, 6-1.
Next we had John Isner, the American no.1 and the second tallest player on the men's tour who took on the tempermental but talented, Ernests Gulbis. But big John was able to rely on his big powerful serve once again as he battled past Gulbis in two tight sets as he won them on two tiebreaks, which saw him reach his second Indian Wells semi final with a 7-6, 7-6 score. And the last quarter final was between Novak Djokovic, the former champion and Julien Benneteau the Frenchman, who has enjoyed a good run in the desert this week. But the Frenchman had no answer for Nole his time as the Serb dismissed with little effort as Novak defeated Benneteau in just over an hour with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Which brings me onto the semi finals, and the first was between Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov. This was an intruiging match up as they had only played once before and Roger won in on a retiral four years ago in Basel, his home town. And despite a fairly tight start from both men, the match soon unravlled for the Dog who soon found his erratic game had now answer for Roger's might as he got broken in the first set. And in the 2nd, Dolgopolov's errors increased dramatically as his erratic serve got worse and first serve percentage dropped way down to 35%! (all of a sudden Andy Murray's doesn't look too bad!). And in the end Roger outclassed the Dog as he put in a sublime serving performance in the 3rd and he sealed the win in 6-3, 6-1 to reach another final in the desert with a chance to lift his fifth title there.
And the last match of the day was between Novak Djokovic and John Isner, which proved to be a much tougher and tighter affair. Nole made a good start, but he ended up getting himself into hot water at 4-5, as he went three break points down to hand set points to the big Yank, but he saved them all and held on. Nole soon then managed to get a break on Isner's serve and he closed out the first set and in the 2nd set he managed to get another break, which saw him serve for the match at 5-4. However Nole played a poor service game and Isner broke back to go 5-5, but Isner handed the initiative to Novak once more, only for him to hand it straight back and the match headed into a tiebreak, which Isner won comfortably to level the match. And despite the danger of another upset looming as Isner beat Djokovic two years ago at the same stage in Indian Wells, Nole this time managed to avoid the danger and he went on to wear down the big guy and broke twice to secure his place in the final with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 victory.
So this sets up another potentially exciting final in the desert between two of the world's all time greats in Roger and Nole and it promises to be a cracker. But who will win????? Well for me I have to go with Federer as he has been in great form all week and he looks like he is getting back to his best and he hasn't dropped a set all week. Roger will also have taken much confidence from defeating Novak in the semi finals in Dubai two weeks ago and he has already beaten four top 10 players this year and Nole has yet to beat even one! Novak on the other hand certainly has a chance to win but he will have to play better than he has done all week and certainly better than he did against Isner as he cannot afford to hand service breaks to Roger, who will take them and run. So I think it will be a tight one and it promises to be a great match but I think Roger will win in three sets to claim his fifth Indian Wells title, but we will soon find out however it goes.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with the results of the finals of the mens and ladies.
Until the next one see you later.
Thursday 13 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 2: Upsets and more upsets and letdowns...
Right OK so here is part 2 of my look at the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, which will cover the latest action of the ladies and men's event which is the first Premier Mandatory (WTA) and 1000 Masters (ATP) level tournaments of the year (they are the biggest titles outside the slams and the year end championships). So let's gie it a look...
So to start with the ladies we had a few upsets starting with the defending champion Maria Sharapova who's had a rather slow comeback just like Andy Murray so far this year, as she suffered a surprise defeat to the Italian player, Camila Ciorgi, who stunned the Russian in 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. This certainly shows that Maria is making pretty slow progress in her comeback so far and similar to Andy it may take her time before she will manage to get herself back on top of her game. Next up we had the former champion and last year's finalist, Caroline Wozniacki suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the back in form Jelena Jankovic who thrashed the Dane in 6-3, 6-1. Petra Kvitova also fell at the hands of the pint sized Dominika Cibulkova who defeated Petra with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win. And Sam Stosur also fell to the Italian player who has recently shown good form again, Flavia Pennetta, as Pennetta battled to victory in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
As for other matches we had Simona Halep, who has been in red hot form lately who has made her way into the semi finals having battled past Luci Safarova and Eugenie Bouchard both in three sets before dismissing the Aussie player, Casey Dellacqua in just 6-2, 6-2. Halep has made an amazing meteoric rise over the last 12 months and she already won titles on all surfaces and even remarkably she has won the final of every tournament she has reached (seven so far and counting) so for me she remains a favourite to win the title or at least reach the final. Agnieszka Radwanska who has shown good form again of late also managed to battle her to the semi finals as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in a tough three set scrap in 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Li Na, the current Australian Open champion had a rematch of her final with Dominika Cibulkova only this time it was a more even fight as both players took it the distance but it was Li Na who triumphed again with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 scoreline. Li Na also for me remains a favourite to win the title given her current form she has a good chance of winning as well so we will see how it goes.
So moving onto the men's matches first up we had Andy Murray (and yep I will dedicate a few paragraphs to this one!) who in the 3rd round faced a qualifier, Jiri Veseley from the Czeck Republic, being 6' 6" resembled Del Potro and he had a serve to match. In the match Andy was the clear favourite to win however despite a strong start in the first set taking a 3-0 lead he then went on to surrender his break and before we knew it was a tiebreak and Andy lost it 7-2. In the 2nd set Andy had to come from a break down to level the match and again he did the same in the 3rd where he eventually managed to wear down the talented yet inexperienced Veseley after a tough near three hour battle in 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. This has to be one of the most shocking displays I have ever seen from Andy in all the times I have watched his matches as his serve was horrendously off target and he had to fight so many times from a down position in the match. And in the end the only thing that really got him through was his mental resilience and experience to hang in there.
Which brings me onto Andy's 4th round match which was between Milos Raonic, whom he has had his struggles with in the past as the big serving Canadian lead their head to head 2-1. However Andy seemed to improve on his poor effort in the previous round as he made a confident solid start and broke Raonic to take the first set and he continued his fine form in the second set even though he lost it. But in the 3rd Andy took the ascendancy as he got an early break, but unfortunately he couldn't hold onto it and it was not long before Raonic was able to fashion a break of his own against the increasingly fragile Murray serve and he went on to serve out the match to produce another upset for the British No.1 in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. While the result was by no means a disgrace, what was so poor about the match was Andy's capitulation on serve in the crucial moments of the final set. And once again it really does highlight the vulnerability of his service games, as he cannot appear to get his first serve percentage high enough (usually around the 50% mark) and his 2nd serve remains the biggest Achilles heel in his game as it hovers around the 70-80 mph mark which is just too slow.
So this match did show a few worrying signs for Andy and yet again he has failed to beat a player ranked below him and he is even yet to beat a player ranked inside the top 20 never mind the top 10 this year. However I guess we still have to take into consideration that Andy will take time to fully recover his form and I do believe he will hopefully at some point later this year get it back. And it also has to be said that Indian Wells is a tournament that hasn't been kind to him over the years as he struggled badly there in the past. But hopefully with the Sony Open in Miami coming Andy will enjoy better luck as he plays well there (usually!) and he uses Miami as his base training camp away from home (or his home from home). And in Miami he will also meet up with Ivan Lendl again so hopefully they can use that time to work on things before he is set to defend his title. Can he???? Hmmm seems doubtful but we shall see.
Right as for other matches, Rafael Nadal after winning his tough match against Radek Stepanek, fell foul to the biggest upset of the tournament as he was knocked out by the in form Alexandr Dologopolov in the 3rd round. The dog (his nickname!) hadn't even taken a set off Rafa before this match in their previous meetings, but here Rafa struggled on serve in the match and there were times were it was a reminder of his painful defeat in the final of Melbourne as the Ukranian knocked out the defending champ in 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Rafa certainly did show signs of a lack confidence again in this match as he appeared to be still haunted by his defeat in the final of the Australian open and he was even leaving the stadium trying to hold back the tears. Rafa will of course need to regroup for Miami where we will see how he favours there as he hasn't played there for two years.
Next up we had Roger Federer, who so far has shown great form in the last few weeks as he won his first title of the year in Dubai and so far he has confidently progressed into the quarter finals. In his 3rd round match Roger faced the tricky Russian, Dimitri Tursinov who he fought past to win their match in 7-6, 7-6. And in the fourth round, Roger overcame another old foe, Tommy Haas, however he managed to dispatch the German with fair ease as he beat him in 6-4, 6-4. This sees Roger looking good for the rest of the tournament and I actually still pick him as a strong favourite to win the title again. Then we have the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic who has been in pretty good form so far in the desert, although he suffered a mid match dip in his 3rd round match against the qualifier, Alejandro Gonzalez, as he lost the 2nd set, but he regrouped well to seal the win in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. And in the 4th round Nole faced his first real danger opponent in Marin Cilic, who has been in great form of late as he recently also hired Goran Ivanesivic as his coach. Cilic came out the blocks strong and won the first set in 20 minutes, but after that Novak regrouped to level the match and he went on to break Cilic again in the 3rd to seal his place in the quarter finals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.
In other matches on the men's a few more upsets, the biggest being Stan Wawrinka as his perfect start to the season came to an end as he played the South African giant, Kevin Anderson, and the big guy served Stan off the court for the most part. Stan took a set but in the 3rd set he mistimed his shots and his serves and it allowed for Anderson to take a double break to seal the deal to reach the quarter finals with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 win. Grigor Dimitrov, who has in top form lately, also was upset by his close new rival, Ernests Gulbis, as the two of them did battle together, only this time it was Gulbis who sealed the win and reach the 4th round in 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Gulbis then went on to beat Tomas Berdych's conqueror, Roberto Bautista-Agut after a tough three set match in 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. The Frenchman, Julienne Benneateau also put out another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter finals with a 6-3, 7-6 score. And lastly John Isner, a former finalist here two years ago, managed to edge Fernando Verdasco in a tight encounter with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
So this sets up and the men's quarter finals and also the ladies quarters and semis and I will be back with more action soon as we get to real business end of the tournament in the desert.
Until the next one bye for now.
So to start with the ladies we had a few upsets starting with the defending champion Maria Sharapova who's had a rather slow comeback just like Andy Murray so far this year, as she suffered a surprise defeat to the Italian player, Camila Ciorgi, who stunned the Russian in 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. This certainly shows that Maria is making pretty slow progress in her comeback so far and similar to Andy it may take her time before she will manage to get herself back on top of her game. Next up we had the former champion and last year's finalist, Caroline Wozniacki suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the back in form Jelena Jankovic who thrashed the Dane in 6-3, 6-1. Petra Kvitova also fell at the hands of the pint sized Dominika Cibulkova who defeated Petra with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win. And Sam Stosur also fell to the Italian player who has recently shown good form again, Flavia Pennetta, as Pennetta battled to victory in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
As for other matches we had Simona Halep, who has been in red hot form lately who has made her way into the semi finals having battled past Luci Safarova and Eugenie Bouchard both in three sets before dismissing the Aussie player, Casey Dellacqua in just 6-2, 6-2. Halep has made an amazing meteoric rise over the last 12 months and she already won titles on all surfaces and even remarkably she has won the final of every tournament she has reached (seven so far and counting) so for me she remains a favourite to win the title or at least reach the final. Agnieszka Radwanska who has shown good form again of late also managed to battle her to the semi finals as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in a tough three set scrap in 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Li Na, the current Australian Open champion had a rematch of her final with Dominika Cibulkova only this time it was a more even fight as both players took it the distance but it was Li Na who triumphed again with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 scoreline. Li Na also for me remains a favourite to win the title given her current form she has a good chance of winning as well so we will see how it goes.
So moving onto the men's matches first up we had Andy Murray (and yep I will dedicate a few paragraphs to this one!) who in the 3rd round faced a qualifier, Jiri Veseley from the Czeck Republic, being 6' 6" resembled Del Potro and he had a serve to match. In the match Andy was the clear favourite to win however despite a strong start in the first set taking a 3-0 lead he then went on to surrender his break and before we knew it was a tiebreak and Andy lost it 7-2. In the 2nd set Andy had to come from a break down to level the match and again he did the same in the 3rd where he eventually managed to wear down the talented yet inexperienced Veseley after a tough near three hour battle in 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. This has to be one of the most shocking displays I have ever seen from Andy in all the times I have watched his matches as his serve was horrendously off target and he had to fight so many times from a down position in the match. And in the end the only thing that really got him through was his mental resilience and experience to hang in there.
Which brings me onto Andy's 4th round match which was between Milos Raonic, whom he has had his struggles with in the past as the big serving Canadian lead their head to head 2-1. However Andy seemed to improve on his poor effort in the previous round as he made a confident solid start and broke Raonic to take the first set and he continued his fine form in the second set even though he lost it. But in the 3rd Andy took the ascendancy as he got an early break, but unfortunately he couldn't hold onto it and it was not long before Raonic was able to fashion a break of his own against the increasingly fragile Murray serve and he went on to serve out the match to produce another upset for the British No.1 in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. While the result was by no means a disgrace, what was so poor about the match was Andy's capitulation on serve in the crucial moments of the final set. And once again it really does highlight the vulnerability of his service games, as he cannot appear to get his first serve percentage high enough (usually around the 50% mark) and his 2nd serve remains the biggest Achilles heel in his game as it hovers around the 70-80 mph mark which is just too slow.
So this match did show a few worrying signs for Andy and yet again he has failed to beat a player ranked below him and he is even yet to beat a player ranked inside the top 20 never mind the top 10 this year. However I guess we still have to take into consideration that Andy will take time to fully recover his form and I do believe he will hopefully at some point later this year get it back. And it also has to be said that Indian Wells is a tournament that hasn't been kind to him over the years as he struggled badly there in the past. But hopefully with the Sony Open in Miami coming Andy will enjoy better luck as he plays well there (usually!) and he uses Miami as his base training camp away from home (or his home from home). And in Miami he will also meet up with Ivan Lendl again so hopefully they can use that time to work on things before he is set to defend his title. Can he???? Hmmm seems doubtful but we shall see.
Right as for other matches, Rafael Nadal after winning his tough match against Radek Stepanek, fell foul to the biggest upset of the tournament as he was knocked out by the in form Alexandr Dologopolov in the 3rd round. The dog (his nickname!) hadn't even taken a set off Rafa before this match in their previous meetings, but here Rafa struggled on serve in the match and there were times were it was a reminder of his painful defeat in the final of Melbourne as the Ukranian knocked out the defending champ in 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Rafa certainly did show signs of a lack confidence again in this match as he appeared to be still haunted by his defeat in the final of the Australian open and he was even leaving the stadium trying to hold back the tears. Rafa will of course need to regroup for Miami where we will see how he favours there as he hasn't played there for two years.
Next up we had Roger Federer, who so far has shown great form in the last few weeks as he won his first title of the year in Dubai and so far he has confidently progressed into the quarter finals. In his 3rd round match Roger faced the tricky Russian, Dimitri Tursinov who he fought past to win their match in 7-6, 7-6. And in the fourth round, Roger overcame another old foe, Tommy Haas, however he managed to dispatch the German with fair ease as he beat him in 6-4, 6-4. This sees Roger looking good for the rest of the tournament and I actually still pick him as a strong favourite to win the title again. Then we have the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic who has been in pretty good form so far in the desert, although he suffered a mid match dip in his 3rd round match against the qualifier, Alejandro Gonzalez, as he lost the 2nd set, but he regrouped well to seal the win in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. And in the 4th round Nole faced his first real danger opponent in Marin Cilic, who has been in great form of late as he recently also hired Goran Ivanesivic as his coach. Cilic came out the blocks strong and won the first set in 20 minutes, but after that Novak regrouped to level the match and he went on to break Cilic again in the 3rd to seal his place in the quarter finals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.
In other matches on the men's a few more upsets, the biggest being Stan Wawrinka as his perfect start to the season came to an end as he played the South African giant, Kevin Anderson, and the big guy served Stan off the court for the most part. Stan took a set but in the 3rd set he mistimed his shots and his serves and it allowed for Anderson to take a double break to seal the deal to reach the quarter finals with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 win. Grigor Dimitrov, who has in top form lately, also was upset by his close new rival, Ernests Gulbis, as the two of them did battle together, only this time it was Gulbis who sealed the win and reach the 4th round in 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Gulbis then went on to beat Tomas Berdych's conqueror, Roberto Bautista-Agut after a tough three set match in 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. The Frenchman, Julienne Benneateau also put out another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter finals with a 6-3, 7-6 score. And lastly John Isner, a former finalist here two years ago, managed to edge Fernando Verdasco in a tight encounter with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
So this sets up and the men's quarter finals and also the ladies quarters and semis and I will be back with more action soon as we get to real business end of the tournament in the desert.
Until the next one bye for now.
Sunday 9 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 1: The desert showdown begins...
Right so I thought it was high time I did a post on the first joint ATP/WTA big event of the year outside the grand slams, which is the BNP Paribas Open from the desert at Indian Wells in Califorinia, where its baking hot and the sun probably shines all the time (or about as much as it rains here!). So let's have a look at the action so far...
Right starting with the ladies we've had one or two upsets, starting with Victoria Azarenka, the former 2012 champion, who got off to the worst possible start as she suffered a shock loss to the American, Lauren Davis. Vika started off horribly in the first set as she suffered a bagel set, however she fought back in the 2nd and pushed play to a tiebreak, but she soon came undone as she struggled with a foot injury and it was the young American who won the match in 6-0, 7-6. Angelique Kerber was another big casualty in the desert as she lost out to a Spanish qualifier, Maria Teresa Torror Flor in a tight three set battle, as the Spaniard won 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Sabine Lisicki, last year's Wimbledon finalist also suffered an early defeat Alexandra Wozniak of Canada, who won in 7-5, 1-6, 7-6.
Other seeded players however faired better such as the defending champion Maria Sharapova, who defeated Julia Goerges of Germany with ease in 6-1, 6-4. The newly crowned Australian open champ, Li Na also won her match against her compatriot Zheng Jie, as she had to come from a break down in the 2nd set to win her match in 6-1, 7-5. Sam Stosur also defeated former French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone easily with a straight set 6-2, 6-3 victory. Caroline Wozniacki who was also a former champion and last year's finalist also kept her strong record going in the desert as she trounced Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia in 6-1, 6-3. Sara Errani also raced her way into the 3rd round as she hammered Sharon Fichman of Canadia dropping only two games to her win in 6-1, 6-1. Jelena Jankovic also a former Indians Wells champ won her first match against Yvonne Meusburger in 6-3, 6-1 to continue her good form. Petra Kvitova who has been very much up and down in her form lately, managed to come through her match impressively as she dismissed the American Coco Vandeweghe with a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline. And lastly Agnieszka Radwanska got off to a good start after she scored a comfortable win against Heather Watson in 6-4, 6-3.
As for the Williams sisters well they continue their boycott of the event at Indian Wells after a controversy with an audience they had back in 2001 where the crowd booed Venus who withdrew minutes before her scheduled semi final with her sister Serena. After this Serena was booed throughout the final that year against Kim Clijsters and since then the Williams sisters have never played there again. The Williams sisters also claimed the crowd were being blatantly racist to them as well at the time, so it remains to be seen if they will ever return to the desert but it seems unlikely they ever will. The WTA have also made a special concession for the sisters on this tournament given that all the Premier Mandatory titles are indeed mandatory, this is the one they are exempt from and they won't lose any ranking points for not playing.
Now the for the men's starting with Andy Murray who took on Rafa's conqueror two years ago at Wimbledon, Lukas Rosol. Rosol got off to a stronger start as he broke Andy twice to move ahead and take the first set, despite Andy breaking back. In the 2nd set however Andy fought back from going an immediate break down at the start and went on to break Rosol himself and he soon levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set, Andy took a swift lead as Rosol's all or nothing game chalked too many unforced errors and in the end Andy served it out to reach the 3rd round after a trikcy 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. While it wasn't the best start, Andy did well in pulling it back from Rosol, who simply made too many mistakes to keep up with Andy as he clocked 51 unforced errors in total. Andy however has a real tough draw ahead of him as he could face Milos Raonic in the fourth round, Rafa in the quarters and either Roger or Stan Wawrinka in the semis. So he has alot of work ahead of him before he can come even anywhere near the final and personally I think it will be doubtful he can win the title, but just wait and see.
Next up Rafa who is the defending champion had a real stern test in his first match against Radek Stepanek. Rafa appeared to be at times a bit uncomfortable on serve as he served eight double faults in the match and he lost the first set going down a double break. In the 2nd set however he fought back and broke Stepy and levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set Rafa faced a real scare as he had to save three break points on his own serve at 2-3, which he did to level 3-3. And at 5-5, Rafa made the vital break to move ahead of Stepanek and serve it out, which he did to reach the 3rd round with a tough 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win. Well first match scrapes don't come closer than this one and Rafa really had to dig deep in the 3rd set to rescue his own serve, but he did what he always does and fight like a great champ. And from here in the season Rafa has alot of points to defend from last year and the luxury of the points he accumulated from last year is over so there is more hard work ahead for him.
Next up we had the Swiss fellas, with Roger Federer who made a confident start against the Frenchman, Paul Henri Mathieu and despite going being broken back in the 2nd set, he sealed the tiebreaker to win the match in 6-2, 7-6. It has to be said that Roger is starting to look pretty good again this year and it looks like his appointment of Stefan Edberg is paying off, especially after his victory last week in Dubai. And for me he remains one of the favourites to win the title here again in Indian Wells. And then there was Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss No.1, and reigning Australian open champion, who also made a strong start as he dismissed the giant Croatian, Ivo Karlovic in just over an hour with a convincing 6-3, 7-5 win. On the basis of this performance it looks like Stan is set to do some serious damage this year and he is looking pretty confident and he also remains a firm favourite to win the title here at Indian Wells.
And as for the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic was up against Victor Hanescu in a rather flat match which did see Nole struggle a little with his serve as he had to save several break points in the first set. However Nole went on to confidently close out the first set in the tibreaker 7-1 and he went to secure a double break to win the 2nd set and match 7-6, 6-2. This was perhaps a slightly edgy start for Nole but it sees him in good form and he should go deep into the tournament, although I'm still not entirely convinced that he will win it but we shall see.
In other matches we had Tommy Haas who beat Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to reach the 3rd round in 6-3, 6-4. Milos Raonic was made to work ahead to battle his way past another Frenchman, Eduardo Roger-Vasselin in 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Gael Monfils on the other hand breezed his way into the 3rd round as he swept aside Sergei Stakhovsky in 6-2, 6-4. Jerzy Janowicz, the big bean Pole on the other hand lost out to Alejandro Falla of Colombia after a tough three set match as the Colombian previaled in 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. And lastly Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine has set up another clash with Rafa as he beat the American player, Tim Smyzeck in 7-6, 6-4.
So that's it for now more will follow with the results of the 3rd round and maybe 4th round matches for the men's and ladies.
So until the next one bye for now.
Right starting with the ladies we've had one or two upsets, starting with Victoria Azarenka, the former 2012 champion, who got off to the worst possible start as she suffered a shock loss to the American, Lauren Davis. Vika started off horribly in the first set as she suffered a bagel set, however she fought back in the 2nd and pushed play to a tiebreak, but she soon came undone as she struggled with a foot injury and it was the young American who won the match in 6-0, 7-6. Angelique Kerber was another big casualty in the desert as she lost out to a Spanish qualifier, Maria Teresa Torror Flor in a tight three set battle, as the Spaniard won 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Sabine Lisicki, last year's Wimbledon finalist also suffered an early defeat Alexandra Wozniak of Canada, who won in 7-5, 1-6, 7-6.
Other seeded players however faired better such as the defending champion Maria Sharapova, who defeated Julia Goerges of Germany with ease in 6-1, 6-4. The newly crowned Australian open champ, Li Na also won her match against her compatriot Zheng Jie, as she had to come from a break down in the 2nd set to win her match in 6-1, 7-5. Sam Stosur also defeated former French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone easily with a straight set 6-2, 6-3 victory. Caroline Wozniacki who was also a former champion and last year's finalist also kept her strong record going in the desert as she trounced Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia in 6-1, 6-3. Sara Errani also raced her way into the 3rd round as she hammered Sharon Fichman of Canadia dropping only two games to her win in 6-1, 6-1. Jelena Jankovic also a former Indians Wells champ won her first match against Yvonne Meusburger in 6-3, 6-1 to continue her good form. Petra Kvitova who has been very much up and down in her form lately, managed to come through her match impressively as she dismissed the American Coco Vandeweghe with a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline. And lastly Agnieszka Radwanska got off to a good start after she scored a comfortable win against Heather Watson in 6-4, 6-3.
As for the Williams sisters well they continue their boycott of the event at Indian Wells after a controversy with an audience they had back in 2001 where the crowd booed Venus who withdrew minutes before her scheduled semi final with her sister Serena. After this Serena was booed throughout the final that year against Kim Clijsters and since then the Williams sisters have never played there again. The Williams sisters also claimed the crowd were being blatantly racist to them as well at the time, so it remains to be seen if they will ever return to the desert but it seems unlikely they ever will. The WTA have also made a special concession for the sisters on this tournament given that all the Premier Mandatory titles are indeed mandatory, this is the one they are exempt from and they won't lose any ranking points for not playing.
Now the for the men's starting with Andy Murray who took on Rafa's conqueror two years ago at Wimbledon, Lukas Rosol. Rosol got off to a stronger start as he broke Andy twice to move ahead and take the first set, despite Andy breaking back. In the 2nd set however Andy fought back from going an immediate break down at the start and went on to break Rosol himself and he soon levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set, Andy took a swift lead as Rosol's all or nothing game chalked too many unforced errors and in the end Andy served it out to reach the 3rd round after a trikcy 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. While it wasn't the best start, Andy did well in pulling it back from Rosol, who simply made too many mistakes to keep up with Andy as he clocked 51 unforced errors in total. Andy however has a real tough draw ahead of him as he could face Milos Raonic in the fourth round, Rafa in the quarters and either Roger or Stan Wawrinka in the semis. So he has alot of work ahead of him before he can come even anywhere near the final and personally I think it will be doubtful he can win the title, but just wait and see.
Next up Rafa who is the defending champion had a real stern test in his first match against Radek Stepanek. Rafa appeared to be at times a bit uncomfortable on serve as he served eight double faults in the match and he lost the first set going down a double break. In the 2nd set however he fought back and broke Stepy and levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set Rafa faced a real scare as he had to save three break points on his own serve at 2-3, which he did to level 3-3. And at 5-5, Rafa made the vital break to move ahead of Stepanek and serve it out, which he did to reach the 3rd round with a tough 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win. Well first match scrapes don't come closer than this one and Rafa really had to dig deep in the 3rd set to rescue his own serve, but he did what he always does and fight like a great champ. And from here in the season Rafa has alot of points to defend from last year and the luxury of the points he accumulated from last year is over so there is more hard work ahead for him.
Next up we had the Swiss fellas, with Roger Federer who made a confident start against the Frenchman, Paul Henri Mathieu and despite going being broken back in the 2nd set, he sealed the tiebreaker to win the match in 6-2, 7-6. It has to be said that Roger is starting to look pretty good again this year and it looks like his appointment of Stefan Edberg is paying off, especially after his victory last week in Dubai. And for me he remains one of the favourites to win the title here again in Indian Wells. And then there was Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss No.1, and reigning Australian open champion, who also made a strong start as he dismissed the giant Croatian, Ivo Karlovic in just over an hour with a convincing 6-3, 7-5 win. On the basis of this performance it looks like Stan is set to do some serious damage this year and he is looking pretty confident and he also remains a firm favourite to win the title here at Indian Wells.
And as for the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic was up against Victor Hanescu in a rather flat match which did see Nole struggle a little with his serve as he had to save several break points in the first set. However Nole went on to confidently close out the first set in the tibreaker 7-1 and he went to secure a double break to win the 2nd set and match 7-6, 6-2. This was perhaps a slightly edgy start for Nole but it sees him in good form and he should go deep into the tournament, although I'm still not entirely convinced that he will win it but we shall see.
In other matches we had Tommy Haas who beat Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to reach the 3rd round in 6-3, 6-4. Milos Raonic was made to work ahead to battle his way past another Frenchman, Eduardo Roger-Vasselin in 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Gael Monfils on the other hand breezed his way into the 3rd round as he swept aside Sergei Stakhovsky in 6-2, 6-4. Jerzy Janowicz, the big bean Pole on the other hand lost out to Alejandro Falla of Colombia after a tough three set match as the Colombian previaled in 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. And lastly Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine has set up another clash with Rafa as he beat the American player, Tim Smyzeck in 7-6, 6-4.
So that's it for now more will follow with the results of the 3rd round and maybe 4th round matches for the men's and ladies.
So until the next one bye for now.
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