Rrrrright so now its time for my last post on the 2014 US Open which will cover the ladies and men's singles finals which saw who would lift the champion's trophy and claim that crowning slam glory (or something like that!). So let's gear up for the last time and give these matches a look....
So starting with the ladies final it was between the World No.1 and five time US Open champion, Serena Williams and the former 2009 finalist, Caroline Wozniacki. There last two matches were tight three set battles so this match promised to be quite similar although Serena has been in top form throughout the tournament so far. And the match itself turned out to be quite an easy affair for Serena as despite an edgy start and four breaks of serve at the start, Serena soon settled her nerves and got into the match and broke Caroline to take the opening set. In the 2nd set Caroline went down a break straigh away and Serena started to find her groove on serve and from here there was no way back for the Dane who tried in vain to serve at 5-3 to keep herself alive in the match but a couple of errors saw her lose the game, set and match to Serena who claimed her 18th grand slam title and 6th US Open title with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Well this final was a bit of a letdown in the end as after a tense start it just became one way traffic for Serena who effortlessly moved past Caroline, who played not too bad overall but on the day Serena was just too good. The match did have some good rallies though and both players shared a terrific 26 shot rally in the 2nd set which amazed the crowd, but in the end you knew there was only going to be one winner in this match. So this sees Serena now tied with Martina Navatrilova at 18 grand slam titles and there is no doubt that she can go on and surpass that record although she still has some way to go before she can equal Margaret Court's all time record of 24. And it was the perfect end to a difficult year for Serena who had struggled to make it past the first week in the majors at the French open and Wimbledon and throughout the tournament we saw how determined she was to win this one and no doubt she would and did it in very impressive style without even dropping a set. So going into 2015 Serena is in a good position to win more majors next year and no doubt she has a good shout at defending her title at the WTA championships at the end of the season next month.
As for Caroline well it was a shame she couldn't fight past Serena and in the end she was up against one of the all time great competitors, but she still did great in reaching her second US Open final and it showed some very encouraging signs for her tennis, which has really been up and down over the last two years, so thankfully now we are starting to see her get back to her best. And if it wasn't for Serena Williams then just maybe it would be Caroline holding that trophy right now and I still think one day she can win a major as she has now reached two slam finals she can sure reach another and just maybe third time round she might get lucky. And another good bit of news for Caroline is that she will return to the top 10 and is now ranked No.9 in the world and if she stays on course she might just qualify for the WTA championships, which she missed last year so let's hope she can get back in it, as she sure deserves her place in the top 10 again.
Now we get onto the men's final which featured two very unlikely finalists, Marin Cilic, the big Croatian and Kei Nishikori, the Japanese fella. The pressure was on for both men in this match as it was both their first grand slam final, but it was Nishikori that felt the pressure more as Cilic continued his impressive form after dismissing Roger Federer in straight sets and broke Kei early on in the set and with that he continued with some incredible serving to close out the first set. In the 2nd set it was more of the same as Nishikori struggled to get anything going, making more unforced errors and struggling to get his first serves in which saw Cilic grab a double break and with it the match by the scruff of the neck. Nishikori however managed to break back as Cilic tried to serve for the two set lead, but it was short lived as Cilic broke again to take that 2-0 lead. And in the 3rd set it was yet again more of the same as Nishikori played second fiddle to Cilic's might and his impressive serving and he went down a break and with the end in sight, Cilic with no nerves, served out the match at 5-3 to claim his first ever grand slam title with an almighty impressive 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win.
Well this wasn't quite the match I was expecting as I'm sure most people weren't as I thought we might get a five set pitch battle, and I figured Nishikori would be the slight favourite here given the dogged competitiveness, but in the end Cilic proved everyone wrong and pulled an incredible performance out of the bag to make a bit of a history for himself. But in a way it wasn't too surprising if you look at Cilic's previous two matches which were both won in straight sets as he defeated Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer with ease and Nishikori had spent significantly more time on court than Cilic had. And the fact that Cilic was able to win his first major and his last three matches in straight sets was in itself quite remarkable and it really shows this guy has got some serious chops and he maybe a big guy, but he's got the full package and all the shots that go with it. And its also good to see different players come into the big events now with chances to win the slams as it helps shake up the routine of seeing one or two of the big four (or three now really) reach the final of just about every slam. And Cilic himself deserves great credit for this win as does his coach Goran Ivanesivic who has helped immeasurably toward reaching this point and it doesn't hurt having a coach either with one of the best serves in the men's game (and I bet Andy Murray is kicking himself that he wasn't able to snap up Goran to help him with his!). And with this it looks likely that Cilic can go on and win a few more as well, although whether or not he does remains to be seen and he could just go the way of Juan Martin Del Potro, who just the one US Open title, but I guess we will soon find out.
As for Kei Nishikori well it was a great shame that he wasn't able to make more of an impression in this match than he was allowed to but you also got the fact that he looked rather fatigued for the most part and he had spent much more time on court up to that point. And in the end despite the fact that Kei lead their head to head, it didn't really matter in the end as Cilic was simply too good overall. But it does show by reaching the final that Nishikori also has announced himself to the world of tennis and he had already reached a big final in Madrid earlier this year where he almost certainly would have beaten Rafa in the final if it wasn't for his back injury. So despite his loss, the future is still very bright for Nishikori also and he might have more chances in the future to claim a maiden major title for his country and himself.
So that's it for this year's US Open which has come to a rather surprising conclusion with a unlikely but very well deserved champion in Marin Cilic and an altogether expected one for Serena. And despite two rather short finals it was a great tournament with some great matches on either side of the net (particularly the men's). And it also sees a big change up in the men's game with Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori both reclaiming their top 10 spots as the line up of the top 10 guys is now forever in flux. And with this win, Cilic has said it has opened the door for other players to go in and win slams and he hopes that his victory will also inspire other players to do the same.
However this change is not good news for Andy Murray (yep him again!) who has dropped out of the top 10 down to No.11, which marks the first time in six years that Andy has been out of the top 10. So this could be a very worrying time for him ahead unless he can gain more ranking points before the end of the year, he may also not qualify for the year end championships in London. And the lower ranked Andy is that means he will face the top seeds sooner which is not good, particularly not in the slams where he could meet the likes of Roger or Nole in the 4th round, which is not ideal at all. So we will just have to hope that Andy can get his game together and start building up those points before the end of the season as he still has potentially three tournaments to play before the race to London and if he doesn't get there it isn't the end of the world. But sooner or later Andy will really need to start stepping up his game in order to keep up with the rest of the pack but he did show some very encouraging signs in New York and he did manage to defend his points there and beat his first top 10 player since Wimbledon in defeating Tsonga. So now this is where the hard work begins for him and we will just have to see how the remainder of 2014 pans out for Andy and let's hope he has a much brighter year in 2015.
Right so that's it for now so I will goodbye for now and I'll be back sometime soon with more tennis stuff.
Bye the now!
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