Right so its time for my look at the latest matches from the ladies side of the net at the 2015 French Open and its been quite a tournament this year which already has seen some excellent matches. And now things are really hotting up as we get down to the business end of the tournament and I will cover days 9 and 10 of the action. So let's give it a look....
So starting with day 9 we had a big upset where we saw the defending champion, Maria Sharapova take on the 13th seed Lucie Safarova. And right from the start Lucie took to the mighty Pova with her powerful forehand and big serving and she took the 1st set on the tiebreak. In the 2nd set Safarova went a break up but Sharapova broke back, however it was short lived as Safarova broke again and went on to pull off the biggest upset in the ladies draw so far as she dumped out Sharapova in straight sets 7-6, 6-4. This was a terrific win for Lucie Safarova who has come into the French open playing her very best tennis and this being her first quarter final at Roland Garros it shows great promise that she can deeper into the tournament.
After this we had Serena Williams, the former two time champion who faced her compatriot, Sloane Stephens in a clash which saw the World No.1 drop the first set to Stephens having gone down a double break. In the 2nd set Serena fought back and edged a close set to level the match and in the 3rd set Serena took control and broke Stephens and went on to serve it out for a place in the quarter finals after a tough 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 win. This was another testing match for Serena but so far she has proved yet again that she is the undisputed World No.1 and she can come back from just about anything. And there is no doubt that Serena still remains the hot favourite to win the title and her quarter final opponent next will be Sara Errani who beat the German player, Julia Goerges in 6-2 6-2. Unfortunately for Sara, Serena has demolished her in their previous meetings so I expect it to be a pretty short match and she will reach the final four with ease.
As for the other matches of the day, Garbine Muguruza, last year's quarter finalist beat the seasoned Italian veteran, Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to advance to her second quarter final winning in 6-3. 6-4. And we had another big upset with Petra Kvitova, the 4th seed and defending Wimbledon champion who took on the 23rd seed, Timea Bacsinszky who had already beaten the Czeck No.1 in their only previous meeting. And after a strong start from Petra, despite her best efforts history repeated itself as the Swiss player, Timea broke Kvitova and went on to serve out the match to reach her first career grand slam quarter final with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win. And last of all we had another surprise winner with the Belgium player, Alison van Uytvanck (good name!) who beat Andreea Mitu in straight sets to reach her first ever quarter final in a major also with an impressive 6-1, 6-3 win.
So moving onto Day 10 we had the first of the ladies quarter finals matches starting with Ana Ivanovic who has returned to good form at the French by reaching the quarter finals there for the first time since she won the title back in 2008. And Ana took on the Ukranian player, Elina Svitolina in a match which Ana completely dominated from start to finish and Ana broke Svitolina's serve once in the 1st set and twice in the 2nd to secure her place in the semi finals with a 6-3, 6-2. This was another very impressive win for Ivanovic who has finally recovered her good form in the slams again which is good to see and if she maintains this form she will have a strong shout of reaching the final. However that will depend purely on how Ana will get on against the winner of the next match......
And that match was between Lucie Safarova and Garbine Muguruza who clashed on the second biggest court, Court Suzanne Lenglen in a high quality match which saw both players battle it out for a place in the last four. The first set particularly was great and both players brought their A game and in the 2nd set Lucie showed her class and went on to break and serve out for a place in her first Roland Garros semi final. And this proves that Safarova is now a real legitimate threat in this tournament and she could even be a contender for the title as she has in the past also given the very best players such as Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka a run for their money. However as her next opponent is Ana Ivanovic who has already won the French open this will be quite a test for her to come through if she is to make her first career major final but the match itself promises to be one to watch and Safarova leads their head to head 5-3 which could give her the edge she needs to make it.
Right so that's it for my look at the ladies matches for now and I will be back soon with the men's matches from Days 9 and 10.
See you soon!
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