Right well we are now starting to get to the business end of this year's Wimbledon championships as this post will cover the 4th round and quarter final matches for the ladies event.
So without any further ado let's have a look at them.....
Right well to start off we had the battle of the Williams sisters which Serena and Venus go at it on centre court for a place in the quarter finals and this potentially could have been a real battle between the siblings. And Venus also has the closest head to head of any player against Serena as its 14-11 in Serena's favour. However.... the match itself didn't really live up to expectations as Serena easily blasted her way past big sis and broke her in both sets 1 and 2 to seal her place in the quarter finals with a straight forward 6-4, 6-3 victory. Well despite their rivalry there really wasn't much doubt with the result here as Serena being the world no.1 she clearly is too good for just about everyone including Venus. So Serena remains firmly on course to complete the Serena grand slam as she is trying to hold all four grand slam titles in a row having already won the US Open last year and the Australian and French opens this year and right now its looking very hard to stop her.
Next up we had Maria Sharapova who faced off against Zarina Dayis of Kazahkstan in what turned out to be Maria's first tricky encounter in the tournament as Maria didn't quite have it all her own way as Dayis threatend Sharapova more than once on her serve. However it didn't stop Sharapova from breaking her opponent once per set and securing her place in the quarter finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Sharapova so far in the tournament has also looked really good and this was another solid performance which sees her as the 2nd favourite to lift the title but with Serena Williams in her side of the draw its going to be tough for the former 2004 champion to lift another title.
Next there was a bit of an upset as Caroline Wozniacki, the 5th seed played the French open quarter finalist and conqueror of Serena Williams at last year's French open, Garbine Muguruza. Caroline was trying to reach her maiden quarter final at Wimbledon having never gotten past the 4th round and unfortunately for her Muguruza made sure things stayed that way as she beat the former World No.1 in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to reach her first Wimbledon quarter final and second slam quarter final of the year.
And then we had Lucie Safarova this year's French open finalist take on the American, Coco Vandeweghe in a clash that surely saw Safarova as the favourite. However it was the American that made the move and if you want to use that very cheesy expression it was Vandeweghe that said "I should Coco!" to Safarova's hopes of reaching the quarter finals as Coco herself finished off Safarova in two tiebreak sets to reach her first ever grand slam quarter final with an impressive 7-6, 7-6 win. This was the first Coco Vaneweghe had made the quarter final of a slam and to do it at Wimbledon was a very impressive achievement byt next up for Coco will be Maria Sharapova so her work will be cut out for her there.
And last of all we had Agnieszka Radwanska take on Jelena Jankovic, who was Petra Kvitova's conqueror in the previous round. Radwanska had been suffering one of the worst seasons of her career for the first five months of 2015 but she started to turn things around when she hit the grass courts and she reached her first final of the season at Nottingham before losing out to Belinda Bencic there. And despite that defeat Radwanska has bounced back in style having taken on Jankovic in this match she battled her way past her in a tough straight set win to reach her first quarter final of the year with a 7-5, 6-4 win.
Moving onto the quarter finals matches from today:
First up we had Maria Sharapova take on Coco Vandeweghe in what proved to be one of the most entertaining matches of the ladies tournament so far. Sharapova however looked in full control earlier on in the match taking the first set with a break. And in the 2nd set Sharapova continued her form with another break and having gone 5-2 up it looked like she was on the verge of a straightfoward victory. However at that Vandeweghe fought back and levelled the scores in the 2nd set and pushed the match into a tiebreak which she won 7-3 to level the scores. In the 3rd set Coco looked to threaten Sharapova again after she went down an early break but Coco broke back. However the young American was unable to withstand the might of Sharapova and she fell to the Russian by a double break in the 3rd which saw Sharapova win through to the semi finals after a hard fought 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 victory. Well there was not much doubt that this was one of the best ladies matches so far and it was always a hugely impressive performance from Vendeweghe who really took it to Sharapova and showed no fear out there on the biggest court in the game of tennis. But in the end there was not much doubt that Sharapova would come through it.
Then we had Garbine Muguruza take on Timea Bacsinszky on Court No.1 as the two first time Wimbledon quarter finalists fought for a place in their first Wimbledon semi final. And after a first close set it was Muguruza who took the initiative and the set and went on to break Timea in the 2nd set to close it out and seal her first ever grand slam semi final winning the match 7-5, 6-3. This really was quite an impressive win by Muguruza who had beaten Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki enroute to this stage. And considering that Muguruza is primarily a clay court player it is also quite impressive that she has done this well on grass which up until now would probably have been her least favourite surface so all credit it to her for getting this far.
Next we had Agnieszka Radwanksa who up until the grass court season began had suffered a miserable 2015 but has turned things around on the grass in the UK so far and here she played the young American player, Madison Keys. Radwanska had never previously lost to Keys but she had a tough match against her on grass at Wimbledon two years ago so this match promised to be a tough one. And the match itself sure turned out to be that as both women shared breaks in the first set but play went to a tiebreak which Radwanska won to claim the opener. In the 2nd set however Keys hit back and broke Radwanska to take it into a decider and given Aga's recent history of losing three setters this one could potentially be another danger for her. However Aga managed to hold her nerve against Keys and went on to break the young American and Aga went on to serve out the match and grab her place in her third Wimbledon semi final with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory. As a fan of Radwanska's game I thought it was great to see Aga get through this one and it should give her alot of confidence going into the semi finals. However with Muguruza ahead of Aga it will be a very tough test for her reach her second Wimbledon final but having already been there she might just make it this time once more.
And last of all we had the big match up of the day between two titans of the ladies game, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka in what promised to be something of a classic. And the match itself did not disappoint as from the 1st set both players came out and thrilled the crowd with ther big hitting. But it was Vika that made the better start as she bossed Serena (bossed the boss so to speak!) around the court and she broke the American to take the first set. In the 2nd set Serena started to knuckle down as she imposed herself on Azarenka and it was not long before the Belarusian player started to crumble under the relentless pressure of the World No.1 as Serena broke Vika twice to level the scores. And at the start of the 3rd set Serena really found her range and her serve and broke Vika again to move ahead on the scoreboard for the first time in the match. However Vika was still not yet done and she battled valiantly to hold onto her serve to prevent going a double break down and forced Serena to serve for the match at 5-3. And in the final Vika very nearly broke back and got herself back into the set but Serena ultimately had just that bit extra which saw her get over the finish line and win a thrilling match in 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Well this was another reminder of Serena's great rivalry with Victoria Azarenka and it was a highly entertaining match from the first point as both players went toe to toe. It was also great to see Azarenka get herself back in the latter stages of the grand slams and she showed once again that she really is ready to compete the very best out there once more and she deserves alot of credit in hanging onto her serve without going a double break down in the final set before losing out. And with Vika already back in the top 30 having reached the quarter finals here will hopefully give her ranking a boost that should see her go well inside the top 20 and it won't be long before she get's herself back in the top 10 given her form as long as she stays fit and healthy. And as for Serena well what can you say that hasn't already been said as she was fully expected to win this one even if it was going to be tough she looks very determined to win the match and also to win her Serena slam, which Serena jokingly said she didn't want to talk about it in her post match interview.
So that's the semi finals set up for the ladies which will be between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbine Muguruza. So who will win those two matches???? Well staring with there Serena-Maria match I think this is a no brainer as Serena hasn't lost to Maria for 11 years and I don't think at this stage she will be ready to do so now either. In fact you almost have to feel sorry for Sharapova as surely she must realise what a thankless task she has ahead of her in trying to snap that endless losing streak to her old rival. Despite that though I think it could still be an entertaining and competitive match although if you look at their last grass court match at the Olmypics, Serena utterly destroyed Maria in the final conceding just the one game on her way to completing her golden career slam.
As for the Radwanska vs Muguruza match well that one is a bit harder to predict given that both players have never won a grand slam and only one of them has reached a major final before (that being Radwanska). And both players are playing very well so that makes it tougher to predict although Muguruza has won their last two meetings and they are tied at 2-2 but this is the first time they will have played on grass. So given that Muguruza has won their last two I think that might give her the edge in this one and I think she might well win it, but I think it will be quite a close match all the same. Personally though I would quite like to see Radwanska reach her 2nd Wimbledon final but I think Muguruza might just edge it in three sets, but we'll see.
Anyway that's it for now and I will be back soon with the results of the men's 4th round and quarter finals matches.
Until the next one its bye for now.
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