Its been quite an exciting day so far at the Mutua Madrid Open for both the ladies and gents tennis with quite a few good matches. On the woman's side there's been another upset as Vera Zvonareva has gone out in straight sets against Petra Kvitova who has rapidly been improving (she even beat Kim Clijsters a few months back at the Suez Open in France). And Julia Goerges came through a stern match against Danira Safina of Russia, who battled back but ultimately lost in 3 sets, 4-6 6-4 4-6. I thought Goerges would win as she has been on top form since beating Caroline Wozniacki at Stuttgart quite convincingly. Speaking of which Caroline plays Julia again tomorrow, which should make for a really interesting match, I hope Caroline can pull through and win this one this time. Hopefully she will have looked at what she did wrong last time and make it right, but if she goes out again, Goerges sure will prove to be an absolutely formidable opponent, who could even take it as far as the finals and maybe even win. We'll see, but it should be quite a match.
And as it happened it was quite a match with another upset for the World No.1 who went out against the feisty German Goerges who defeated Caroline in 3 sets, despite suffering from fatigue and blisters in the second set, she still came through and won the match in 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. But clearly clay court isn't Caroline's forte, so she will have to be very careful at the French Open as if she runs into Julia again it will be three in a row. So Goerges will go on to face either Sam Stosur or Anatasia Pavly (call her that for short as her surname is too long!) and I'm thinking she could beat either player as she beat Stosur last time as well. I'm beginning to think that Julia could go all the way in this tournament, although the noisy Victoria Azarenka has been playing very well too, as so far she's been demolishing players, so we'll see how it pans out.
On the men's side of things we had a few interesting matches, firstly Novak Djokovic continued his seemingly unending winning streak today against Kevin Anderson from South Africa, who Djoko beat in straight sets 6-3 6-4, Djokovic has now gone 28-0 this year (30 matches in total counting the last two from 2010) but it remains to be seen if he can keep it up. Perhaps more impressively Juan Martin Del Potro continued his immensely impressive comeback today against Marin Cilic, as he hammered the Croat in two straight sets with a crushing score of 6-3 6-0. Tomorrow he faces an almighty challenge against Rafa, no doubt the king of clay will triumph but it will be interesting to see how much Del Potro can push Nadal.
And of course we go to one of the main interests of the men's tennis today, Andy Murray who made his comeback from his elbow injury today, who played against Frenchman Gilles Simon for the second time this year. Simon got injured in their last match which Murray took advantage of to finish off the match. But this time he was up against a much tougher opponent in Simon, who this time pushed Murray all the way in the first two sets. In fact it has to be said it was one of Murray's poorer performances this year (his straight set losses not withstanding) as he dished out a stream of unforced errors and double faults, as Simon managed to take advantage of them, especially in the second set (which was met with a lot of angry expletives from the dour faced Murray) which Simon won. In the third set though Andy knuckled down and started playing more consistently and served better, although he still had to fend off a series of break points by Simon, but he did successfully as he broke down the increasingly frustrated Frenchman and gave him a third set bagel, the final score being 6-4, 3-6, 6-0.
No doubt about it this was a brutal match for Andy, and he certainly has played a whole lot better, I wonder if it was just a mixture of match nerves and not being used to the high bounce of the ball, not to mention the speed of the Madrid court. Let's hope he's gotten more used to the court when he meets Thomaz Bellucci in the third round tomorrrow. But he can't afford to play as shakily as he did today, although to give him credit, he did battle back very well and his own stubborness to refuse to give in saw the match through. But on the plus side it was a win, if not a pretty one.
But the match of the day had to be Federer who played against the gutsy Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Lopez already had given Djokovic a hard time last week as he took him to a first set tiebreak before losing 2-6 in the second. But this time Lopez managed to push the former world no. 1 all the way in a thrilling 3 set match, which ultimately saw him fall in the closest of margins as Federer triumphed in 7-6(13), 6(1)-7, 7-6(7). It definitely possibly will be the match of the week, but I'm sure this week will hopefully see a few more thrillers to come. Its already a great tournament, both for the men and ladies.
So part 4 beckons......
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Clay part 2 the revenge
The Mutua Madrid Open is well under way now for the WTA/ATP tour season, and already there has been some really good matches and a couple of upsets. Andrea Petkovic already has made an early exit as has Agnieszka Radwanska today as well, and now Marion Bartoli has been defeated by a Russian player Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova in a crushing result of 7-5, 6-1, which was the exact reverse defeat Andy Murray suffered in Miami against Alex Bogomolov (i.e. 6-1, 7-5). Its like Marion took some of Andy Murray's losing juice, hopefully Andy has got well rid of it since!!
On the men's side of things also some upsets have taken place, Andy Roddick has gone out, as has Mardy Fish who lost out to John Isner. On the doubles Andy and Jamie Murray have already gone out in the first round as they lost to the pairing of Granollers and Lopez in 6-2 6-2. I just hope Andy's singles game is on better form tomorrow as he is due to play Gilles Simon again, thankfully he has won 5 of their previous 6 meetings, but who knows how the pendulum may swing? Andy appears to be still in good spirits after his very good campaign at Monte-Carlo last month, hopefully things will remain good for him. But the other top players start their campaign tomorrow too, as Rafa, Djokovic and Federer are all on court tomorrow too, so as things progress they will get much tougher. But with Andy's recent form it should make for another exciting tournament to watch. But it makes me think, can Novak Djokovic beat Rafa? Yesterday I was starting to think he really could, he already has won 5 titles this year and has an unceasing winning streak of 27 matches this year along (29 in total including 2 from last year). He has also said he feels a big confidence playing against Rafa now, even on clay that form could be a serious danger for Rafa. Another point was when they both met 2 years ago in Madrid at the semi-finals where Djokovic pushed Nadal to the absolute limit of his ability in an exhaustive amazing 4 hour match, where Nadal just won by a gnats hair and no more in 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9). We can at least hope if they do meet in the final, and they most likely will, that it will be another epic match of those proportions or at least similar to their Miami match last month.
So tomorrow will be an interesting day for the Madrid Open and it should see some exciting games. More to follow....
On the men's side of things also some upsets have taken place, Andy Roddick has gone out, as has Mardy Fish who lost out to John Isner. On the doubles Andy and Jamie Murray have already gone out in the first round as they lost to the pairing of Granollers and Lopez in 6-2 6-2. I just hope Andy's singles game is on better form tomorrow as he is due to play Gilles Simon again, thankfully he has won 5 of their previous 6 meetings, but who knows how the pendulum may swing? Andy appears to be still in good spirits after his very good campaign at Monte-Carlo last month, hopefully things will remain good for him. But the other top players start their campaign tomorrow too, as Rafa, Djokovic and Federer are all on court tomorrow too, so as things progress they will get much tougher. But with Andy's recent form it should make for another exciting tournament to watch. But it makes me think, can Novak Djokovic beat Rafa? Yesterday I was starting to think he really could, he already has won 5 titles this year and has an unceasing winning streak of 27 matches this year along (29 in total including 2 from last year). He has also said he feels a big confidence playing against Rafa now, even on clay that form could be a serious danger for Rafa. Another point was when they both met 2 years ago in Madrid at the semi-finals where Djokovic pushed Nadal to the absolute limit of his ability in an exhaustive amazing 4 hour match, where Nadal just won by a gnats hair and no more in 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9). We can at least hope if they do meet in the final, and they most likely will, that it will be another epic match of those proportions or at least similar to their Miami match last month.
So tomorrow will be an interesting day for the Madrid Open and it should see some exciting games. More to follow....
Sunday, 1 May 2011
More clay!
The tennis clay court season continues this week as it sees the start of the WTA Premier Mandatory and ATP 1000 Masters Series Matua Madrid Open today. Of course I'll be following both the men and ladies tournaments closely and I really look forward to this one. It also sees the return of Andy Murray to the foray, elbow and current form permitting he should have a really good tournament here. I hope Andy's elbow injury doesn't flare up again though, hopefully it won't as it could be very troubling for him if it does, but I think he has been undergoing rigorous physiotherapy to help with his elbow so fingers crossed for him. He has recently confirmed that he has been working with Darren Cahill (who coached Andre Agassi) at the weekend and he is ready to make a comeback at Madrid. Andy will have a bye into the second round, so he'll face either Frenchman Gilles Simon, who he defeated at Monte-Carlo, or Ivan Ljubicic, so should be interesting whoever Andy faces.
I was also quite interested in the draw at the Madrid Open men's draw which sees Federer and Nadal on the same draw, and even more interestingly Murray and Djokovic in the same draw too! Andy having had time to really prepare on clay and already put in a very impressive performance at Monte-Carlo might just give Djokovic a run for his money this time. Djokovic who is currently playing in the Serbia Open in Belgrade has just taken the title, the 23rd of this career and the 5th this year so far. But the match was far from an easy one against his opponent Feliciano Lopez, as he met with some stiff opposition as he was pushed to a 1st set tiebreak which Djokovic ultimately won, and in the second set there was a rain delay which I think gave Djoko the advantage and he cleaned up in a comfortable second set, a straight set win in 7-6(4), 6-2.
But it does remain to be seen just how well Djokovic can make the transition to clay for the remainder of the season, his super confidence aside, he can still be beaten, he may be the master of the hard court, but he sure isn't the clay court master yet. Lopez at the Serbia open did show that Djokovic can be pushed by other players on clay, so imagine what some of the top players could do to him. But it will be interesting to see how it pans out. Andy Murray for instance who has so far had a really good start to his clay court season so far could really give Djokovic some problems, it would be interesting to see if he could defeat him, it would also be good payback for his Australian Open loss and would see the end of Djoko's winning streak. And if he beats Andy there is of course the strong possibility that Rafa will also remain unbeaten on the clay, he hasn't lost in two years, albeit also at Madrid to Federer. But without a doubt this could make for an exciting and unpredictable tournament, as proven Djokovic isn't nearly as invincible on clay so far as he is on hard court, so it would make the matches tougher and longer.
But its all waiting to unfold at the moment, so it will be an exciting tournament to watch. The WTA Madrid Open will also be just as exciting as its a biggie for the women being a Premier Mandatory title (both ATP and WTA Madrid titles are worth 1000 points to the winner). However I'm not sure if Caroline Wozniacki will win this title, so far the red clay has eluded her trophy cabinet, although she did win on the green clay at Charleston earlier last month. But she will be up against some very strong clay court players on the tour such as Sam Stosur, Francesa Schiavone not to mention Victoria Azarenka. But she has beaten them of course on different occassions, so she could do it, it will be exciting to watch no doubt and there will be plenty of great matches ahead. It will also be interesting to see how other up and coming players will get on such as Andrea Petkovic (one of my favourites, not just because she is very fine!) who has made a mark against Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open, can she do the same here? Also Julia Goerges who defeated Caroline in the final at Stuttgart as well, will she make a similar impresseion?
I must say though I enjoy watching Andrea Petkovic's fun videos on youtube as she always comes across as a fun person with a nice personality, and even better she's a fan of rock music and she likes her Rage against the machine (I love one of her interviews where she does a bit from Bullet in your head!) which has made her go even further up in my estimation. I think she's like the female Novak Djokovic, great sense of fun and brings a lot of light heartedness to the game.
So bring out the clay and come whit may! (OK dodgy rhyme I know!).
I was also quite interested in the draw at the Madrid Open men's draw which sees Federer and Nadal on the same draw, and even more interestingly Murray and Djokovic in the same draw too! Andy having had time to really prepare on clay and already put in a very impressive performance at Monte-Carlo might just give Djokovic a run for his money this time. Djokovic who is currently playing in the Serbia Open in Belgrade has just taken the title, the 23rd of this career and the 5th this year so far. But the match was far from an easy one against his opponent Feliciano Lopez, as he met with some stiff opposition as he was pushed to a 1st set tiebreak which Djokovic ultimately won, and in the second set there was a rain delay which I think gave Djoko the advantage and he cleaned up in a comfortable second set, a straight set win in 7-6(4), 6-2.
But it does remain to be seen just how well Djokovic can make the transition to clay for the remainder of the season, his super confidence aside, he can still be beaten, he may be the master of the hard court, but he sure isn't the clay court master yet. Lopez at the Serbia open did show that Djokovic can be pushed by other players on clay, so imagine what some of the top players could do to him. But it will be interesting to see how it pans out. Andy Murray for instance who has so far had a really good start to his clay court season so far could really give Djokovic some problems, it would be interesting to see if he could defeat him, it would also be good payback for his Australian Open loss and would see the end of Djoko's winning streak. And if he beats Andy there is of course the strong possibility that Rafa will also remain unbeaten on the clay, he hasn't lost in two years, albeit also at Madrid to Federer. But without a doubt this could make for an exciting and unpredictable tournament, as proven Djokovic isn't nearly as invincible on clay so far as he is on hard court, so it would make the matches tougher and longer.
But its all waiting to unfold at the moment, so it will be an exciting tournament to watch. The WTA Madrid Open will also be just as exciting as its a biggie for the women being a Premier Mandatory title (both ATP and WTA Madrid titles are worth 1000 points to the winner). However I'm not sure if Caroline Wozniacki will win this title, so far the red clay has eluded her trophy cabinet, although she did win on the green clay at Charleston earlier last month. But she will be up against some very strong clay court players on the tour such as Sam Stosur, Francesa Schiavone not to mention Victoria Azarenka. But she has beaten them of course on different occassions, so she could do it, it will be exciting to watch no doubt and there will be plenty of great matches ahead. It will also be interesting to see how other up and coming players will get on such as Andrea Petkovic (one of my favourites, not just because she is very fine!) who has made a mark against Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open, can she do the same here? Also Julia Goerges who defeated Caroline in the final at Stuttgart as well, will she make a similar impresseion?
I must say though I enjoy watching Andrea Petkovic's fun videos on youtube as she always comes across as a fun person with a nice personality, and even better she's a fan of rock music and she likes her Rage against the machine (I love one of her interviews where she does a bit from Bullet in your head!) which has made her go even further up in my estimation. I think she's like the female Novak Djokovic, great sense of fun and brings a lot of light heartedness to the game.
So bring out the clay and come whit may! (OK dodgy rhyme I know!).
Some Who
I watched the second part of the two part story in Doctor Who's new series last night, Day of the moon, which was good, with the Doctor, Amy, River and Rory trying to sort out the terror with the scary looking aliens called The Silence who threaten the Earth. The cast again are all fine and as well as a fine guest appearance of Mark Sheppard who plays the special agent Canton Delaware (who turns out to be gay at the end! Perhaps Russel T Davies is still exherting a behind the scenes influence on the show! ;-)).
But as usual things get sorted out one way or another, although the end of the episode seen a very interesting development with the little girl who was in the astronaut suit. It appears when at the end of the first episode that when Amy shot the little girl (because in the future the astronaut kills the future Doctor) in the astronaut suit, at the end of the second part that she staggers into a gutter where she says to a tramp "I'm dying, but its ok, I think I can fix it" at that point she starts to appear to regenerate in a Time Lord fashion! Possibly the little girl had absorbed some of the Doctor's DNA when she shot him maybe?? Its interesting to see what will happen there. It also reminded me of the Doctor's daughter who back in the eponymous episode died at the end (again shot) then comes back to life and takes in a spaceship, we might see her again too.
Another interesting factor of the story was at the end of the episode River kisses the Doctor goodbye (again not in a platonic way!) and he almost resists in his reponse, quite surprised at it happening as he tells River they've never kissed before, which makes River realise just how little the Doctor knows her yet. Obviously in the future (or past) they are a couple and the Doctor is just at the beginning of their relationship while in a way River is at the end. It will be interesting to see just how River's character develops throughout the rest of the series.
Anyhow the next episode looks like a fun light hearted one, The Curse of the Black Spot, with the Doc and his companions materialising on a 17th century pirate ship. As long as its not a poor retread of the already piss poor Pirate of the Caribean movies it should be good.
Moving onto more Doctor Who, on Monday 9 May there will be the release of the Mannequin Mania DVD box set, which is the autons double bill (the plastic baddies with their guns hidden in their hands) from the Jon Pertwee era, Spearhead from Space and The Terror of the Autons. Both stories are historic within the Pertwee era of Doctor Who, as Spearhead was the first Jon Pertwee story (also the only one to be shot entirely on film and the first in colour!) and Terror of the Autons introduce the UNIT family (Benton, Mike Yates, not to mention Jo Grant) and the Doctor's ultimate arch nemesis, the Master. The other great news about the box set is that Spearhead which was previously released will also be given a revisitation with plenty of extras, as well as a remaster of the film print. So really looking forward to that.
So that's enough Who for now. More tennis posts to follow! It looks just like its now a Doctor Who and Tennis blog, but more different posts will follow. I promise!
But as usual things get sorted out one way or another, although the end of the episode seen a very interesting development with the little girl who was in the astronaut suit. It appears when at the end of the first episode that when Amy shot the little girl (because in the future the astronaut kills the future Doctor) in the astronaut suit, at the end of the second part that she staggers into a gutter where she says to a tramp "I'm dying, but its ok, I think I can fix it" at that point she starts to appear to regenerate in a Time Lord fashion! Possibly the little girl had absorbed some of the Doctor's DNA when she shot him maybe?? Its interesting to see what will happen there. It also reminded me of the Doctor's daughter who back in the eponymous episode died at the end (again shot) then comes back to life and takes in a spaceship, we might see her again too.
Another interesting factor of the story was at the end of the episode River kisses the Doctor goodbye (again not in a platonic way!) and he almost resists in his reponse, quite surprised at it happening as he tells River they've never kissed before, which makes River realise just how little the Doctor knows her yet. Obviously in the future (or past) they are a couple and the Doctor is just at the beginning of their relationship while in a way River is at the end. It will be interesting to see just how River's character develops throughout the rest of the series.
Anyhow the next episode looks like a fun light hearted one, The Curse of the Black Spot, with the Doc and his companions materialising on a 17th century pirate ship. As long as its not a poor retread of the already piss poor Pirate of the Caribean movies it should be good.
Moving onto more Doctor Who, on Monday 9 May there will be the release of the Mannequin Mania DVD box set, which is the autons double bill (the plastic baddies with their guns hidden in their hands) from the Jon Pertwee era, Spearhead from Space and The Terror of the Autons. Both stories are historic within the Pertwee era of Doctor Who, as Spearhead was the first Jon Pertwee story (also the only one to be shot entirely on film and the first in colour!) and Terror of the Autons introduce the UNIT family (Benton, Mike Yates, not to mention Jo Grant) and the Doctor's ultimate arch nemesis, the Master. The other great news about the box set is that Spearhead which was previously released will also be given a revisitation with plenty of extras, as well as a remaster of the film print. So really looking forward to that.
So that's enough Who for now. More tennis posts to follow! It looks just like its now a Doctor Who and Tennis blog, but more different posts will follow. I promise!
Sunday, 24 April 2011
The Doctor is back!
Its been a while since the Time Lord had graced our screens and tonight saw the return of the Doctor as the sixth series of Doctor Who got underway with the first episode The Impossible Astronaut.
The first episode took off with Steven Moffat doing his usual clever and confusing plotlines about the Doctor who appears to have died in front of his companions eyes at the hands of a masked astronaut, only to later have the Doctor reappear in a diner in Utah. Of course we also have the return of River Song, who again mysteriously comes into play, as we are still left wondering who exactly she is? Moffat almost seems to take delight in confounding his audience with keeping his character's secrets dark and hidden, and River Song appears to be as big a puzzle as the Doctor. Although by the way in which she keeps calling the Doctor "sweetie" and "my love" I can only imagine that they both are a couple in the future (or the past).
Anyways the Impossible Astronaut was an enjoyable opener to the series, with Matt Smith again in fine form (even if he insists on dancing everywhere while parrots out his dialogue!) as the Doctor, and the foxy Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill as Rory, Amy's most unlikely hubby. The episode had some fun moments, one of them being the Doctor materialising in the oval office of the Whitehouse where he stands making notes, only to have the president and his bodyguard turn around to see him, and the Doctor looks up and motions them to "carry on" as if he wasn't there. The episode also had a nice nippy pace to it as things move along quite nicely, there are some scary looking monsters in it too, that appear to erase your memory of their presence when you move out of sight from them. Being the first of a two part story (which is unusual for a season opener as they are usually one parters for the start of a new series) it makes for an intruiging episode next week.
So Doctor Who is back on screen and its good to see it again, and so far it promises to build on the excellent season that came before it. And more to follow when the next episode, The Day of Moon, looms.
Oh and nearly forgot (this is two days later than posted!) Happy Easter!! (a belated one).
The first episode took off with Steven Moffat doing his usual clever and confusing plotlines about the Doctor who appears to have died in front of his companions eyes at the hands of a masked astronaut, only to later have the Doctor reappear in a diner in Utah. Of course we also have the return of River Song, who again mysteriously comes into play, as we are still left wondering who exactly she is? Moffat almost seems to take delight in confounding his audience with keeping his character's secrets dark and hidden, and River Song appears to be as big a puzzle as the Doctor. Although by the way in which she keeps calling the Doctor "sweetie" and "my love" I can only imagine that they both are a couple in the future (or the past).
Anyways the Impossible Astronaut was an enjoyable opener to the series, with Matt Smith again in fine form (even if he insists on dancing everywhere while parrots out his dialogue!) as the Doctor, and the foxy Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill as Rory, Amy's most unlikely hubby. The episode had some fun moments, one of them being the Doctor materialising in the oval office of the Whitehouse where he stands making notes, only to have the president and his bodyguard turn around to see him, and the Doctor looks up and motions them to "carry on" as if he wasn't there. The episode also had a nice nippy pace to it as things move along quite nicely, there are some scary looking monsters in it too, that appear to erase your memory of their presence when you move out of sight from them. Being the first of a two part story (which is unusual for a season opener as they are usually one parters for the start of a new series) it makes for an intruiging episode next week.
So Doctor Who is back on screen and its good to see it again, and so far it promises to build on the excellent season that came before it. And more to follow when the next episode, The Day of Moon, looms.
Oh and nearly forgot (this is two days later than posted!) Happy Easter!! (a belated one).
Friday, 22 April 2011
Clay clay clay!
OK another post on that "sport" again here. Don't worry the next one should be on Doctor Who as the new season starts tomorrow, yus!!!!
But for now, I've been watching the clay court season get further on its way as WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix from Stuttgart in Germany has been on this week, and has seen some more great tennis. Being in Germany naturally there were a few home favourites playing, most notably was Andrea Petkovic (very nice!) who defeated World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open last month, as well as the returning from injury Sabine Lisicki who performed well. From the start Petkovic (or Petko as her nickname is) had a tough first match against the Austrain player Tamira Paszek, even after the first set when she double faulted to give Paszek set point, Petkovic went over to her seat and started sobbing. But she managed to turn it around and defeated the Austrain in 3 sets, after that match Petkovic faced Jelena Jankovic again, who got off to a confident start, but again Petko dug in deep and defeated Jelena in a 3 set match again. When it came to the quarter finals, Andrea faced off Caroline Wozniacki in a potentially thrilling showdown, and indeed Petkovic came out strong to lead 4-1 in the first set, but that's as far as she got as Caroline caught up on her and turned it around closing out the first set in 6-4, and demolishing her in the second with 6-1. Well Caroline is the number 1, so she definitely proved it yesterday, in a way Caroline is similar to Nadal in her style of play, she's not as aggressive, but she definitely has the uncanny ability to break her opponent's serve like nothing else, and surely that will hold her in good stead for the upcoming slams. It was shame that Petkovic didn't win as since it was her home soil it would have been nice to see her win and go through to take the tournament.
Yesterday also had another really good match between the Russian Vera Zvonareva and Aussie Sam Stosur, which seemed to start out as a walk in the park for Vera, as she comfortably broke Sam's serve in the first set and soon closed it out in 6-2. However in the second set the momentum shifted and Vera's unforced errors started to rise and her serve crumbled which helped Stosur come back into the game and take the 2nd set in 6-3. But in the 3rd and final set things got really interesting as neither player broke serve and they made it 6-6 all which went to a tiebreaker, in the tiebreak however Vera again quickly crumbled and Sam won it in 7-3. I was quite pleased to see Sam win and she faces German player Julia Gorges tomorrow, I hope she wins and gets through to the final, however if she does there's a strong possibility that Caroline Wozniacki might defeat her (if she gets through as she plays Agnieszka Radwanska tomorrow). I'm hoping Sam can win the title but again its hard to tell, but she has returned to form this week after a bad spell, so hopefully it will mark a great start to her clay season.
Unfortunately for Sam she got beat in the semi finals as she lost to the Julia Goerges, as they both put in an excellent performance in a tight 3 set match which ended in 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 for the German. It was great to see Sam Stosur get back into her game though, as this week she has had 3 great matches, which hopefully will see her do better by the time she hits Roland Garros. The other semi final match of the day saw Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska face off in another tight high quality match, where Caroline battled to win in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 against the Pole. Radwanska put in a gutsy performance and played an excellent match against Caroline, who did what she usually does when under pressure, gets out the spade and digs herself out of the hole, and Radwanska managed to save seven match points before succumbing to the World No.1. But Radwanska is another player I'm beginning to admire, as she has a very creative game and can play some very unpredictable shots (one of which had to be the shot of the tournament, which she won the point after an epic 37 shot rally followed by a massive round of applause!) and can anticipate where her opponents will play, again being an unorthodox player is always a big bonus in tennis and Radwanska is another top player who is well worth following. She has also already beaten Francesca Schiavone twice both at Stuttgart and Miami and she definitely shows more promise to beat the top players. Her on court demeanor is also welcome change from some of the divas, screamers you might get in the game, as Radwanska just keeps a cool level head, so much so she rarely smiles on court, but off court she can't stop beaming, as her Australian Open drive video showed how sweet and fun natured she is.
So the final between Caroline and Julia Goerges is on tomorrow, it should be a good match, even though the odds are stacked in Caroline's favour, Goerges has already proved this week she has the ability to take on the top 10 players, can she beat Caz? Well.... as it turned out she could, as the German beat the World No.1 in a real upset victory of straight sets 7-6(3) 6-3, Goerges outclassed Caroline as a player in the final and gave her a right royal seeing to (in a manner of speaking!). Overall though it was a not too bad a final but a bit disappointing as well, and while I was pleased to see the young German win the title, Caroline didn't play like the World No.1 at all, more like the world no. 500. It was like Caroline had a case of the Andy Murray's and couldn't get it together at all, perhaps though fatigue of having played so many matches had started to set in, particularly after her gruelling match against Agniezska Radwanska the other day. But her performance fell way short of the mark of what we have come to expect from Caroline as a player, and while she is the world no.1, when she loses in Premier events such as this, it does leave a question mark over her head, can she actually win a grand slam if she plays like this? It is of course impossible to win every tournament though, but Caroline does have the tennis, the ability, the mentality and stamina to win a slam, but it remains to be seen if she can. We'll find out one way or another, but if she faces more on form opponents like Goerges at Roland Garros for example, it will look unlikely she will win one. Just like Andy Murray so far, he has all the ability in the world as his brother Jamie so rightly said, but can they win in the majors??? I hope so. But well done to Julia Goerges for winning, she played a great tournament and truly showed that she has the pork chops to take on the top players, and she did succeed where Andrea Petkovic couldn't so far.
Anywayyyy enough o that.
But for now, I've been watching the clay court season get further on its way as WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix from Stuttgart in Germany has been on this week, and has seen some more great tennis. Being in Germany naturally there were a few home favourites playing, most notably was Andrea Petkovic (very nice!) who defeated World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open last month, as well as the returning from injury Sabine Lisicki who performed well. From the start Petkovic (or Petko as her nickname is) had a tough first match against the Austrain player Tamira Paszek, even after the first set when she double faulted to give Paszek set point, Petkovic went over to her seat and started sobbing. But she managed to turn it around and defeated the Austrain in 3 sets, after that match Petkovic faced Jelena Jankovic again, who got off to a confident start, but again Petko dug in deep and defeated Jelena in a 3 set match again. When it came to the quarter finals, Andrea faced off Caroline Wozniacki in a potentially thrilling showdown, and indeed Petkovic came out strong to lead 4-1 in the first set, but that's as far as she got as Caroline caught up on her and turned it around closing out the first set in 6-4, and demolishing her in the second with 6-1. Well Caroline is the number 1, so she definitely proved it yesterday, in a way Caroline is similar to Nadal in her style of play, she's not as aggressive, but she definitely has the uncanny ability to break her opponent's serve like nothing else, and surely that will hold her in good stead for the upcoming slams. It was shame that Petkovic didn't win as since it was her home soil it would have been nice to see her win and go through to take the tournament.
Yesterday also had another really good match between the Russian Vera Zvonareva and Aussie Sam Stosur, which seemed to start out as a walk in the park for Vera, as she comfortably broke Sam's serve in the first set and soon closed it out in 6-2. However in the second set the momentum shifted and Vera's unforced errors started to rise and her serve crumbled which helped Stosur come back into the game and take the 2nd set in 6-3. But in the 3rd and final set things got really interesting as neither player broke serve and they made it 6-6 all which went to a tiebreaker, in the tiebreak however Vera again quickly crumbled and Sam won it in 7-3. I was quite pleased to see Sam win and she faces German player Julia Gorges tomorrow, I hope she wins and gets through to the final, however if she does there's a strong possibility that Caroline Wozniacki might defeat her (if she gets through as she plays Agnieszka Radwanska tomorrow). I'm hoping Sam can win the title but again its hard to tell, but she has returned to form this week after a bad spell, so hopefully it will mark a great start to her clay season.
Unfortunately for Sam she got beat in the semi finals as she lost to the Julia Goerges, as they both put in an excellent performance in a tight 3 set match which ended in 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 for the German. It was great to see Sam Stosur get back into her game though, as this week she has had 3 great matches, which hopefully will see her do better by the time she hits Roland Garros. The other semi final match of the day saw Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska face off in another tight high quality match, where Caroline battled to win in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 against the Pole. Radwanska put in a gutsy performance and played an excellent match against Caroline, who did what she usually does when under pressure, gets out the spade and digs herself out of the hole, and Radwanska managed to save seven match points before succumbing to the World No.1. But Radwanska is another player I'm beginning to admire, as she has a very creative game and can play some very unpredictable shots (one of which had to be the shot of the tournament, which she won the point after an epic 37 shot rally followed by a massive round of applause!) and can anticipate where her opponents will play, again being an unorthodox player is always a big bonus in tennis and Radwanska is another top player who is well worth following. She has also already beaten Francesca Schiavone twice both at Stuttgart and Miami and she definitely shows more promise to beat the top players. Her on court demeanor is also welcome change from some of the divas, screamers you might get in the game, as Radwanska just keeps a cool level head, so much so she rarely smiles on court, but off court she can't stop beaming, as her Australian Open drive video showed how sweet and fun natured she is.
So the final between Caroline and Julia Goerges is on tomorrow, it should be a good match, even though the odds are stacked in Caroline's favour, Goerges has already proved this week she has the ability to take on the top 10 players, can she beat Caz? Well.... as it turned out she could, as the German beat the World No.1 in a real upset victory of straight sets 7-6(3) 6-3, Goerges outclassed Caroline as a player in the final and gave her a right royal seeing to (in a manner of speaking!). Overall though it was a not too bad a final but a bit disappointing as well, and while I was pleased to see the young German win the title, Caroline didn't play like the World No.1 at all, more like the world no. 500. It was like Caroline had a case of the Andy Murray's and couldn't get it together at all, perhaps though fatigue of having played so many matches had started to set in, particularly after her gruelling match against Agniezska Radwanska the other day. But her performance fell way short of the mark of what we have come to expect from Caroline as a player, and while she is the world no.1, when she loses in Premier events such as this, it does leave a question mark over her head, can she actually win a grand slam if she plays like this? It is of course impossible to win every tournament though, but Caroline does have the tennis, the ability, the mentality and stamina to win a slam, but it remains to be seen if she can. We'll find out one way or another, but if she faces more on form opponents like Goerges at Roland Garros for example, it will look unlikely she will win one. Just like Andy Murray so far, he has all the ability in the world as his brother Jamie so rightly said, but can they win in the majors??? I hope so. But well done to Julia Goerges for winning, she played a great tournament and truly showed that she has the pork chops to take on the top players, and she did succeed where Andrea Petkovic couldn't so far.
Anywayyyy enough o that.
Saturday, 16 April 2011
King of clay indeed!
That's the semi finals Andy vs Rafa match over, and as predicted Rafa defeated Murray, although it was hardly the straight sets defeat that we might have expected, quite the opposite, as it was turned into a near 3 hour battle with the first two sets being of the highest quality tennis as you can get, with the result 6-4 2-6 6-1 in Rafa's favour. But unfortunately for Andy, prior to coming out on court there was a delay as it was heard that Andy had sustained an eblow injury possibly from playing earlier in the week, which sadly took its effect as the match soldiered on. Regardless of that Andy came out to play after about a 20 minute delay to big applause from the crowd, followed by Rafa who had an even bigger applause.
For the first set I think Andy struggled to hold his service, and Rafa took an early lead to make it 4-1, but then Andy came fighting back to make it 4-4 all, before Nadal secured the first set 6-4, the first set being 69 minutes in length. The second kicked in and the momentum suddenly swung drastically in Murray's favour as he battled it out with Rafa to break his serve, which he duly did and after that he didn't look back and ended the set 6-2. But unfortunately in the 3rd, the pre-match cortisone injection Andy took for his elbow injury wore off and fatigue set in as Rafa resurged and took the concluding set in 6-1. It was a shame it had to end on a disappointing note as for 2 hours and 30 minutes, it made for absolutely thrilling tennis. But in the end Rafa is the king of clay and no matter what, no one can take him on it yet, Djokovic might pose a threat but I doubt even he can do achieve that yet.
So Rafa beat Ferrer in the final which was to be expected, athough I think it was a tough match which stretched to 2 hours 21 minutes, with Rafa struggling at times but coming through in 6-4 7-5. One thing is for sure, this week we have truly seen the return of Andy Murray, as his confidence levels on clay in particular have soared, and ok that elusive grand slam might still elude him yet, but at least he can take away many positives from this week's tennis. The main positives being he played 4 excellent quality matches, and was only the second man after Novak Djokovic to be able to take a set off Nadal on the Monte Carlo clay in 2 years, which is no mean feat, another big positive was he won over the fickle Monaco crowd as he fought Nadal. So its fine start to Andy's clay season, as long as he can keep it up that's the main thing.
Anyway the expectations of it being the match of the tournament thankfully largely lived up to its expectations even if it did trail away towards the end. Unfortunately due to Andy's elbow injury he has had to forgo his participation in the Barcelona open this week as he's been advised to rest by the doctors, which is more than fair enough, the Barcelona tournament is a small fry one anyway so its best that Andy saves himself for Madrid in May to give himself the time he needs to recuperate. Let's just hope for Andy's sake that this elbow injury doesn't become more serious as it can be one of the more troublesome injuries a player can get.
And that's enough fer noooow.
For the first set I think Andy struggled to hold his service, and Rafa took an early lead to make it 4-1, but then Andy came fighting back to make it 4-4 all, before Nadal secured the first set 6-4, the first set being 69 minutes in length. The second kicked in and the momentum suddenly swung drastically in Murray's favour as he battled it out with Rafa to break his serve, which he duly did and after that he didn't look back and ended the set 6-2. But unfortunately in the 3rd, the pre-match cortisone injection Andy took for his elbow injury wore off and fatigue set in as Rafa resurged and took the concluding set in 6-1. It was a shame it had to end on a disappointing note as for 2 hours and 30 minutes, it made for absolutely thrilling tennis. But in the end Rafa is the king of clay and no matter what, no one can take him on it yet, Djokovic might pose a threat but I doubt even he can do achieve that yet.
So Rafa beat Ferrer in the final which was to be expected, athough I think it was a tough match which stretched to 2 hours 21 minutes, with Rafa struggling at times but coming through in 6-4 7-5. One thing is for sure, this week we have truly seen the return of Andy Murray, as his confidence levels on clay in particular have soared, and ok that elusive grand slam might still elude him yet, but at least he can take away many positives from this week's tennis. The main positives being he played 4 excellent quality matches, and was only the second man after Novak Djokovic to be able to take a set off Nadal on the Monte Carlo clay in 2 years, which is no mean feat, another big positive was he won over the fickle Monaco crowd as he fought Nadal. So its fine start to Andy's clay season, as long as he can keep it up that's the main thing.
Anyway the expectations of it being the match of the tournament thankfully largely lived up to its expectations even if it did trail away towards the end. Unfortunately due to Andy's elbow injury he has had to forgo his participation in the Barcelona open this week as he's been advised to rest by the doctors, which is more than fair enough, the Barcelona tournament is a small fry one anyway so its best that Andy saves himself for Madrid in May to give himself the time he needs to recuperate. Let's just hope for Andy's sake that this elbow injury doesn't become more serious as it can be one of the more troublesome injuries a player can get.
And that's enough fer noooow.
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