2015 US Open Part 3: Ladies semi finals day - the mother of all upsets!

OK doke so now we get onto the semi finals of this year's US Open and this post will cover the ladies matches and we will find out who reached the final.  I was initially going to do one post and combine both the men's and ladies matches but I decided instead to do two separate posts so I will be back soon with the men's matches. 

Anyway I digress so let's take a look at these uns and see how it went......

So.... starting with the ladies the first match was between Flavia Pennetta and the No.2 seed Simona Halep in a match that appeared to favour (on paper anyway) Halep who had previously reached a major final at the French open last year.  However Pennetta went into this match leading their head to head 3-1 which suggested that just maybe she had a chance here.  And from the first set it looked to be so as Pennetta outclassed Halep who made a series of errors in trying to push her opponent around which saw Pennetta grab the double break to take the opener.  In the 2nd set however Halep started to fight back and took a 3-1 lead as she look poised to level the match.  But again Pennetta came back at Halep and broke back to level and she went on to break a hapless Halep (sorry couldn't resist!) and she served out the biggest match of her career so far to reach her first ever grand slam final with a commanding 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Well this was a terrific result for Pennetta who had previously made the US Open semi finals two years ago and Flushing Meadows it appears has always been where she has excelled in the majors over the years.  And its always great to see different players have the opportunity to reach the finals of the biggest events in the sport.  As for Halep well it was a pretty disappointing performance as she simply made too many errors and was unable to capitalise on her break in the 2nd set and no doubt it wouldn't have been the way she would have wanted her tournament to end especially given as she appeared to be the favourite to reach the final.  But in the meantime Pennetta deserves all the credit for reaching her first major final and she might just be in with a chance of winning depending on who would emerge the victor in the next ladies match.

And this match was betweem Serena Williams, the World No.1 and the unseeded Roberta Vinci (the World No. 41) in a match which Serena was clearly the favourite to win given that she had a perfect 4-0 record going into this match and she hadn't even dropped a set against the Italian player.  And the match itself started off much the way everyone expected with Serena dominating her dimunitive 5ft 4 inch opponent by grabbing a double break to close the first set.  In the 2nd set however much to the surprise of the audience and probably Serena, Vinci started a terrific fightback as she broke Serena and levelled the match at a set all.  And in the 3rd set against all the odds, Vinci despite going a break down, broke back and she proceeded to defy all expectations as she broke Serena and went on to serve out the match to love, pulling off one of the sport's greatest ever upsets as Vinci dashed Serena's hopes of winning a calendar slam with a stunning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

I think its safe to say that no one would ever have predicted this result and even Vinci herself said in her post match interview that she could scarcely believe that she had won the match.  Serena Williams started off the match very strong but as it went on she appeared to unravel and in the end she couldn't cope with Vinci clever mix of slices and deft touch that left the World No.1 guessing as well as frustrated as she even smashed her racquet after losing the 2nd set.  But Vinci deserves all the plaudits for her stellar performance as she played the match of her life to end Serena's hopes of the calendar slam and she sets up an all Italian final for the first time in the history of the game. 

Which brings me onto my thoughts on who might win the ladies final.  So who will win it????  Well..... this for me is a difficult one to assess as I don't know either ladies game's that well enough but the pundits have opted for Pennetta as the favourite to win the title.  But if you look at their head to head its pretty close as Pennetta edges it 4-3 although if you also look at their match record none of their matches have gone to 3 sets and have all been decided in two straight sets.  So this match might be harder to predict than people might think.  On the face of it I would go with Pennetta right enough as on the singles front she has achieved more than Vinci and she won the singles title at Indian Wells last year, which is one of the biggest events on the tour outside the slams.  However Vinci is also a multiple grand slam doubles champion and just maybe she could use her winning mentality to beat her Italian compatriot.

So....for my prediction I'm going to go with Pennetta and I think she might win it in straight sets but I think it could be a close match with maybe a tiebreak involved.  I also think that it could be a highly entertaining match as well and we are bound to see a fair bit of variety on court and not just baseline bludgeoning, which will hopefully make this match a breath of fresh air.  So my scoreline prediction for this match (for what little its worth!) is 7-6, 6-3 to Pennetta, which would see her claim her first major title. 

And that's it for my look at the ladies semis and I will be back soon with the men's.

See you in a bit! 

2015 US Open Part 2: Quick update and men's semi finals preview

OKkkkkk so now we get onto the men's matches from the 2015 US Open and as before I will do a quick update on how the seeds have gotten on so far and who is in and is out before I give my prediction on the men's semi finals.

So to kick off with the early round exits the first and one of the biggest upsets of the tournament came when Kei Nishikori went down in five sets against the Frenchman Benoit Paire who rallied from two sets to one down to beat Nishikori and end last year's finalist's hopes.  After that we had Gilles Simon succumb to the American player Donald Young who battled back from two sets to love down to level and then beat Simon 6-4 in the 5th.  Grigor Dimitrov next up who has been suffered a bad year so far in 2015 continued his woes as he lost out to the Kazhak player, Mikhail Kukushkin after coming back from two sets down he lost the decider to the Kazahak who won 6-4.  Jack Sock also lost out early as he was forced to retire during his 2nd round match after suffering from heat exhaustion and cramps he was helped off the court.  Other players that exited early included Milos Raonic who was dumped in the 3rd round by Feliciano Lopez in four sets, David Ferrer who lost in four sets to Jeremy Chardy also in the 3rd round as did Bernard Tomic, Dominic Thiem, Ivo Karlovic, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Andreas Seppi.

And last but not least of the 3rd round exits came in the form of Rafael Nadal who has been enduring the worst season of his career so far in 2015 and he took on his nemesis this year, Fabio Fognini who has beaten Rafa twice already this year.  But the match early on looked to be in Rafa's control as he went up two sets to love and he even secured a break in the 3rd set.  However... that's when Fognini started his fightback as he broke in the 3rd and went on to grab the set as well as the 4th set to level the match.  And in the 5th set both men played their part in a gripping contest with some breathtaking points from both guys as they traded breaks.  But in the end Rafa once again succumb to his old foe as he was broken and Fognini serving at 5-4 closed it out and ended Rafa's grand slam season with an amazing five set victory.  This match really does show more worrying signs for Rafa as it was also the first time he ever lost a match from two sets to love up and his decline appears to be continuing with no change in sight.  So sooner or later Rafa I think has to change something in his set up such as hire a new coach alongside Uncle Toni because if he doesn't try to change his tactics and find a way to get his self belief back then this is sure to be the end of his career.  However despite I think Rafa still will eventually come back to form if not by the end of this year then probably next year.

Moving onto the 4th round matches we had some more seeds going out starting with Tomas Berdych who had somewhat disappeared off the radar lately and he came unstuck against the Frenchman Richard Gasquet who beat him in four sets rallying from a set down.  John Isner, the American No.1 went out against Roger Federer who at least succeded in handing Roger his sternest test so far in the tournament as he pushed him to two tiebreak sets but Rog won both and he claimed the 3rd set on a break to win 7-6, 7-6, 7-5.  Roberto Bautista-Agut also made a fourth round exit to Novak Djokovic but not before the Spaniard succeded in forcing Novak to drop his first set of the tournament in the 2nd, which saw Nole stamp on his racquet in anger but afterward Novak regrouped and won the match in four sets.  And lastly Fabio Fognini and Jeremy Chardy also both went out in the fourth round to Feliciano Lopez and Marin Cilic respectively.

And last of all in the 4th round exits we had the biggest upset of the men's tournament so far as Andy Murray took on the big South African, Kevin Anderson.  Andy played Anderson on his least favourite court in the game, the Louis Armstrong stadium on which he has struggled badly on as he dislikes the quick pace of the court.  And Anderson seemed to fully take advantage of this as he played a superb match as he took the tight opening set on a tiebreak before breaking Andy twice in the 2nd set before he managed break back once but ended up losing the set to Anderson.  However in the 3rd Andy started his fightback as he battled back from a break down and went on to claim the 3rd set on a tiebreak to keep his campaign alive.  The 4th set also was a close affair which went to another tiebreak however that was as far as Andy got as Anderson dominated the breaker and overhwelmed Andy 7-0 to pull off a stunning upset as he reached his first ever grand slam quarter final with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 victory.

Well this was quite a surprising result as on paper Andy looked to be the favourite for this match although it has to be said his struggles on this court have been well documented in the past.  Andy also rather quizzically seemed to be undercooked throughout the US Open especially as he also nearly went out in the 2nd round of the event to the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino having had to come back from two sets to love down.  And in the end it was a pretty disappointing end to his grand slam season when he showed a great deal of promise in his previous three major tournaments, Andy was also one of the favourites to lift the title in Flushing Meadows again.  The upside however to this defeat for Andy is that it will give him some much needed time to rest and recuperate for the Davis cup tie between Great Britain and Australia, which begins a week on Friday in Glasgow where GB have a good chance to reach the final of the event and let's hope they do it.

Anyway back to the US Open and the quarter final matches kicked off with the defending champ Marin Cilic taking on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in an epic match where Cilic had to battle against Tsonga who went to sets down and battled back to level but Cilic had just enough to get himself over the finish line to win in the 5th set.  After that Novak Djokovic took on Feliciano Lopez in what proved to be another testing encounter as Nole dropped his 2nd set of the tournament and Lopez pushed Djokovic to a tiebreak in the 4th but Novak dominated it to grab the win in four sets.

And the last two men's quarter finals saw Stan Wawrinka take on Kevin Anderson in what potentially could have been a real epic battle especially given that Anderson had won their last four meetings in a row.  But Stan proved to be too good for the big guy as he outclassed Anderson with his power and precision demolished the South African in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the US Open semis for a second time.  And last of all Roger Federer had no trouble whatsoever against his opponent Richard Gasquet who he breezed past in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the semi finals what dropping a set and has not dropped a set since losing the Wimbledon final!  Now that's some going!

Sooooo this sets up the men's semi finals which will be between Novak Djokovic vs Marin Cilic and an all Swiss affair between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.  So who will win????  Let's take a closer look...

Right so starting with Djoko and Cilic's match the head to head is very much in Novak's favour as well... he's never lost to Cilic with a 13-0 perfect record.  So right away this points to Novak being the winner however it does have to be said that Nole has not looked as convincing at this tournament as he has already dropped two sets so far and he is looking a bit flat so this could allow Cilic to seize his chance if he serves very well then he is in with a chance of claiming his first ever win over Djokovic just like he did last year against Federer in Flushing meadows.  But.... I have to say I don't think their history is about to change just yet and I think Novak will win this one but it should be a closer match than their previous one at Wimbledon earlier this year.  So I'm going to with Novak winning in four sets and normally I don't bother with scoreline predictions since I'd never get it right but just for a laugh how about this one: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6.  Let's see how that turns out!

And the next semi final will easily be one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament featuring an all Swiss encounter of Roger Federer and Stan "the man" Wawrinka.  So who will win it????  OK let's analyse this un....

Well on paper their head to head is emphatically in favour of Roger as he leads 14-3 but two of these last meetings came in the space of the last year or so as Stan beat Rog twice on clay however he has never beaten Roger on a hard court so this would appear to tip the scales in favour of Roger.  But again given Stan's form in 2015 in the majors it has been very strong and he has now consistently made the quarters or better at every slam he has played this season and he now knows he can win majors and has even taken down his Swiss compatriot in them too.  So this means that despite their head to head that Stan's chances are far from bleak.  But Roger on the other hand has played superbly at this tournament so far and he is yet to drop a set and it wouldn't surprise if he were to continue that form against his old friend also.  So I think it will come down simply to who plays the better tennis on the day and it will be one of the game's best forehands (Roger) against perhaps the world's greatest ever single handed backhand (Stan) and which hand will hit the more winning points. 

Plus Roger has effectively been cutting alot of points short in the tournament by using his new technique nicknamed SABR (Sneak attack by Roger) where he charges into the net as soon as the player has served.  Now this tactic has been criticised by some former professionals such as Boris Becker and Greg Rusedski who said they felt it was "disrespectful to the other player's serve" and while it is a shot within the rules of the game I'd have to agree with them.  And I think all that tactic does is disrupt the concentration of the server and put them off which in that instance I don't think should be allowed as I would see it as a form of gamesmanship.  However as Roger isn't breaking any rule he can carry on using it but I'm sure sooner or later it will be met with a lot of ire from the other players and regardless of it being legal or not but I just think it seems a very unsporting tactic but I digress. 

Anyway back to my prediction which is.... I think Roger will win this one but he will drop a set this time and I think it could be a close match so my gut is to go with Roger in four tight sets and my scoreline prediction for what its worth is: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6.  So this would set up what I see as the inevitable showdown between Roger and Nole.  Will it happen???  Its a fair safe bet but we'll find out soon enough.

Right so that's it for now and I will be back soon once the ladies and men's semi finals are over and I will give my assessment on who might win the singles titles on both sets of the net.

Until then bye for now! 


      

2015 US Open Part 1: Quick catch up and the ladies semi final previews

OK due to being busy with other stuff I've fallen behind with my coverage of this year's US Open, the final grand slam of the tennis season so rather than go into full detail of the preview rounds I thought I would do a very quick recap of the results so far.  And by that I mean I will quickly mention which seeds went out and who are still in for the ladies in this post and I will get to the men's in the next one.

So without further delay let's get started....

Right so starting with the ladies most of the seeds have of course tumbled by the wayside and there quite a few early casulaties among them starting with French open finalist and 6th seed, Lucie Safarova who lost out in the first round.  Then there was Caroline Wozniacki who suffered an early second round defeat to Petra Cetkovska in a tough three set match.  Ana Ivanovic was the first big casualty of the ladies tournament has she went down also in three sets to Dominika Cibulkova who had just returned from injury.  Agnieszka Radwanska who has been struggling with her form this year also suffered an early defeat at the hands of the American, Madison Keys who beat her in straight sets to end her major campaign.  And Jelena Jankovic was also toppled early on in the first round to Oceane Dodin of France in a close three setter.   

As for the slightly later round defeats Sabine Lisicki suffered a fourth round defeat to Simona Halep as the two of them battled it out during extreme heat and at one point their match was suspended as the officials put the heat policy in place to allow the players time to cool off before they match resumed which saw Simona beat Lisicki in three sets.  Madison also was handed a straight set loss at the hands of the World No.1 Serena Williams in the fourth round.  And Sam Stosur took on Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round who has done very well at the US Open in the past and unfortunately for Stosur has never lost against her so the Aussie lost the match in straight sets which saw Pennetta advance to the quarter finals.  Eugenie Bouchard unlike the others however had made it into the fourth round after beating Dominika Cibulkova but she suffered a head injury in the locker rooms which unfortunately lead to her withdrawal from the tournament.  And last of all Great Britain's Johanna Konta who had made an impressive run into the fourth round of a major for the first time in her career lost out to Petra Kvitova in straight sets. 

As for the ladies quarter final matches the American crowds were treated to four tight battles starting with Serena Williams who took on her older sister, Venus in a clash of the siblings which after both players sharing the first two sets it say Serena take the decider to reach the semis and keep her chance of winning the calendar slam alive.  Then there was Roberta Vinci who played Kristina Mladenovic in a very close three set battle which eventually saw Vinci emerge the winner.  Flavia Pennetta then took on Petra Kvitova in another three set match which again saw both players split the first two sets but Pennetta then used her experience to dump out Kvitova as she reached the semi final of the US Open for a second time in the decider.  And last of all in another high quality match Simona Halep squared off against Victoria Azarenka in a hard fought match which saw play suspended due to rain in the 3rd set after which after resuming saw Halep beat Vika and reach her first US Open semi final in 3.

Which brings me onto the ladies semi final previews starting with the first one which will be between Serena Williams and Roberta Vinci with their head to head overwhelmingly in favour of Serena 4-0.  So I think the winner of this one is a no brainer as Serena has never even dropped a set to Vinci and at her home slam I don't think she is going to start now as Vinci hasn't taken anymore than four games off Serena in one set at a time.  And by winning this match Serena will certainly put herself in a strong position to win the title as she will go into the final having expended little energy having dropped only two sets so far.  And sadly for Vinci she doesn't really have any weapons to threaten Serena's might and her court craftiness and doubles skills will not be enough so in the end I think it will be a straight set win for Serena and my score prediction (and these things are never accurate) will be something along the lines of 6-3, 6-2.

And lastly the second ladies semi final will be between Simona Halep and Flavia Pennetta however despite the gulf in their seedings (Halep is 2nd and Pennetta is 26th) its actually Pennetta that leads their head to head 3-1 but Halep won their most recent match in straight sets in Miami earlier this year.  So this one might could be a close match and given Pennetta's previous form at the US Open she could still have a chance against the No.2 seed.  However I still have to go with Halep for this one as she has improved her form drastically since their second to last meeting in 2013 where Pennetta beat her coincidentally also at the US Open in straight sets.  But as I said I still think this will be a very tight match and it could go deep into a third set but ultimately I think Halep's experience of having reached a major final already will get her over the finish line to reach her second career grand slam final.  So my score prediction (for what its worth!) will be 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to Simona.

So that's it for my look at the ladies US Open so far and I will be back soon with an update of the men's matches.

See you soon.....