Welllllll the ladies tournament at the French Open has now come to a close as the ladies final and the doubles too are now finished, so here is more on the ladies final which was between the new World No.1, Maria Sharapova, and the soon to be World No.10, Sara Errani.
So more on the match, which basically saw Sharapova dominate most of the play, outhittin Errani, however the plucky Italian did fight her corner as well as she could, breaking back in the 1st set and the 2nd set, but it was to no avail in the end. After saving two championship points, Errani, who put some brave resistance, finally succumbed to the mighty Sharapova, who Errani failed to return her serve, hitting the net post, which saw the new World No.1 collapse to her knees in delight, now having completed her career slam and won in 6-3, 6-2.
Despite the scoreline this was actually a very entertaining match and Errani put up a a gutsy fight, and there were some tight deuce games as well. Errani also delighted the crowd with her variety and she played some beautiful shots, especially two net volleys, which were quite amazing. But it was all about the might of Maria Sharapova, who overpowered her opponent, with her ruthlessly accurate groundstrokes, belting winners left and right. This was Maria's moment in history to grab and she sure got it, and it now truly sees her back at the top of the game, having complete her career slam as well, which means at last the ladies game could now have a dominant figure. And Maria deserves nothing but credit (I seem to use credit quite a lot in these posts!) for winning the title, and I think its safe to say that she has had the perfect clay court season, as she came into the red dirt, after enduring tough losses at the Australian Open and at the Sony Ericcson Open finals. She also in the clay season never lost a single tournament that she played in, winning in Stuttgart for the first time, defending her title in Rome, and winning the ultimate trophy at Roland Garros. So I think that Maria is now in the perfect place to try and dominate the ladies game, but it has proven difficult so far, and we have already had two No.1's in Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, the former having been so consistent, but never won a major, whereas the latter has, but has slightly fallen away a bit. But Maria is one of the toughest competitors in the sport, as well as in sport generally, and mentally she is one of the strongest players to have played the game, so I think she will be No.1 for quite a while and it will be tough to knock her off the top spot for now.
But it was also a wonderful tournament for Sara Errani who won over the crowd with her wonderful display of tennis and her unique variety, and it was also a breath of fresh air seeing someone like her in the final. Errani's game was also a great contrast in style from Sharapova's, and it would have been that bit less interesting if it was just another big hitter in there, clouting the ball back and forth. Errani will now be a top 10 player in the rankings come Monday, and here's hoping she can continue to have a great season. I also liked it when she sat looking dispondent after having lost the final, that when the announcers started to announce the finalist, they got it wrong and said Maria Sharapova's name instead, which made Errani laugh, and put her fists up in the air in celebration like she was the champion. It was a great little moment and it was nice both players saw the funny side of it. So Sara Errani will definitely be a name to watch, her best surface is clay however, so it remains to be seen how she can adapt to the grass courts come Wimbledon, but a big well done to her for having such a great French Open tournament.
Right well that's it for the ladies at Roland Garros, it was a highly eventful and controversial tournament and by the time they had reached the quarter finals, we saw 7 out of the 10 top seeds tumble out. And the biggest upset of course was the hot favourite to win it, Serena Williams, who went out in the first round, followed by Li Na who went out in the fourth. So it definitely was dramatic, eventual and terrific Roland Garros with a worthy, albeit short final.
So I will be baaaaack with more on the men's final, which again sees the world's two best players, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic fight it out for the right to win the Roland Garros men's trophy. Its going to be very intersting and hopefully exciting and memorable final as both men are chasing history, and if its anything like the Australian Open final, then we'll need to strap ourselves in as we could be here quite a while!
Till then bye the now.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Friday, 8 June 2012
Roland Garros Part 9: A date with history beckons....
Right well the French Open is very nearly at an end and today we had the men's semi finals, which promised a great deal, but let's have a closer look at the matches.
Starting with Rafa and David Ferrer, the two Spaniards went head to head, and naturally Rafa was the overwhelming favourite as they had already played 19 times prior to this match with Rafa having won 15 of those matches. But as this was a grand slam we expected it to be quite a tough match, but it turned out to be a cakewalk for Rafa. And despite a tight first four games in the first set, Rafa got the decisive break and after that there was no way back for Ferrer, as Rafa ruthlessly dominated his compatriot with an incredible display of power and precision. And before we knew it, 1 hour and 46 minutes later, Rafa wrapped an emphatic victory up over Ferrer, winning in a crushing 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
This match really was a big disappointment, as I was hoping it would be more tightly contested as Ferrer and Rafa have had some fairly tight matches in the past, and their match in Barcelona was air tight, even though it was straight sets. But this was just a demolition job from the king of clay, and it reaffirmed his frighteningly good form on the clay this year. And there is no doubt the fact that he will be the favourite going into the final on Sunday. As for Ferrer well has had an excellent Roland Garros this year and he deserved his place in the semi finals, and it was a pity he wasn't allowed to play his best tennis. In fact it makes you wonder if Andy Murray had gotten to the semi finals if he could have done any better, probably worse!
So onto the second match, which was between the World No.1 Novak Djokovic and the No.3, Roger Federer, in a re-match of their 2011 semi final, which was one of the most stunning matches in recent times. However it would take quite some following to top it, and unfortunately today's match didn't live up to expectations. In the match Djokovic played really well from the baseline, whereas Federer made too many unforced errors, and despite breaking serve several times, just like Andy Murray, he kept getting broken back. The match also wasn't helped by the very difficult windy conditions, and there was a rain delay before play commenced, and that was something Roger struggled with as well as his first serve. And Djokovic in each set managed to break Federer to close out the match in straight sets, which saw him reach his first Roland Garros final, and a chance to achieve his dream of holding all four grand slams at the same time. The final score being 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and Djokovic wrapped it up in just over 2 hours. So this match also fell a bit short of expectations, but it did have its moments and the two men traded some very good rallies, particularly one at 30-40 on Djokovic's serve in the 1st game of the 2nd set, which was an unbelievable point, where the two players traded around the full length and width of the court, right after Djokovic tries a hotdog lob, which Federer puts away with a net volley. Classy point and one of the points of the tournament.
But Federer has struggled throughout this tournament with his serve and his form was way below what we expected from him, especially considering how great he played last year. And it also begs the question, will Federer win another major???? Well the answer to that is not so clear, as Federer could go on and win Wimbledon for all we know, but it looks like the top two players in the world could keep on denying Federer his chance. This is probably why Federer has focused more of his time on playing well in the ATP tour, as he probably knows his chances of winning another major are slim, so instead he goes after the Masters and the year end championships, which he has excelled in, last year and this year alone. But regarding Roger's tennis at the French Open, it has been somewhat erratic as well, just like Andy's was, and in a way, his tennis in this match wasn't any better or worse than Andy's, as they both had their fare share of unforced errors.
Well this sets up another tantalising final between the world's two best players, Rafa and Djoko, but who will win?????? Well the odds are definitely in Rafa's favour and his clay court form has been great this year, and so far at the French, his performance has been outstanding, especially as he hasn't even dropped a set, and only 35 games on the way to the final. However Djokovic has won the last 3 grand slams, and he has been so determined to reach the final of the French Open, so he can complete his career slam. And given his past performances in slam finals, he will give Rafa hell in the final, but he has also not performed as well in his last two meetings against Rafa on clay, having lost in straight sets in Monte Carlo and Rome, so Rafa could even defeat him in straight sets. But the way I see it is, if Rafa wins it will be in 3 or 4 sets, but if Djokovic wins it will be in 5 sets. So whichever way it goes, it promises to be quite a match and either way a very historical and memorable final.
Anywayyyyy that's it for now. I will report back on the result of the ladies final tomorrow, between Maria Sharapova and Sara Errani (who will make her top 10 debut as a result of reaching the final). Errani has already won the ladies doubles title today with her partner, Robert Vinci, so can she do a double whammy tomorrow??? (No pun intended!). We will soon find out.
OK that's eeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
Starting with Rafa and David Ferrer, the two Spaniards went head to head, and naturally Rafa was the overwhelming favourite as they had already played 19 times prior to this match with Rafa having won 15 of those matches. But as this was a grand slam we expected it to be quite a tough match, but it turned out to be a cakewalk for Rafa. And despite a tight first four games in the first set, Rafa got the decisive break and after that there was no way back for Ferrer, as Rafa ruthlessly dominated his compatriot with an incredible display of power and precision. And before we knew it, 1 hour and 46 minutes later, Rafa wrapped an emphatic victory up over Ferrer, winning in a crushing 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
This match really was a big disappointment, as I was hoping it would be more tightly contested as Ferrer and Rafa have had some fairly tight matches in the past, and their match in Barcelona was air tight, even though it was straight sets. But this was just a demolition job from the king of clay, and it reaffirmed his frighteningly good form on the clay this year. And there is no doubt the fact that he will be the favourite going into the final on Sunday. As for Ferrer well has had an excellent Roland Garros this year and he deserved his place in the semi finals, and it was a pity he wasn't allowed to play his best tennis. In fact it makes you wonder if Andy Murray had gotten to the semi finals if he could have done any better, probably worse!
So onto the second match, which was between the World No.1 Novak Djokovic and the No.3, Roger Federer, in a re-match of their 2011 semi final, which was one of the most stunning matches in recent times. However it would take quite some following to top it, and unfortunately today's match didn't live up to expectations. In the match Djokovic played really well from the baseline, whereas Federer made too many unforced errors, and despite breaking serve several times, just like Andy Murray, he kept getting broken back. The match also wasn't helped by the very difficult windy conditions, and there was a rain delay before play commenced, and that was something Roger struggled with as well as his first serve. And Djokovic in each set managed to break Federer to close out the match in straight sets, which saw him reach his first Roland Garros final, and a chance to achieve his dream of holding all four grand slams at the same time. The final score being 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and Djokovic wrapped it up in just over 2 hours. So this match also fell a bit short of expectations, but it did have its moments and the two men traded some very good rallies, particularly one at 30-40 on Djokovic's serve in the 1st game of the 2nd set, which was an unbelievable point, where the two players traded around the full length and width of the court, right after Djokovic tries a hotdog lob, which Federer puts away with a net volley. Classy point and one of the points of the tournament.
But Federer has struggled throughout this tournament with his serve and his form was way below what we expected from him, especially considering how great he played last year. And it also begs the question, will Federer win another major???? Well the answer to that is not so clear, as Federer could go on and win Wimbledon for all we know, but it looks like the top two players in the world could keep on denying Federer his chance. This is probably why Federer has focused more of his time on playing well in the ATP tour, as he probably knows his chances of winning another major are slim, so instead he goes after the Masters and the year end championships, which he has excelled in, last year and this year alone. But regarding Roger's tennis at the French Open, it has been somewhat erratic as well, just like Andy's was, and in a way, his tennis in this match wasn't any better or worse than Andy's, as they both had their fare share of unforced errors.
Well this sets up another tantalising final between the world's two best players, Rafa and Djoko, but who will win?????? Well the odds are definitely in Rafa's favour and his clay court form has been great this year, and so far at the French, his performance has been outstanding, especially as he hasn't even dropped a set, and only 35 games on the way to the final. However Djokovic has won the last 3 grand slams, and he has been so determined to reach the final of the French Open, so he can complete his career slam. And given his past performances in slam finals, he will give Rafa hell in the final, but he has also not performed as well in his last two meetings against Rafa on clay, having lost in straight sets in Monte Carlo and Rome, so Rafa could even defeat him in straight sets. But the way I see it is, if Rafa wins it will be in 3 or 4 sets, but if Djokovic wins it will be in 5 sets. So whichever way it goes, it promises to be quite a match and either way a very historical and memorable final.
Anywayyyyy that's it for now. I will report back on the result of the ladies final tomorrow, between Maria Sharapova and Sara Errani (who will make her top 10 debut as a result of reaching the final). Errani has already won the ladies doubles title today with her partner, Robert Vinci, so can she do a double whammy tomorrow??? (No pun intended!). We will soon find out.
OK that's eeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
Roland Garros Part 8: The fairytale continues....
Well well well, the French Open is now at the business end and today we had the two ladies semi finals matches, which would determine who would reach the final so here's more on that...
OK the first match was between the Italian Sara Errani, the 21st seed, who has had a very impressive run so far, and Sam Stosur, who was the finalist at the French Open two years ago (to another Italian Francesca Schiavone). And the match was a very entertaining and competitve one, with Errani, who had never beaten Stosur before, taking it to her and producing some of her best tennis taking the very tight first set, before Stosur fought back in the 2nd, breaking twice, however in the 3rd, Errani re-established herself and pulled off a big win against the World No.6, and reached her first ever grand slam final, winning in 7-5, 1-6, 6-3. This was a terrific effort from Sara Errani, and her progress through the French Open has been so impressive, not only in the singles but also the doubles, as she into the doubles final as well, so it would be quite something if she could do a double whammy. But all that depends on her other opponent in the final.
So this brings me onto the second match of the day, as Maria Sharapova took on Petra Kvitova, in what promised to be a very close match. However it proved to be quite the opposite as Sharapova came out really strong, hitting the ball flat and clean, whereas Petra struggled really badly in the windy conditions on the court, and leaked too many errors, as she was broken in both sets, and fell at the hands of the mighty Pova who secured her first Roland Garros final, winning the match in 6-3, 6-3. This match was a bit of a letdown, but it did show how impressive Sharapova has been throughout the tournament, and just how determined she is to complete her career slam, which she will if she wins the French Open on Saturday. Not only that but Sharapova has now regained the World No.1 spot, for the first time in four years, so combined with reaching the final, not a bad day's work at the office.
As for the final for the ladies, who do I think stands the best chance of winning? Well for me it has to be Sharapova, as she has already won three slams, and has that experience behind, she also the bigger game, and the heavier weight of shot, as she creams the ball and can blast many players off the court. Errani however does have a very creative game and has the ability to take away any ryhthym from Sharapova, and if the conditions are windy on Saturday, then that will favour her more than Sharapova. Also there is a chance that Sharapova might feel the pressure of trying to go for her career slam, and she let's face it, made a bit of a muck of her last two slam finals. But overall Sharapova is the hot favourite to win, but I would love to see Sara Errani win it, as it would complete her fairytale run at the French Open, and she has also won three clay court titles coming into Roland Garros as well, so she can use your experience on clay to try and upset the odds. Plus the two of them, have never played before, and there's nothing more dangerous than playing an opponent you have never played before (well so I've heard, I don't really know!). Whichever way it goes, it will be a historical final for both ladies, and will be worth a watch.
Anyway tomorrow we have a real treat as the mens semi finals take place, and there are four not too shoddy players on court. First up we will have an all Spaniard semi final with Rafa taking on David Ferrer, who put out Andy Murray in the quarter finals. And the two of them are no strangers to each other as this will be their 20th meeting, however the odds are overwhelmingly in Rafa's favour, especially as he has won 14 of their encounters so far. But one thing will be for sure is that it will be a very tight close match, and while Ferrer isn't quite in the same class as Rafa, he won't give him an inch, and he will make Rafa fight for his place in the final. So I predict it will be a very tough match, but Rafa will win in either 3 very tight sets, or in 4 sets. Whatever way it goes, it promises to be a real belter.
Which leaves the second semi final of the day, which will be a re-match of the incredible 2011 semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Last year, Fedora played one of his best matches in years to take down Djokovic, ending his 41 match winning streak in 2011 in the process. But this year its hard to say how it will go, as both players haven't exactly been playing their best this year at the French, as Federer has dropped 5 sets already over the last 4 matches, and Djokovic has been taken the distance in his last two matches. So in a way it levels the plane field a bit, as neither player is playing that much better than the other, so it will be just a case of who will play the better tennis tomorrow. But for me I would have to pick Djokovic to win, as he is so determined to reach his first final at Roland Garros. It will also mean that he has a chance to win the title and hold all four grand slams at the same time (four in a row). But in order to do it, he will have to go through Rafa, but we can save that for another day.
Anyway plenty more exciting stuff tomorrow, and I will report back on it when its over.
So that is that.
OK the first match was between the Italian Sara Errani, the 21st seed, who has had a very impressive run so far, and Sam Stosur, who was the finalist at the French Open two years ago (to another Italian Francesca Schiavone). And the match was a very entertaining and competitve one, with Errani, who had never beaten Stosur before, taking it to her and producing some of her best tennis taking the very tight first set, before Stosur fought back in the 2nd, breaking twice, however in the 3rd, Errani re-established herself and pulled off a big win against the World No.6, and reached her first ever grand slam final, winning in 7-5, 1-6, 6-3. This was a terrific effort from Sara Errani, and her progress through the French Open has been so impressive, not only in the singles but also the doubles, as she into the doubles final as well, so it would be quite something if she could do a double whammy. But all that depends on her other opponent in the final.
So this brings me onto the second match of the day, as Maria Sharapova took on Petra Kvitova, in what promised to be a very close match. However it proved to be quite the opposite as Sharapova came out really strong, hitting the ball flat and clean, whereas Petra struggled really badly in the windy conditions on the court, and leaked too many errors, as she was broken in both sets, and fell at the hands of the mighty Pova who secured her first Roland Garros final, winning the match in 6-3, 6-3. This match was a bit of a letdown, but it did show how impressive Sharapova has been throughout the tournament, and just how determined she is to complete her career slam, which she will if she wins the French Open on Saturday. Not only that but Sharapova has now regained the World No.1 spot, for the first time in four years, so combined with reaching the final, not a bad day's work at the office.
As for the final for the ladies, who do I think stands the best chance of winning? Well for me it has to be Sharapova, as she has already won three slams, and has that experience behind, she also the bigger game, and the heavier weight of shot, as she creams the ball and can blast many players off the court. Errani however does have a very creative game and has the ability to take away any ryhthym from Sharapova, and if the conditions are windy on Saturday, then that will favour her more than Sharapova. Also there is a chance that Sharapova might feel the pressure of trying to go for her career slam, and she let's face it, made a bit of a muck of her last two slam finals. But overall Sharapova is the hot favourite to win, but I would love to see Sara Errani win it, as it would complete her fairytale run at the French Open, and she has also won three clay court titles coming into Roland Garros as well, so she can use your experience on clay to try and upset the odds. Plus the two of them, have never played before, and there's nothing more dangerous than playing an opponent you have never played before (well so I've heard, I don't really know!). Whichever way it goes, it will be a historical final for both ladies, and will be worth a watch.
Anyway tomorrow we have a real treat as the mens semi finals take place, and there are four not too shoddy players on court. First up we will have an all Spaniard semi final with Rafa taking on David Ferrer, who put out Andy Murray in the quarter finals. And the two of them are no strangers to each other as this will be their 20th meeting, however the odds are overwhelmingly in Rafa's favour, especially as he has won 14 of their encounters so far. But one thing will be for sure is that it will be a very tight close match, and while Ferrer isn't quite in the same class as Rafa, he won't give him an inch, and he will make Rafa fight for his place in the final. So I predict it will be a very tough match, but Rafa will win in either 3 very tight sets, or in 4 sets. Whatever way it goes, it promises to be a real belter.
Which leaves the second semi final of the day, which will be a re-match of the incredible 2011 semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Last year, Fedora played one of his best matches in years to take down Djokovic, ending his 41 match winning streak in 2011 in the process. But this year its hard to say how it will go, as both players haven't exactly been playing their best this year at the French, as Federer has dropped 5 sets already over the last 4 matches, and Djokovic has been taken the distance in his last two matches. So in a way it levels the plane field a bit, as neither player is playing that much better than the other, so it will be just a case of who will play the better tennis tomorrow. But for me I would have to pick Djokovic to win, as he is so determined to reach his first final at Roland Garros. It will also mean that he has a chance to win the title and hold all four grand slams at the same time (four in a row). But in order to do it, he will have to go through Rafa, but we can save that for another day.
Anyway plenty more exciting stuff tomorrow, and I will report back on it when its over.
So that is that.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Roland Garros Part 7: So much for taming the beast
OK well as the French Open gets into its latter stages and all the mens and ladies quarter finals matches are now complete, the semi finals await, so let's see how the matches went today.
Well on the ladies front we had Maria Sharapova take on Kaia Kanepi, the Estonian player, but Kaia was unfortunately no match for the mighty Pova, who bludgeoned her way past her in 6-2, 6-3. Right from the start we knew that Maria would come through, and although she didn't player he best, she still played a solid match, breaking twice in the 1st and once in the 2nd. So onto the second match, which was between Petra Kvitova, the No.4 seed, and the very impressive qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, who in the previous round put out the defending champion Li Na. However her match with Petra was anything but easy, altough she got off to a great start, breaking Petra to take the set 6-3, but in the second Petra fought her way back into the match, breaking Yaro twice. And in the final set, which was very entertaining the two players shared breaks, but it was Petra that came through it in the end, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. So this completes the ladies semi final set up, which will be on tomorrow, with Sharapova taking on Kvitova, and Sam Stosur taking on Sara Errani, so they both promise to be really good matches, and hopefully very competitive.
So onto the men's matches today, starting with Rafa who was up against his fellow Spaniard, Nicholas Almagro, and the two of them had a fairly close match on Philip Chatrier centre court. Almagro came out strong and upset Rafa's ryhthym in the 1st set, as he pushed Rafa further than any player up until then, to a tiebreak in the 1st, but Rafa came through unscathed. In the 2nd set however Rafa took control, breaking Almagro twice, and in the 3rd he went for the decisive break to reach his 7th Roland Garros semi final, winning in 7-6, 6-2, 6-3. Although it was a fairly comfortable match win for Rafa, it did show a few first signs of a test for the Spaniard, but in the end he came through it without too many problems.
The following match however was quite a different altogether, which was between Andy Murray and the World No.6, and Spanish No.2, David Ferrer. Ferrer has never lost to Andy on clay, and he came into this match as the favourite, and right enough Ferrer came out strong, as did Andy early on, with a few break point opportunities, which he wasn;t able to convert. After breaking back at 5-4, Andy struggled on serve (not for the first time!) and dropped the first set 6-4, however in the second he battled his way back in and took it to a 2nd tiebreak, which Andy dominated well to level the match. However after that, Andy's game progressively collapsed, as his serve and his return game both broke down, and he made a rash of 59 unforced errors, which to lead him handing the break Ferrer needed for the 3rd set, and in the 4th, despite breaking straight away, Andy yet capitulated on serve, and before we knew, we were probably all begging for Ferrer to put the Muzza out of his misery, which he duly did, and sealing his fate in being denied yet another chance at a grand slam. And Ferrer came through very impressively in 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, to reach his first RG semi final.
Well this match definitely was a curates egg for sure, which saw Andy start off well, followed by a few ups and downs, and then it was a headlong fall after that. But Andy knew before the match even started that it would be a very tough proposition to beat Ferrer on clay, especially as Ferrer has had such as good record on clay throughout his career, and that Andy had never beaten him on that surface. So as usual in a big match, Andy came up short, and the match had a lot of worrying signs in it, particularly his first serve percentage which was so bad. After levelling the match a set all, I thought Andy had a chance to turn it around, but play was interrupted by another rain delay, which can also halt player's ryhthym. But overall Andy was just too erratic in the match, and made way too many unforced errors, and he gifted so many points to Ferrer along the way, even when Ferrer got tight, Andy had his chances, which he took one or two only to hand them straight back. And the most worrying thing about the match for Andy is how he just couldn't hold onto his own serve, which was something Ferrer did with fair ease, and that really is something he needs to look at. But Ferrer played a very solid match and he served and returned so well (pretty much the opposite of Andy!) and he really deserves his place in the semi finals with Rafa, which will make for a very very good match.
So this signals the end of a rather disappointing clay court season for Andy, but he does deserve credit for reaching the quarter finals of the French Open, and to be fair he did play some great tennis there as well, despite ending on a low note. So here's hoping he can pick up his game again on grass, and Queens club championships next week, if he is still playing that is, which I think he is, but we will see how his back fares up. But he really needs to work on his serve as well which was worryingly about as bad as I had ever seen it, as it dropped as low as about 38% at one point! So if I were him I'd practice asap!! And its his serve that is his biggest hindrance, and in that match he was lucky if he got 1 out of 10 first serves in, and to make matters worse he was only winning about 40% of the points on his second serve. But again no one seems to mention it on TV, except Greg Rusedski, which I've heard him speak of it from time to time, but it is almost like a taboo subject, yet its as plain as the nose on your face, it remains the main weakness in his game, and until the day that he sorts it, he will never win a slam, its that simple.
And another issue with Andy Murray is that after his superb effort that he put into his Australian Open campaign, and even when he played in Dubai, was after that he started to revert back to type, as he went from playing aggressive back to being passive in rallies and adopting his counterpunch style of play. He basically seems to have undone the good work he had done earlier in the year, and in Dubai he looked sharp and focused in game, serving well too. But after his defeat in Dubai, that's when Andy started to go back to type and that is the main concern, how can he move forward if he maintains the same attitude as before??? So when Wimbledon comes up, can we expect more of the same, play aggressive for a short while then back off? Its simply not going to work against the likes of Rafa and Djoko, as he needs to step it up again, like he did in Melbourne, should he meet them at Wimbledon. For me it has to be said that the remaining slam finals this year will most likely be contested by Djokovic and Rafa, and sadly not by Andy or any other player. But what we can hope for, is even if he loses, that he steps up his game again like he did Melbourne and be prepared to fight to win, and not whinge and moan on court.
Anyway more to follow on the remaining matches from RG, especially the ladies semis tomorrow, so should be great!
Till then, that's it!
Well on the ladies front we had Maria Sharapova take on Kaia Kanepi, the Estonian player, but Kaia was unfortunately no match for the mighty Pova, who bludgeoned her way past her in 6-2, 6-3. Right from the start we knew that Maria would come through, and although she didn't player he best, she still played a solid match, breaking twice in the 1st and once in the 2nd. So onto the second match, which was between Petra Kvitova, the No.4 seed, and the very impressive qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, who in the previous round put out the defending champion Li Na. However her match with Petra was anything but easy, altough she got off to a great start, breaking Petra to take the set 6-3, but in the second Petra fought her way back into the match, breaking Yaro twice. And in the final set, which was very entertaining the two players shared breaks, but it was Petra that came through it in the end, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. So this completes the ladies semi final set up, which will be on tomorrow, with Sharapova taking on Kvitova, and Sam Stosur taking on Sara Errani, so they both promise to be really good matches, and hopefully very competitive.
So onto the men's matches today, starting with Rafa who was up against his fellow Spaniard, Nicholas Almagro, and the two of them had a fairly close match on Philip Chatrier centre court. Almagro came out strong and upset Rafa's ryhthym in the 1st set, as he pushed Rafa further than any player up until then, to a tiebreak in the 1st, but Rafa came through unscathed. In the 2nd set however Rafa took control, breaking Almagro twice, and in the 3rd he went for the decisive break to reach his 7th Roland Garros semi final, winning in 7-6, 6-2, 6-3. Although it was a fairly comfortable match win for Rafa, it did show a few first signs of a test for the Spaniard, but in the end he came through it without too many problems.
The following match however was quite a different altogether, which was between Andy Murray and the World No.6, and Spanish No.2, David Ferrer. Ferrer has never lost to Andy on clay, and he came into this match as the favourite, and right enough Ferrer came out strong, as did Andy early on, with a few break point opportunities, which he wasn;t able to convert. After breaking back at 5-4, Andy struggled on serve (not for the first time!) and dropped the first set 6-4, however in the second he battled his way back in and took it to a 2nd tiebreak, which Andy dominated well to level the match. However after that, Andy's game progressively collapsed, as his serve and his return game both broke down, and he made a rash of 59 unforced errors, which to lead him handing the break Ferrer needed for the 3rd set, and in the 4th, despite breaking straight away, Andy yet capitulated on serve, and before we knew, we were probably all begging for Ferrer to put the Muzza out of his misery, which he duly did, and sealing his fate in being denied yet another chance at a grand slam. And Ferrer came through very impressively in 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, to reach his first RG semi final.
Well this match definitely was a curates egg for sure, which saw Andy start off well, followed by a few ups and downs, and then it was a headlong fall after that. But Andy knew before the match even started that it would be a very tough proposition to beat Ferrer on clay, especially as Ferrer has had such as good record on clay throughout his career, and that Andy had never beaten him on that surface. So as usual in a big match, Andy came up short, and the match had a lot of worrying signs in it, particularly his first serve percentage which was so bad. After levelling the match a set all, I thought Andy had a chance to turn it around, but play was interrupted by another rain delay, which can also halt player's ryhthym. But overall Andy was just too erratic in the match, and made way too many unforced errors, and he gifted so many points to Ferrer along the way, even when Ferrer got tight, Andy had his chances, which he took one or two only to hand them straight back. And the most worrying thing about the match for Andy is how he just couldn't hold onto his own serve, which was something Ferrer did with fair ease, and that really is something he needs to look at. But Ferrer played a very solid match and he served and returned so well (pretty much the opposite of Andy!) and he really deserves his place in the semi finals with Rafa, which will make for a very very good match.
So this signals the end of a rather disappointing clay court season for Andy, but he does deserve credit for reaching the quarter finals of the French Open, and to be fair he did play some great tennis there as well, despite ending on a low note. So here's hoping he can pick up his game again on grass, and Queens club championships next week, if he is still playing that is, which I think he is, but we will see how his back fares up. But he really needs to work on his serve as well which was worryingly about as bad as I had ever seen it, as it dropped as low as about 38% at one point! So if I were him I'd practice asap!! And its his serve that is his biggest hindrance, and in that match he was lucky if he got 1 out of 10 first serves in, and to make matters worse he was only winning about 40% of the points on his second serve. But again no one seems to mention it on TV, except Greg Rusedski, which I've heard him speak of it from time to time, but it is almost like a taboo subject, yet its as plain as the nose on your face, it remains the main weakness in his game, and until the day that he sorts it, he will never win a slam, its that simple.
And another issue with Andy Murray is that after his superb effort that he put into his Australian Open campaign, and even when he played in Dubai, was after that he started to revert back to type, as he went from playing aggressive back to being passive in rallies and adopting his counterpunch style of play. He basically seems to have undone the good work he had done earlier in the year, and in Dubai he looked sharp and focused in game, serving well too. But after his defeat in Dubai, that's when Andy started to go back to type and that is the main concern, how can he move forward if he maintains the same attitude as before??? So when Wimbledon comes up, can we expect more of the same, play aggressive for a short while then back off? Its simply not going to work against the likes of Rafa and Djoko, as he needs to step it up again, like he did in Melbourne, should he meet them at Wimbledon. For me it has to be said that the remaining slam finals this year will most likely be contested by Djokovic and Rafa, and sadly not by Andy or any other player. But what we can hope for, is even if he loses, that he steps up his game again like he did Melbourne and be prepared to fight to win, and not whinge and moan on court.
Anyway more to follow on the remaining matches from RG, especially the ladies semis tomorrow, so should be great!
Till then, that's it!
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Roland Garros Part 6: Battle Royale
OK so now I'm onto the sixth part of my entries on the French Open, the second grand slam of the tennis season, which saw the ladies and mens quarter finals matches get under way, and it was once again quite a day for tennis, at what must be one of the best French Open tournaments in recent years.
So starting off with the ladies as usual, the first match on was the Italian player Sara Errani, who has been on form coming into the French, and she faced the fast rising German player who is now ranked as No.10 in the world, Angelique Kerber. However it was Errani who got off the better start, breaking Kerber once in the 1st set to take it, and in the 2nd the two players shared breaks, with Kerber at one point serving at 6-5 for the 2nd set, but Errani had other ideas and broke back to take it into a tiebreak. And in the tiebreak, Errani was quick to stamp her authority she refused to yield and closed out the match in straight sets to reach her first grand slam semi-final, winning in 6-3, 7-6. For a player ranked in the top 30, this really was a great effort from Sara Errani, and she has been highly imperssive throughout this event and this was her first victory over a top 10 player in quite a while. And it makes you wonder if she could be a potential dark horse for the title, but that remains to be seen.
In the next match Sam Stosur, the sixth seed took on Dominika Cibulkova, and with Stosur having won their only previous encounter, we saw right away she was prepared to assert her authority over the Slovak once again. But Dominika did put up some good resistance in the first set, being broken early on, she did break back, but Stosur still had too much for her and finished the set 6-4. In the 2nd Dominika made a rash of unforced errors which did nothing for her chances against Stosur as she was broken twice, and before we knew Stosur had wrapped up the match in 6-4, 6-1, to reach her second Roland Garros semi final. It really has to be said for me anyway that Stosur is fast looking like the favourite for the title, as Sharapova has been a bit ropey in her last match, and Stosur's next opponent, Sara Errani has never beaten Sam. So I might be wrong but for me Stosur has already booked her place in the final and it would be great if she could win.
Anyway now onto the men's matches, and I will start with Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro who played out on Suzanne Lenglen court. Their previous encounters this year have been pretty straightforward victories for Fed, however this time it was anything but as Delpo came out swinging and soon went to a 2 sets to love lead, with Roger struggling to find out how to hurt the big un. However in the 3rd set, Roger finally found a way back in, and broken Delpo's serve twice to take it, and in the 4th, Delpo's knee injury started to trouble him and Roger handed him a bagel set. In the 5th Delpo tried to regroup but he went a break down and despite a brave fightback he finally succumbed once again to Federer, who is now through to the semis after a scrappy 5 set win in 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0, 6-3. This wasn't quite a convincing performance from Roger as we had thought, as he really did struggle in the first two sets against Delpo, and it was partly in thanks Delpo's injury that he managed to come through it, although he is one of the greatest players of all time, so you would expect him to win, and he did.
Now onto the undisputed match of the day, as the World No.1, Novak Djokovic took on the World No.5 and French No.1, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in what promised to be a real belter of match, and boy did it live up to expectations. In the start however Djokovic was comfortably ahead of Tsonga, who faltered badly in that first set. But in the 2nd set Tsonga drastically upped his level and produced some spectacular tennis, as the crowd got right behind him and went on to break Djokovic at 6-5, and more incredible tennis in the 3rd which he broke Djokovic in again. But the 4th set was probably one of the best sets of tennis you will see all year with both players not giving the other an inch, and Tsonga a match point at 6-5, but Djokovic against all the odds held on, and in the tiebreak again Tsonga had his chances but he was thwarted again, and after saving match points, Djokovic levelled the match to make it 2 sets all. And unfortunately for Tsonga after the incredible effort he put into the previous 3 sets, he came undone and was broken twice by Djokovic, who after 4 hours of incredible tennis made it to the semi finals winning in 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.
Without a doubt this truly was a remarkable match and both players produced some incredible tennis, especially Tsonga who played some of his flashiest shots, and probably some of the best tennis he has ever played. And for quite a while Tsonga looked the likely winner as he had the whole crowd behind him and Djokovic seem to falter under pressure. But.... Djokovic is no stranger to dealing with pressure and he managed to save all the match points against him with great aplomb, going for the lines when he most needed to. And after Djokovic won the 4th set you just knew that the match was his and it was all over for Tsonga and it would be hard not to feel sorry for the Frenchman after the match, as he sat down, towel over his head as shed a few tears for his tough loss. In fact Tsonga's reaction to his loss reminded me of Andy Murray's semi final defeat at Wimbledon to Rafa, as he slumped in his chair post-defeat, looking absolutely gutted. And the fact that Tsonga came ever closer to defeating Djokovic on that occassion than Andy did against Rafa in Wimbledon, must have been so hard to take, and he said himself it was the toughest loss of his career. But Tsonga showed today that he is a world class player and that he really can go toe to toe with the very best, and while he lost, he lost to the best player in the world in a match that was for the most part of the highest quality imaginable. So hopefully Tsonga won't feel too dispondent and I hope he does really well on the grass court season, as he is a top 10 player and rightly so.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrright that's just about it, more on the remaining men's and ladies quarter final matches tomorrow, which will see Rafa take on Nicholas Almagro, and Andy Murray take on David Ferrer, the latter promises to be a real belter, as Andy and David are always great to watch. Ferrer will be Andy's sternest test yet at Roland Garros, but if he continues playing the form he has already, and doesn't let his level dip too much, then he will come through. Whichever way it goes, it should hopefully be a treat. And on the ladies, Maria Sharapova will Kaia Kanepi, and Petra Kvitova will play the Kazak qualifier, who knocked out Li Na, Yaroslava Shvedova.
Annnnnnnnddd soo that will do her.
So starting off with the ladies as usual, the first match on was the Italian player Sara Errani, who has been on form coming into the French, and she faced the fast rising German player who is now ranked as No.10 in the world, Angelique Kerber. However it was Errani who got off the better start, breaking Kerber once in the 1st set to take it, and in the 2nd the two players shared breaks, with Kerber at one point serving at 6-5 for the 2nd set, but Errani had other ideas and broke back to take it into a tiebreak. And in the tiebreak, Errani was quick to stamp her authority she refused to yield and closed out the match in straight sets to reach her first grand slam semi-final, winning in 6-3, 7-6. For a player ranked in the top 30, this really was a great effort from Sara Errani, and she has been highly imperssive throughout this event and this was her first victory over a top 10 player in quite a while. And it makes you wonder if she could be a potential dark horse for the title, but that remains to be seen.
In the next match Sam Stosur, the sixth seed took on Dominika Cibulkova, and with Stosur having won their only previous encounter, we saw right away she was prepared to assert her authority over the Slovak once again. But Dominika did put up some good resistance in the first set, being broken early on, she did break back, but Stosur still had too much for her and finished the set 6-4. In the 2nd Dominika made a rash of unforced errors which did nothing for her chances against Stosur as she was broken twice, and before we knew Stosur had wrapped up the match in 6-4, 6-1, to reach her second Roland Garros semi final. It really has to be said for me anyway that Stosur is fast looking like the favourite for the title, as Sharapova has been a bit ropey in her last match, and Stosur's next opponent, Sara Errani has never beaten Sam. So I might be wrong but for me Stosur has already booked her place in the final and it would be great if she could win.
Anyway now onto the men's matches, and I will start with Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro who played out on Suzanne Lenglen court. Their previous encounters this year have been pretty straightforward victories for Fed, however this time it was anything but as Delpo came out swinging and soon went to a 2 sets to love lead, with Roger struggling to find out how to hurt the big un. However in the 3rd set, Roger finally found a way back in, and broken Delpo's serve twice to take it, and in the 4th, Delpo's knee injury started to trouble him and Roger handed him a bagel set. In the 5th Delpo tried to regroup but he went a break down and despite a brave fightback he finally succumbed once again to Federer, who is now through to the semis after a scrappy 5 set win in 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0, 6-3. This wasn't quite a convincing performance from Roger as we had thought, as he really did struggle in the first two sets against Delpo, and it was partly in thanks Delpo's injury that he managed to come through it, although he is one of the greatest players of all time, so you would expect him to win, and he did.
Now onto the undisputed match of the day, as the World No.1, Novak Djokovic took on the World No.5 and French No.1, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in what promised to be a real belter of match, and boy did it live up to expectations. In the start however Djokovic was comfortably ahead of Tsonga, who faltered badly in that first set. But in the 2nd set Tsonga drastically upped his level and produced some spectacular tennis, as the crowd got right behind him and went on to break Djokovic at 6-5, and more incredible tennis in the 3rd which he broke Djokovic in again. But the 4th set was probably one of the best sets of tennis you will see all year with both players not giving the other an inch, and Tsonga a match point at 6-5, but Djokovic against all the odds held on, and in the tiebreak again Tsonga had his chances but he was thwarted again, and after saving match points, Djokovic levelled the match to make it 2 sets all. And unfortunately for Tsonga after the incredible effort he put into the previous 3 sets, he came undone and was broken twice by Djokovic, who after 4 hours of incredible tennis made it to the semi finals winning in 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.
Without a doubt this truly was a remarkable match and both players produced some incredible tennis, especially Tsonga who played some of his flashiest shots, and probably some of the best tennis he has ever played. And for quite a while Tsonga looked the likely winner as he had the whole crowd behind him and Djokovic seem to falter under pressure. But.... Djokovic is no stranger to dealing with pressure and he managed to save all the match points against him with great aplomb, going for the lines when he most needed to. And after Djokovic won the 4th set you just knew that the match was his and it was all over for Tsonga and it would be hard not to feel sorry for the Frenchman after the match, as he sat down, towel over his head as shed a few tears for his tough loss. In fact Tsonga's reaction to his loss reminded me of Andy Murray's semi final defeat at Wimbledon to Rafa, as he slumped in his chair post-defeat, looking absolutely gutted. And the fact that Tsonga came ever closer to defeating Djokovic on that occassion than Andy did against Rafa in Wimbledon, must have been so hard to take, and he said himself it was the toughest loss of his career. But Tsonga showed today that he is a world class player and that he really can go toe to toe with the very best, and while he lost, he lost to the best player in the world in a match that was for the most part of the highest quality imaginable. So hopefully Tsonga won't feel too dispondent and I hope he does really well on the grass court season, as he is a top 10 player and rightly so.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrright that's just about it, more on the remaining men's and ladies quarter final matches tomorrow, which will see Rafa take on Nicholas Almagro, and Andy Murray take on David Ferrer, the latter promises to be a real belter, as Andy and David are always great to watch. Ferrer will be Andy's sternest test yet at Roland Garros, but if he continues playing the form he has already, and doesn't let his level dip too much, then he will come through. Whichever way it goes, it should hopefully be a treat. And on the ladies, Maria Sharapova will Kaia Kanepi, and Petra Kvitova will play the Kazak qualifier, who knocked out Li Na, Yaroslava Shvedova.
Annnnnnnnddd soo that will do her.
Lord Sugar's final four
OK so now we have to come to the final episode of The Apprentice, as Lord Sugar's hunt for his business partner is almost at an end, and the last episode saw the four finalists, Ricky, Tom, Jade and Nick present their business plans to four of Lord Sugar's toughest business associates who would interview them.
So to start off with a bit of detail of the four finalists business plans, Jade's was for a telemarketing business, Tom's was for a fine wine investment program, Nick's was for an online website for colleting ingredients from sites for a recipes to make food and in turn it will be linked to sites where you can get the ingredients. And Ricky's business plan was for an ethical recruting agency, and he has had experience in recruitment, which he could utilise.
In the interviews however, the four finalists came under fire for different reasons from Lord Sugar's associates. Jade for starters had shoddy finanical projections for her figures, and after six months her £250,000 investment would be spent, although she hoped her business will have generated income by then. Tom also was criticised for his business plan in that it appeared that since his father created the business and Tom aided in it, that his father had more to do with creating his business plan, and also Tom's limited experience in the business due to his young age was also a concern. Nick's plan was also flawed as the interviewers felt that it was overly complicated, as they felt most people couldn't be bothered to go on his website to try and collate recipes for meals. Ricky however while he was criticised heavily by Lord Sugar's heavyweight interrogator, Claude Litner, for his personal statement on his CV, which had some ridiculous statements such as that he was Thor, whereas Lord Sugar was the Godfather, and that he could teach "an old dog new tricks" and that he would be "the best business partner on the planet". But Ricky's business plan stacked up very well against all the others and it was well received by the interviewers who thought it was well written and structured.
In the boardroom after Lord Sugar heard out his interviewing experts, he got down to the nitty gritty of deciding who should stay and go. And Lord Sugar decided that Jade was the first to go as he felt her business plan was a bit of an HR nightmare and her figures were a bit askew. Next up Lord Sugar fired Nick as he said his business plan was just too complicated and would cause the most problems to implement. So it was down to the last two, with Tom and Ricky, and in the end Lord Sugar had to decide between Ricky's playing it safe idea with the recruiting business, and Tom's real gamble to create a fine wine investment business, which Tom had some pretty ambitious figures after four years he was hoping to raise 25 million pounds. Soooo in the end Lord Sugar concluded that Ricky was to be his business partner, mainly due to the fact that he'd like to play safe rather than take a punt on Tom's ideas.
The final episode is always the most entertaining since they changed the format of the show to finding a businss partner, we have the interview stage then, and its great when we hear all the details of the candidates plans being weeded out. Although there weren't many dramatic or amusing moments revealed, with the exception of Ricky's personal statement about being Thor and that he was going to teach an old dog new tricks (meaning Lord Sugar!), but its always interesting and fun to see how the candidates deal with being under close scrutiny.
As for Lord Sugar's decision for his business partner, I have to agree with his decision of choosing Ricky, as he was the best out of the four of them, and throughout the series he showed that he could adapt all the tasks well. He also sold well, pitched well, and presented well, however it has to be said he was a bit of a big headed twat at times, but basically he is an OK guy, and his business plan was considered the best of them all. But one thing about his business plan was that it wasn't really described in the program that well and probably was as vague as his initial description of it he gave to Lord Sugar, we know it was about recruiting technical people, and Claude said it was very well written and interesting, but that was about it.
Anywayyy that's another series of the Apprentice over with and it was again very entertaining, but it did lack a few big characters to provide amusing TV, but I guess they wanted to move away from that since its a business partner Lord Sugar wants, and not a cheery, charismatic employee.
Sooooooooooo that's it, best of luck to you, Ricky.
So to start off with a bit of detail of the four finalists business plans, Jade's was for a telemarketing business, Tom's was for a fine wine investment program, Nick's was for an online website for colleting ingredients from sites for a recipes to make food and in turn it will be linked to sites where you can get the ingredients. And Ricky's business plan was for an ethical recruting agency, and he has had experience in recruitment, which he could utilise.
In the interviews however, the four finalists came under fire for different reasons from Lord Sugar's associates. Jade for starters had shoddy finanical projections for her figures, and after six months her £250,000 investment would be spent, although she hoped her business will have generated income by then. Tom also was criticised for his business plan in that it appeared that since his father created the business and Tom aided in it, that his father had more to do with creating his business plan, and also Tom's limited experience in the business due to his young age was also a concern. Nick's plan was also flawed as the interviewers felt that it was overly complicated, as they felt most people couldn't be bothered to go on his website to try and collate recipes for meals. Ricky however while he was criticised heavily by Lord Sugar's heavyweight interrogator, Claude Litner, for his personal statement on his CV, which had some ridiculous statements such as that he was Thor, whereas Lord Sugar was the Godfather, and that he could teach "an old dog new tricks" and that he would be "the best business partner on the planet". But Ricky's business plan stacked up very well against all the others and it was well received by the interviewers who thought it was well written and structured.
In the boardroom after Lord Sugar heard out his interviewing experts, he got down to the nitty gritty of deciding who should stay and go. And Lord Sugar decided that Jade was the first to go as he felt her business plan was a bit of an HR nightmare and her figures were a bit askew. Next up Lord Sugar fired Nick as he said his business plan was just too complicated and would cause the most problems to implement. So it was down to the last two, with Tom and Ricky, and in the end Lord Sugar had to decide between Ricky's playing it safe idea with the recruiting business, and Tom's real gamble to create a fine wine investment business, which Tom had some pretty ambitious figures after four years he was hoping to raise 25 million pounds. Soooo in the end Lord Sugar concluded that Ricky was to be his business partner, mainly due to the fact that he'd like to play safe rather than take a punt on Tom's ideas.
The final episode is always the most entertaining since they changed the format of the show to finding a businss partner, we have the interview stage then, and its great when we hear all the details of the candidates plans being weeded out. Although there weren't many dramatic or amusing moments revealed, with the exception of Ricky's personal statement about being Thor and that he was going to teach an old dog new tricks (meaning Lord Sugar!), but its always interesting and fun to see how the candidates deal with being under close scrutiny.
As for Lord Sugar's decision for his business partner, I have to agree with his decision of choosing Ricky, as he was the best out of the four of them, and throughout the series he showed that he could adapt all the tasks well. He also sold well, pitched well, and presented well, however it has to be said he was a bit of a big headed twat at times, but basically he is an OK guy, and his business plan was considered the best of them all. But one thing about his business plan was that it wasn't really described in the program that well and probably was as vague as his initial description of it he gave to Lord Sugar, we know it was about recruiting technical people, and Claude said it was very well written and interesting, but that was about it.
Anywayyy that's another series of the Apprentice over with and it was again very entertaining, but it did lack a few big characters to provide amusing TV, but I guess they wanted to move away from that since its a business partner Lord Sugar wants, and not a cheery, charismatic employee.
Sooooooooooo that's it, best of luck to you, Ricky.
Monday, 4 June 2012
Roland Garros Part 5: Finishing strong
Ok so now I'm onto my fifth post (well technically maybe six or seven not sure, as I split one or two of the parts) about the French Open, which is now approaching the business end of the tournament, as the rest of the 4th round matches were completed today to set up the quarter finals.
So starting with the ladies, we had yet another massive upset today as Li Na, the defending champion took on the Kazak player, Yaroslava Shvedova (they all have really funky names don't they???). Naturally you would expect Li Na to able to close out the match with fair ease, however she was really put to the test, after winning the first set, Li Na soon lost control of the match, as the Kazak dominated the defending champion, breaking twice in the 2nd set, and steamrolling her way to victory in the 3rd, handing Li Na a final set bagel to knock her out of the French Open, in 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. This really was another shock exit for another top seed, and Roland Garros hasn't been short on drama this year, especially in the ladies, and that is now six out of the Top 10 seeds now out of the French Open. Ouch.
Onto other ladies matches, Maria Sharapova took on Klara Zakopalova, and had the toughest match of her campaign yet, as she battled not only her opponent, but also herself and the windy conditions on court. Throughout the match, Sharapova struggled badly on serve, and despite being a break up to serve for the match in the 2nd set, Klara broke back to level, and in the tiebreak Sharapova lost the set to take it into the decider. But in the 3rd, Sharapova finally found her serve and broke Klara twice to finally close out a very drawn out match (which saw some of the Parisian crowd sleeping!) in 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 after 3 hours and 10 minutes. This match certainly saw Sharapova be less than convincing today and she struggled really badly on serve as she has the tendancy to do, but this could be just a mid tournament wobble, hopefully she will be over it by her next match who will face Kaia Kanepi next who has won her 4th round match against Anratx Rus, and she will need to given Kanepi's form. But Sharapova is the ultimate competitor and warrior in the ladies game and I'm sure she will come through. But for me Sam Stosur is also looking very good in this tournament and she has been a bit of a dark horse, slipping under the radar, like she did in the US Open last year, so its possible she could win here as well.
So onto the men, which saw a couple of the men's matches that had to be complete come to a close, starting with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka. Tsonga was one of the last standing Frenchmen in the draw, and the two players were tied at 2 sets all, well into the 5th set at 4-2 for Tsonga. But when play resumed today, Tsonga dropped his serve, letting Stan break back, but at 4-5 on Stan's serve, Tsonga managed to get the key break and with it he secured his place in his first Roland Garros quarter final, winning an epic match in 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4. This really was a great match with a few lulls here and there, and I was really pleased to see Tsonga get through, as last year he went out to the very same man he beat today in Stan Wawrinka. And its also important for the French crowd to have one of their own players get through to the business end of the tournament, and for me the best one made it. I did feel sorry for Stan at the end though as he was clearly emotional as he hugged Tsonga at the net, and walked off the court shedding a few tears, as it was clearly such an exhaustive effort for him to try and win the match. And quickly Juan Martin Del Potro managed to overcome Tomas Berdych in 4 sets to make it through to his second quarter final in RG with a 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.
OK so now onto the main match of the day for the mens, which was Andy Murray who was up against the home favourite, Richard Gasquet. Gasquet naturally had a warmer reception than Andy did, as the Muzza got some light applause and some booing, which Andy smiled off. The match itself was a bit mixed but had some great moments, and in the first set Andy played very badly, dropping serve and returning poorly, which he lost 1-6. In the 2nd set however, Andy picked up his levelled and he turned the match around at 5-4, getting a break point on Gasquet's serve, as he played a superb cross court winner, and Gasquet double faulted to hand the 2nd set over to Andy. And from thereon in, the Muzza took total control of the proceedings and went from playing some piss poor tennis in the 1st set to some of his most scintillating tennis in the 3rd and 4th sets. By the end of the match, Gasquet looked helpless and despite playing one or two really gutsy enthralling games, he had nowhere enough to keep up with Andy, who came through to his 3rd Roland Garros quater final in 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
This really was always going to be a bit of a controversial match, especially as Andy played a home favourite so obviously the crowd were against him from the start. However Andy managed to hang tough and he displayed a great mental attitude as he hardly bitched or moaned, although he did get a bit of a booing when clutched his back once or twice after losing one or two points. But it was the way in which Andy turned the match around that was very impressive as he really put on a dazzling display in the last two sets, and thoroughly outclassed Gasquet. In fact I did feel a bit sorry for Gasquet as the match went on, as he really started to cut a forlorn figure as Andy closed in on him.
And Gasquet afterwards did feel a bit aggrieved at Andy occassionally clutching at his back, when he clearly was able to move around the court without any trouble, which is a fair point, if Andy was feigning it, then he shouldn't have done it. And it has been a bone of contention for sure for Andy at Roland Garros, was he feigning injury? Probably not, because if he felt a twinge of discomfort then why wouldn't he feel his back once or twice, but again its a bit unfair on him as well, as everything he does is scrutinised in the press, and they will forever be on his back about something (no pun intended!).
But Andy did make a couple of comments that sounded a bit ignorant to me though about Jarkko and Gasquet, that it was basically both their own faults that they didn't get back into the match, when he started playing better. I just think he shouldn't say things like that as it doesn't really do him any favours, and in that respect, Andy is akin to Federer, as they both can make ignorant comments now and then, not unless the press are just twisting their words. I mean its not like they haven't done that before! But it does show a lack of respect towards their opponents, and that is at least something that Rafa and Djokovic always tend to avoid, but I guess you just have to accept players attitudes at times, foibles and all.
However the main thing is that is Andy through to the quarter finals, but he has a much much tougher proposition awaiting him in David Ferrer, who breezed through his match today against Marcel Granlloers in 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Ferrer has also yet to drop a set at RG and has also beaten Andy in all three of their previous clay meetings, so he has to be the favourite out of the two of them, especially considering his formidable form. But Andy given his form in this tournament, while he has played one or two loose sets, he has also played some brilliant tennis as well, and he will look to defeat Ferrer on clay for the first time, but it will be mighty tough as Ferrer will run him ragged and it will be a much tougher contest than it was with Gasquet. And for me it has to be 50/50 with this one as there is no outright winner, and Ferrer could edge it as his form on clay has been so consistent this year. But if Andy does make it, I will be very very impressed, and as he looked to be on the verge of quitting the tournament last Thursday, he is now in the quarter finals, looking very good, and he's also the only non-Spanish player left in the bottom half of the draw. Its a great turnaround from what has been a really mediocre clay court season coming into the French Open, and it has also seen him play some of the best tennis he has played all year.
But.... if Andy beats Ferrer in the quarter finals, he will have a mountainous task ahead of him in trying to beat Rafa, who was in unbelievable form today against Juan Monaco, who he crushed today in 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. This shows Rafa in a frighteningly good form, and I would be stunned and amazed if he didn't win the title this year, as he is playing probably the best I have ever seen him play at Roland Garros, so God help everyone else that is left, particularly Nicholas Almgaro who is up next for the mighty king of clay.
Rrrrrrrright so that's it for now, more to follow tomorrow as there are some cracking matches to follow, particularly the mens as Novak Djokovic will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which should be the match of the day. And the other isn't too shabby either which will see Roger Federer play Del Potro, and the ladies side we have Sam Stosur take on the in form Dominika Cibulkova, and Angelique Kerber up against Sara Errani, so its all good!
Ok that's it for now!
So starting with the ladies, we had yet another massive upset today as Li Na, the defending champion took on the Kazak player, Yaroslava Shvedova (they all have really funky names don't they???). Naturally you would expect Li Na to able to close out the match with fair ease, however she was really put to the test, after winning the first set, Li Na soon lost control of the match, as the Kazak dominated the defending champion, breaking twice in the 2nd set, and steamrolling her way to victory in the 3rd, handing Li Na a final set bagel to knock her out of the French Open, in 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. This really was another shock exit for another top seed, and Roland Garros hasn't been short on drama this year, especially in the ladies, and that is now six out of the Top 10 seeds now out of the French Open. Ouch.
Onto other ladies matches, Maria Sharapova took on Klara Zakopalova, and had the toughest match of her campaign yet, as she battled not only her opponent, but also herself and the windy conditions on court. Throughout the match, Sharapova struggled badly on serve, and despite being a break up to serve for the match in the 2nd set, Klara broke back to level, and in the tiebreak Sharapova lost the set to take it into the decider. But in the 3rd, Sharapova finally found her serve and broke Klara twice to finally close out a very drawn out match (which saw some of the Parisian crowd sleeping!) in 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 after 3 hours and 10 minutes. This match certainly saw Sharapova be less than convincing today and she struggled really badly on serve as she has the tendancy to do, but this could be just a mid tournament wobble, hopefully she will be over it by her next match who will face Kaia Kanepi next who has won her 4th round match against Anratx Rus, and she will need to given Kanepi's form. But Sharapova is the ultimate competitor and warrior in the ladies game and I'm sure she will come through. But for me Sam Stosur is also looking very good in this tournament and she has been a bit of a dark horse, slipping under the radar, like she did in the US Open last year, so its possible she could win here as well.
So onto the men, which saw a couple of the men's matches that had to be complete come to a close, starting with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka. Tsonga was one of the last standing Frenchmen in the draw, and the two players were tied at 2 sets all, well into the 5th set at 4-2 for Tsonga. But when play resumed today, Tsonga dropped his serve, letting Stan break back, but at 4-5 on Stan's serve, Tsonga managed to get the key break and with it he secured his place in his first Roland Garros quarter final, winning an epic match in 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4. This really was a great match with a few lulls here and there, and I was really pleased to see Tsonga get through, as last year he went out to the very same man he beat today in Stan Wawrinka. And its also important for the French crowd to have one of their own players get through to the business end of the tournament, and for me the best one made it. I did feel sorry for Stan at the end though as he was clearly emotional as he hugged Tsonga at the net, and walked off the court shedding a few tears, as it was clearly such an exhaustive effort for him to try and win the match. And quickly Juan Martin Del Potro managed to overcome Tomas Berdych in 4 sets to make it through to his second quarter final in RG with a 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win.
OK so now onto the main match of the day for the mens, which was Andy Murray who was up against the home favourite, Richard Gasquet. Gasquet naturally had a warmer reception than Andy did, as the Muzza got some light applause and some booing, which Andy smiled off. The match itself was a bit mixed but had some great moments, and in the first set Andy played very badly, dropping serve and returning poorly, which he lost 1-6. In the 2nd set however, Andy picked up his levelled and he turned the match around at 5-4, getting a break point on Gasquet's serve, as he played a superb cross court winner, and Gasquet double faulted to hand the 2nd set over to Andy. And from thereon in, the Muzza took total control of the proceedings and went from playing some piss poor tennis in the 1st set to some of his most scintillating tennis in the 3rd and 4th sets. By the end of the match, Gasquet looked helpless and despite playing one or two really gutsy enthralling games, he had nowhere enough to keep up with Andy, who came through to his 3rd Roland Garros quater final in 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
This really was always going to be a bit of a controversial match, especially as Andy played a home favourite so obviously the crowd were against him from the start. However Andy managed to hang tough and he displayed a great mental attitude as he hardly bitched or moaned, although he did get a bit of a booing when clutched his back once or twice after losing one or two points. But it was the way in which Andy turned the match around that was very impressive as he really put on a dazzling display in the last two sets, and thoroughly outclassed Gasquet. In fact I did feel a bit sorry for Gasquet as the match went on, as he really started to cut a forlorn figure as Andy closed in on him.
And Gasquet afterwards did feel a bit aggrieved at Andy occassionally clutching at his back, when he clearly was able to move around the court without any trouble, which is a fair point, if Andy was feigning it, then he shouldn't have done it. And it has been a bone of contention for sure for Andy at Roland Garros, was he feigning injury? Probably not, because if he felt a twinge of discomfort then why wouldn't he feel his back once or twice, but again its a bit unfair on him as well, as everything he does is scrutinised in the press, and they will forever be on his back about something (no pun intended!).
But Andy did make a couple of comments that sounded a bit ignorant to me though about Jarkko and Gasquet, that it was basically both their own faults that they didn't get back into the match, when he started playing better. I just think he shouldn't say things like that as it doesn't really do him any favours, and in that respect, Andy is akin to Federer, as they both can make ignorant comments now and then, not unless the press are just twisting their words. I mean its not like they haven't done that before! But it does show a lack of respect towards their opponents, and that is at least something that Rafa and Djokovic always tend to avoid, but I guess you just have to accept players attitudes at times, foibles and all.
However the main thing is that is Andy through to the quarter finals, but he has a much much tougher proposition awaiting him in David Ferrer, who breezed through his match today against Marcel Granlloers in 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Ferrer has also yet to drop a set at RG and has also beaten Andy in all three of their previous clay meetings, so he has to be the favourite out of the two of them, especially considering his formidable form. But Andy given his form in this tournament, while he has played one or two loose sets, he has also played some brilliant tennis as well, and he will look to defeat Ferrer on clay for the first time, but it will be mighty tough as Ferrer will run him ragged and it will be a much tougher contest than it was with Gasquet. And for me it has to be 50/50 with this one as there is no outright winner, and Ferrer could edge it as his form on clay has been so consistent this year. But if Andy does make it, I will be very very impressed, and as he looked to be on the verge of quitting the tournament last Thursday, he is now in the quarter finals, looking very good, and he's also the only non-Spanish player left in the bottom half of the draw. Its a great turnaround from what has been a really mediocre clay court season coming into the French Open, and it has also seen him play some of the best tennis he has played all year.
But.... if Andy beats Ferrer in the quarter finals, he will have a mountainous task ahead of him in trying to beat Rafa, who was in unbelievable form today against Juan Monaco, who he crushed today in 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. This shows Rafa in a frighteningly good form, and I would be stunned and amazed if he didn't win the title this year, as he is playing probably the best I have ever seen him play at Roland Garros, so God help everyone else that is left, particularly Nicholas Almgaro who is up next for the mighty king of clay.
Rrrrrrrright so that's it for now, more to follow tomorrow as there are some cracking matches to follow, particularly the mens as Novak Djokovic will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which should be the match of the day. And the other isn't too shabby either which will see Roger Federer play Del Potro, and the ladies side we have Sam Stosur take on the in form Dominika Cibulkova, and Angelique Kerber up against Sara Errani, so its all good!
Ok that's it for now!
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