Well the Sony Open tournament from Miami is already under way this week for the men's and ladies tour but this post will cover something a bit different as there has been a dramatic revelation this week in men's game as Andy Murray has announced his split with his coach Ivan Lendl after two years working together.
And there is no doubt that this comes as a real surprise to the tennis world and to the public especially considering how much success Andy has enjoyed working with Lendl who has helped him win the three biggest titles of his career. And the split seems to be more on Lendl's part than on Andy's as Ivan has stated he wishes to play more senior tour matches as well as concentrate on developing his tennis coaching academies. And this all seems fair enough as Lendl wants to move onto other projects, however it does leave Andy with a gaping hole in his team needing to be filled and it begs the question: how will Andy fare without Lendl??? Well only time will tell on that one but I think it hasn't happened at the most opportune time especially given Andy's ropey form of late. Also given that Andy is the defending champion at the Sony Open this year he has a tough field ahead of him in trying to defend it, as he will have to face Djokovic, Federer and then Nadal in succession to win it again from the quarter finals onward.
However with Lendl now gone it does open an interesting new chapter in Andy's career and while he is still searching to find his form, it will be intruiging to see how he will cope on his own without a coach. For now his hitting partner, Dani Vallverdu will probably provide support on a temporary basis in this role as he has done in the past. And its also a reminder of his split from Miles McClaghan back in 2011 and he actually went on to have a really good year after his slow start and disappointment of losing out to Djokovic in the Australian open final that year, he had his most consistent year in the slams by reaching all four semi finals and won five titles as well.
So while Andy has gotten off to a slow start in 2014 we still also have to take into consideration that he has just returned from surgery, but now that his back has improved, and he has his match fitness back, what he needs to work on is his match sharpness. And hopefully over the next few months that will come and by the time he plays the French Open even he will be back to near his best form. Also Andy has the chance to build up alot of points over the clay court season given that he didn't play for most of it last year mainly due to his back injury. And this year Andy is pain free with his back no longer an issue, its now just purely a matter of getting his game back up to scratch (not his back!).
And whether or not Andy can go on and win the Sony Open in Miami this week or not is not entirely relevant at this stage, given that there are so many players out there already gunning for him, as well as the resurgence of Federer and Nadal making his return after missing the tournament last year. But if he does lose out in Miami then I hope it will be later rather sooner as the deeper he goes the better a chance he has of winning and if he doesn't and does manage to beat Djokovic or even Federer on the way and loses in the final, he will at least take confidence from having beaten two (or one) top ten player. And this is something Andy realy needs to start doing in order to build that confidence is to beat players ranked lower than him but are close to his ranking (now No.6) such as Grigor Dimitrov or Milos Raonic, who have already beaten him this year in other tournaments.
Andy might already face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 4th round in Miami just prior to a potential showdown with Djokovic and he has an excellent head to head over Tsonga as it is (i.e. he has only lost once to him) . And if Andy can beat Tsonga then that will surely give him enough confidence to go forward and beat higher ranked players, as Tsonga is currently ranked No.11, it would be the highest ranked player he will have beaten so far this year. But that still lies ahead and for now we stil have to wait and see what the impact of Lendl's departure will take on Andy.
So I will finish by wishing Andy the best of luck for the future and let's hope his mutual split with Lendl will not backfire on him. But we have to remind ourselves that even though Lendl gave Andy the mental edge he needed to win a major, it was Andy that carried himself there as well and even without Lendl in his corner, Andy is and always will be one hell of a player. And even if Andy's patchy spell continues this year, I'm pretty sure we haven't seen anything yet and he will be back to his best soon enough.
And on that note I shall leave you there and report back once Miami get's well under way and maybe also the result of Andy's first match, which is against the Aussie player, Matthew Ebden.
And that's it, bye the now!
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Monday, 17 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 4: The ultimate desert showdown
Right so this is the final part of my look at the BNP Paribas open from Indian Wells in California, which will cover the mens and ladies finals to see who came out on top to win that big awkward star shaped glass trophy thing.
So to start with the ladies final we had the World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska take on the 20th seed, Flavia Pennetta and Aga lead their head to head going into this match 4-2. However Pennetta looked determined to upset the odds as she made a strong start in the first set and got an early break to move ahead, but as the set continued Radwanska started to look in some discomfort as her knee, which was taped looked to be hampering her movement, and soon enough Pennetta got a double break to close the set. In the second set Aga's problem continued with her knee as she took a medical timeout to get it re-bandaged but it hardly helped her game as she struggled to move and Pennetta took full advantage as the errors kept piling up in Radwanska's game and she found herself a double break down. And despite one last ditch attempt to hold serve, Radwanska soon captiluated on serve and handed Pennetta the big title win of her career as she won the final in 6-2, 6-1.
It was a pity this match didn't deliver on its promise as the early stages in the first set looked good but it was just unfortunate that Radwanska's knee injury flared up. And in a way it was a reminder of Rafa's back injury in the Australian Open final, where once again a player who has gone through all the hard work to reach a big final, in the last match cannot compete as they would like to. So it was a shame for Aga to lose out on the chance of her first big title in some time especially after the letdown of coming so close in Melbourne earlier this year as well before she downed in the semis by Dominika Cibulkova. As for Flavia Pennetta well she deserves alot of credit for her title win and she has had a terrific week in the desert and will look to improve on her results as last year she showed great signs as she even reached her first major semi final at the US Open, so if she carries on like this 2014 could be a really bright year for her.
Now we move onto the men's final which was a heavyweight showdown between two of the greats in the game, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. And given their very tight head to head 17-15 in Roger's favour going into this match, it promised to be a real cracker. And the match itself certainly didn't disappoint as in the first set Roger came out firing on all cylinders and he produced sublime tennis as he broke an edgy looking Novak to move up 3-0 and he went on to confidently nab the first set. In the 2nd however, the errors started to creep into Fed's game and Nole fought back as he managed to fashion a break of his own and he went on to level the match at a set apiece. And in the 3rd set we were treated to a thrilling contest between both men as they raised their levels for the thrilled crowd on Stadium 1 and played some terrific tennis. However after a tense service game it was Roger that blinked first and he went down a break to Nole, but he still managed to keep it close by keeping to the single break. And when it came for Novak to serve for the title at 5-4, he got tight and was broken by Roger and then before we knew it, the match went into a tiebreak. And despite Roger's superb tiebreak record he unfortunately made some uncharacteristic errors and it saw Novak take the lead at 6-3, with three championship points he served out the match to win his third Indian Wells title after a hard fought and thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory.
It has to be said I was somewhat surprised by the result of this match as for the most part Roger was the better player, despite a few lapses here and there. But in the end its testament again to Novak's champion qualities that he was able to win this title even though he wasn't playing his best tennis and didn't really start to fire until mid-way into the 2nd set. And throughout the tournament Novak's play was mixed in quality as there were some rounds were he was sloppy on serve, especially against Isner and even against the qualifier, Gonzalez and Cilic. But that's what the great champs do when they don't play their best they find a way to get the job done. So no doubt this title will give Djokovic much confidence for the rest of the season as it was the first year in his career since probably 2006 that he wasn't won a title going into the American hard court swing. And no doubt this will be a springboard for Djokovic to do well in Miami next week and also looking beyond to the clay court season.
As for Federer well despite his loss, he has played some superb and highly aggressive tennis this week and there were certainly alot of moments where it looked like it was going to come right for him. But I'm sure Fed will not be too disheartened by this defeat and it was still a great result and it sees him continue his impressive form and consistency in 2014, which will no doubt get better and I'm sure the time Wimbledon comes around, Roger will be a big threat again and will look reclaim his favourite trophy at the All England Club.
So that's it for my posts on the BNP Paribas Open which was given a terrific finale by the men (if not the ladies) and it now paves the way for the Sony Open in Miami, which is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. Andy Murray is the defending champion in Miami as he battled to lift the title last year against David Ferrer, so he has alot of points to defend this upcoming week and given his current ropey form, he has alot of work ahead of him if he is to have a chance to defend his title. Thankfully for Andy however he uses Miami as his training base, so it is a tournament where he has played some of his best tennis and hopefully he can use that to gain some inspiration in order to try and win a much needed title to get his season up and running. But whether or not Andy can win the title again this year remains in doubt, it would be great to see him do it or at least reach the final again, but time will tell on that one.
What we do know now is that the Sony Open draw is now out (as of 17.03.14 which is when I've updated this) and it isn't too kind for Andy as he may face Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals and Roger Federer in the semis! So I hate to say it but he may have to kiss his title defence goodbye. Up until the quarters though things aren't too bad though as Andy could play Lukas Kubot or Mathew Ebden in the 2nd round, Feliciano Lopez in the 3rd, whom beat he in Melbourne earlier this year. Although his possible 4th round opponent could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga which could be a very dangerous test for Andy, but he does have a good head to head against Tsonga so hopefully he can find the form to beat him again.
But its going to be mighty tough for Andy to defend his title in Miami given the draw and if he loses out in the quarter finals or before, then I hope he refocuses for the clay court season and does better there. And despite it all I think Andy could have a very good clay court season this year as over the last two years his poor run of form on clay was in part attributed toward his back injury. But Andy is now playing pain free after his surgery and while every one is set to write him off on the red dirt I think he has an excellent chance to prove himself on clay. And I'm sure he will try and go out of his way to do well this year given if he goes out early in Miami he will have plenty of points to make up during the clay court season, especially after missing the French Open last year. So while we have to wait and see how he get's on this week in Miami before we get to the red dirt.
Soooo that's it for now and I will report back once the Sony Open from Miaimi get's underway.
Till the next one bye for now.
So to start with the ladies final we had the World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska take on the 20th seed, Flavia Pennetta and Aga lead their head to head going into this match 4-2. However Pennetta looked determined to upset the odds as she made a strong start in the first set and got an early break to move ahead, but as the set continued Radwanska started to look in some discomfort as her knee, which was taped looked to be hampering her movement, and soon enough Pennetta got a double break to close the set. In the second set Aga's problem continued with her knee as she took a medical timeout to get it re-bandaged but it hardly helped her game as she struggled to move and Pennetta took full advantage as the errors kept piling up in Radwanska's game and she found herself a double break down. And despite one last ditch attempt to hold serve, Radwanska soon captiluated on serve and handed Pennetta the big title win of her career as she won the final in 6-2, 6-1.
It was a pity this match didn't deliver on its promise as the early stages in the first set looked good but it was just unfortunate that Radwanska's knee injury flared up. And in a way it was a reminder of Rafa's back injury in the Australian Open final, where once again a player who has gone through all the hard work to reach a big final, in the last match cannot compete as they would like to. So it was a shame for Aga to lose out on the chance of her first big title in some time especially after the letdown of coming so close in Melbourne earlier this year as well before she downed in the semis by Dominika Cibulkova. As for Flavia Pennetta well she deserves alot of credit for her title win and she has had a terrific week in the desert and will look to improve on her results as last year she showed great signs as she even reached her first major semi final at the US Open, so if she carries on like this 2014 could be a really bright year for her.
Now we move onto the men's final which was a heavyweight showdown between two of the greats in the game, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. And given their very tight head to head 17-15 in Roger's favour going into this match, it promised to be a real cracker. And the match itself certainly didn't disappoint as in the first set Roger came out firing on all cylinders and he produced sublime tennis as he broke an edgy looking Novak to move up 3-0 and he went on to confidently nab the first set. In the 2nd however, the errors started to creep into Fed's game and Nole fought back as he managed to fashion a break of his own and he went on to level the match at a set apiece. And in the 3rd set we were treated to a thrilling contest between both men as they raised their levels for the thrilled crowd on Stadium 1 and played some terrific tennis. However after a tense service game it was Roger that blinked first and he went down a break to Nole, but he still managed to keep it close by keeping to the single break. And when it came for Novak to serve for the title at 5-4, he got tight and was broken by Roger and then before we knew it, the match went into a tiebreak. And despite Roger's superb tiebreak record he unfortunately made some uncharacteristic errors and it saw Novak take the lead at 6-3, with three championship points he served out the match to win his third Indian Wells title after a hard fought and thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory.
It has to be said I was somewhat surprised by the result of this match as for the most part Roger was the better player, despite a few lapses here and there. But in the end its testament again to Novak's champion qualities that he was able to win this title even though he wasn't playing his best tennis and didn't really start to fire until mid-way into the 2nd set. And throughout the tournament Novak's play was mixed in quality as there were some rounds were he was sloppy on serve, especially against Isner and even against the qualifier, Gonzalez and Cilic. But that's what the great champs do when they don't play their best they find a way to get the job done. So no doubt this title will give Djokovic much confidence for the rest of the season as it was the first year in his career since probably 2006 that he wasn't won a title going into the American hard court swing. And no doubt this will be a springboard for Djokovic to do well in Miami next week and also looking beyond to the clay court season.
As for Federer well despite his loss, he has played some superb and highly aggressive tennis this week and there were certainly alot of moments where it looked like it was going to come right for him. But I'm sure Fed will not be too disheartened by this defeat and it was still a great result and it sees him continue his impressive form and consistency in 2014, which will no doubt get better and I'm sure the time Wimbledon comes around, Roger will be a big threat again and will look reclaim his favourite trophy at the All England Club.
So that's it for my posts on the BNP Paribas Open which was given a terrific finale by the men (if not the ladies) and it now paves the way for the Sony Open in Miami, which is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. Andy Murray is the defending champion in Miami as he battled to lift the title last year against David Ferrer, so he has alot of points to defend this upcoming week and given his current ropey form, he has alot of work ahead of him if he is to have a chance to defend his title. Thankfully for Andy however he uses Miami as his training base, so it is a tournament where he has played some of his best tennis and hopefully he can use that to gain some inspiration in order to try and win a much needed title to get his season up and running. But whether or not Andy can win the title again this year remains in doubt, it would be great to see him do it or at least reach the final again, but time will tell on that one.
What we do know now is that the Sony Open draw is now out (as of 17.03.14 which is when I've updated this) and it isn't too kind for Andy as he may face Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals and Roger Federer in the semis! So I hate to say it but he may have to kiss his title defence goodbye. Up until the quarters though things aren't too bad though as Andy could play Lukas Kubot or Mathew Ebden in the 2nd round, Feliciano Lopez in the 3rd, whom beat he in Melbourne earlier this year. Although his possible 4th round opponent could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga which could be a very dangerous test for Andy, but he does have a good head to head against Tsonga so hopefully he can find the form to beat him again.
But its going to be mighty tough for Andy to defend his title in Miami given the draw and if he loses out in the quarter finals or before, then I hope he refocuses for the clay court season and does better there. And despite it all I think Andy could have a very good clay court season this year as over the last two years his poor run of form on clay was in part attributed toward his back injury. But Andy is now playing pain free after his surgery and while every one is set to write him off on the red dirt I think he has an excellent chance to prove himself on clay. And I'm sure he will try and go out of his way to do well this year given if he goes out early in Miami he will have plenty of points to make up during the clay court season, especially after missing the French Open last year. So while we have to wait and see how he get's on this week in Miami before we get to the red dirt.
Soooo that's it for now and I will report back once the Sony Open from Miaimi get's underway.
Till the next one bye for now.
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 3: Getting down to the wire....
Right OK so its time for part 3 of my posts on the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells city in California and we are now getting to the business end of the tournament as I will cover the men's and ladies quarter and semi final matches.
So to start with the lasses and the last remaining quarter final in the ladies, which I didn't cover in the last post was between Flavia Pennetta and the American Sloane Stephens. And it was a real tight encounter as the match went the distance in the desert but it was experience that got Pennetta through in the end as she continued her fine form with a tough 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win, which saw her take her place in the semis. And now moving onto the semis, first up we had Li Na who faced off against Flavia Pennetta and it was another tight match, but despite Li being the top seed (with Serena Williams not playing in the tournament as Li Na is now No.2) Pennetta pulled off another stunning upset as she fought her way to victory to reach the biggest singles final of her career with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This is a great result for Pennetta who has had a real killer run this week having taken some big names out such as Sam Stosur, Sloane Stephens and now Li Na. But this is the biggest final of her career so it remains to be seen if she will have the nerve to close out the win in the big finale and it all hinges on the winner of the next match.
And this match was between Agnieszka Radwanska and the in form Romanian player, Simona Halep who capped the biggest title of her career earlier this year in Doha and the odds were in Halep's favour given that she had won their last two meetings. However Radwanska had other ideas as she came out playing very aggressive tennis and she outwitted her opponent in the first set as she broker to take the first set. In the 2nd set it was Halep's turn as she broke Radwanska to move ahead as the match looked to get to a decider but Aga once again broke back and fashioned a break of her own as she sealed her place in her first Indian Wells final with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
So this sets up the ladies final between Radwanska and Pennetta and looking at their head to head, Radwanska looks to be the favourite as she leads it 4-2. However head to heads can be decieving so we will just have to wait and see how it goes, but my money is on Radwanska as she has had more experience in bigger finals than Pennetta has. And even though their last encounters have always been won in straight sets I do think this could still be a tight one so I will go with Radwanska in three sets, but then I've been wrong before and Pennetta will definitely go in as the underdog so she will also have her chance. Whatever way it goes it promises to be quite an entertaining final given their contrast in styles as players.
So now we go onto the men's and I will start with the quarter finals and the first one was between Alexandr Dolgopolov who has had a real good run so far and he was up against the big serving Milos Raonic, who knocked out Andy Murray in the previous round. But it was the Dog who made the better start as he played some terrific free flowing tennis to flummox the big Canadian as he got a perfect read on the big guy's serves and broke him to go ahead in the first set. In the 2nd Raonic got a break but it wasn't long before Dolgopolov wrestled it back and he went on to break Raonic and won the match in straight sets to reach his first ever 1000 Masters series semi final in 6-3, 6-4. Roger Federer next up continued his impressive form as he took on the giant Kevin Anderson, who knocked out Stan Wawrinka and denied the crowd an all Swiss quarter final. But Roger proved to be more than good enough to defeat the big South African and after a tight first set, he dismissed Anderson in the 2nd as he won the match convincingly in 7-5, 6-1.
Next we had John Isner, the American no.1 and the second tallest player on the men's tour who took on the tempermental but talented, Ernests Gulbis. But big John was able to rely on his big powerful serve once again as he battled past Gulbis in two tight sets as he won them on two tiebreaks, which saw him reach his second Indian Wells semi final with a 7-6, 7-6 score. And the last quarter final was between Novak Djokovic, the former champion and Julien Benneteau the Frenchman, who has enjoyed a good run in the desert this week. But the Frenchman had no answer for Nole his time as the Serb dismissed with little effort as Novak defeated Benneteau in just over an hour with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Which brings me onto the semi finals, and the first was between Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov. This was an intruiging match up as they had only played once before and Roger won in on a retiral four years ago in Basel, his home town. And despite a fairly tight start from both men, the match soon unravlled for the Dog who soon found his erratic game had now answer for Roger's might as he got broken in the first set. And in the 2nd, Dolgopolov's errors increased dramatically as his erratic serve got worse and first serve percentage dropped way down to 35%! (all of a sudden Andy Murray's doesn't look too bad!). And in the end Roger outclassed the Dog as he put in a sublime serving performance in the 3rd and he sealed the win in 6-3, 6-1 to reach another final in the desert with a chance to lift his fifth title there.
And the last match of the day was between Novak Djokovic and John Isner, which proved to be a much tougher and tighter affair. Nole made a good start, but he ended up getting himself into hot water at 4-5, as he went three break points down to hand set points to the big Yank, but he saved them all and held on. Nole soon then managed to get a break on Isner's serve and he closed out the first set and in the 2nd set he managed to get another break, which saw him serve for the match at 5-4. However Nole played a poor service game and Isner broke back to go 5-5, but Isner handed the initiative to Novak once more, only for him to hand it straight back and the match headed into a tiebreak, which Isner won comfortably to level the match. And despite the danger of another upset looming as Isner beat Djokovic two years ago at the same stage in Indian Wells, Nole this time managed to avoid the danger and he went on to wear down the big guy and broke twice to secure his place in the final with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 victory.
So this sets up another potentially exciting final in the desert between two of the world's all time greats in Roger and Nole and it promises to be a cracker. But who will win????? Well for me I have to go with Federer as he has been in great form all week and he looks like he is getting back to his best and he hasn't dropped a set all week. Roger will also have taken much confidence from defeating Novak in the semi finals in Dubai two weeks ago and he has already beaten four top 10 players this year and Nole has yet to beat even one! Novak on the other hand certainly has a chance to win but he will have to play better than he has done all week and certainly better than he did against Isner as he cannot afford to hand service breaks to Roger, who will take them and run. So I think it will be a tight one and it promises to be a great match but I think Roger will win in three sets to claim his fifth Indian Wells title, but we will soon find out however it goes.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with the results of the finals of the mens and ladies.
Until the next one see you later.
So to start with the lasses and the last remaining quarter final in the ladies, which I didn't cover in the last post was between Flavia Pennetta and the American Sloane Stephens. And it was a real tight encounter as the match went the distance in the desert but it was experience that got Pennetta through in the end as she continued her fine form with a tough 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win, which saw her take her place in the semis. And now moving onto the semis, first up we had Li Na who faced off against Flavia Pennetta and it was another tight match, but despite Li being the top seed (with Serena Williams not playing in the tournament as Li Na is now No.2) Pennetta pulled off another stunning upset as she fought her way to victory to reach the biggest singles final of her career with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This is a great result for Pennetta who has had a real killer run this week having taken some big names out such as Sam Stosur, Sloane Stephens and now Li Na. But this is the biggest final of her career so it remains to be seen if she will have the nerve to close out the win in the big finale and it all hinges on the winner of the next match.
And this match was between Agnieszka Radwanska and the in form Romanian player, Simona Halep who capped the biggest title of her career earlier this year in Doha and the odds were in Halep's favour given that she had won their last two meetings. However Radwanska had other ideas as she came out playing very aggressive tennis and she outwitted her opponent in the first set as she broker to take the first set. In the 2nd set it was Halep's turn as she broke Radwanska to move ahead as the match looked to get to a decider but Aga once again broke back and fashioned a break of her own as she sealed her place in her first Indian Wells final with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
So this sets up the ladies final between Radwanska and Pennetta and looking at their head to head, Radwanska looks to be the favourite as she leads it 4-2. However head to heads can be decieving so we will just have to wait and see how it goes, but my money is on Radwanska as she has had more experience in bigger finals than Pennetta has. And even though their last encounters have always been won in straight sets I do think this could still be a tight one so I will go with Radwanska in three sets, but then I've been wrong before and Pennetta will definitely go in as the underdog so she will also have her chance. Whatever way it goes it promises to be quite an entertaining final given their contrast in styles as players.
So now we go onto the men's and I will start with the quarter finals and the first one was between Alexandr Dolgopolov who has had a real good run so far and he was up against the big serving Milos Raonic, who knocked out Andy Murray in the previous round. But it was the Dog who made the better start as he played some terrific free flowing tennis to flummox the big Canadian as he got a perfect read on the big guy's serves and broke him to go ahead in the first set. In the 2nd Raonic got a break but it wasn't long before Dolgopolov wrestled it back and he went on to break Raonic and won the match in straight sets to reach his first ever 1000 Masters series semi final in 6-3, 6-4. Roger Federer next up continued his impressive form as he took on the giant Kevin Anderson, who knocked out Stan Wawrinka and denied the crowd an all Swiss quarter final. But Roger proved to be more than good enough to defeat the big South African and after a tight first set, he dismissed Anderson in the 2nd as he won the match convincingly in 7-5, 6-1.
Next we had John Isner, the American no.1 and the second tallest player on the men's tour who took on the tempermental but talented, Ernests Gulbis. But big John was able to rely on his big powerful serve once again as he battled past Gulbis in two tight sets as he won them on two tiebreaks, which saw him reach his second Indian Wells semi final with a 7-6, 7-6 score. And the last quarter final was between Novak Djokovic, the former champion and Julien Benneteau the Frenchman, who has enjoyed a good run in the desert this week. But the Frenchman had no answer for Nole his time as the Serb dismissed with little effort as Novak defeated Benneteau in just over an hour with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Which brings me onto the semi finals, and the first was between Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov. This was an intruiging match up as they had only played once before and Roger won in on a retiral four years ago in Basel, his home town. And despite a fairly tight start from both men, the match soon unravlled for the Dog who soon found his erratic game had now answer for Roger's might as he got broken in the first set. And in the 2nd, Dolgopolov's errors increased dramatically as his erratic serve got worse and first serve percentage dropped way down to 35%! (all of a sudden Andy Murray's doesn't look too bad!). And in the end Roger outclassed the Dog as he put in a sublime serving performance in the 3rd and he sealed the win in 6-3, 6-1 to reach another final in the desert with a chance to lift his fifth title there.
And the last match of the day was between Novak Djokovic and John Isner, which proved to be a much tougher and tighter affair. Nole made a good start, but he ended up getting himself into hot water at 4-5, as he went three break points down to hand set points to the big Yank, but he saved them all and held on. Nole soon then managed to get a break on Isner's serve and he closed out the first set and in the 2nd set he managed to get another break, which saw him serve for the match at 5-4. However Nole played a poor service game and Isner broke back to go 5-5, but Isner handed the initiative to Novak once more, only for him to hand it straight back and the match headed into a tiebreak, which Isner won comfortably to level the match. And despite the danger of another upset looming as Isner beat Djokovic two years ago at the same stage in Indian Wells, Nole this time managed to avoid the danger and he went on to wear down the big guy and broke twice to secure his place in the final with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 victory.
So this sets up another potentially exciting final in the desert between two of the world's all time greats in Roger and Nole and it promises to be a cracker. But who will win????? Well for me I have to go with Federer as he has been in great form all week and he looks like he is getting back to his best and he hasn't dropped a set all week. Roger will also have taken much confidence from defeating Novak in the semi finals in Dubai two weeks ago and he has already beaten four top 10 players this year and Nole has yet to beat even one! Novak on the other hand certainly has a chance to win but he will have to play better than he has done all week and certainly better than he did against Isner as he cannot afford to hand service breaks to Roger, who will take them and run. So I think it will be a tight one and it promises to be a great match but I think Roger will win in three sets to claim his fifth Indian Wells title, but we will soon find out however it goes.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with the results of the finals of the mens and ladies.
Until the next one see you later.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 2: Upsets and more upsets and letdowns...
Right OK so here is part 2 of my look at the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, which will cover the latest action of the ladies and men's event which is the first Premier Mandatory (WTA) and 1000 Masters (ATP) level tournaments of the year (they are the biggest titles outside the slams and the year end championships). So let's gie it a look...
So to start with the ladies we had a few upsets starting with the defending champion Maria Sharapova who's had a rather slow comeback just like Andy Murray so far this year, as she suffered a surprise defeat to the Italian player, Camila Ciorgi, who stunned the Russian in 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. This certainly shows that Maria is making pretty slow progress in her comeback so far and similar to Andy it may take her time before she will manage to get herself back on top of her game. Next up we had the former champion and last year's finalist, Caroline Wozniacki suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the back in form Jelena Jankovic who thrashed the Dane in 6-3, 6-1. Petra Kvitova also fell at the hands of the pint sized Dominika Cibulkova who defeated Petra with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win. And Sam Stosur also fell to the Italian player who has recently shown good form again, Flavia Pennetta, as Pennetta battled to victory in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
As for other matches we had Simona Halep, who has been in red hot form lately who has made her way into the semi finals having battled past Luci Safarova and Eugenie Bouchard both in three sets before dismissing the Aussie player, Casey Dellacqua in just 6-2, 6-2. Halep has made an amazing meteoric rise over the last 12 months and she already won titles on all surfaces and even remarkably she has won the final of every tournament she has reached (seven so far and counting) so for me she remains a favourite to win the title or at least reach the final. Agnieszka Radwanska who has shown good form again of late also managed to battle her to the semi finals as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in a tough three set scrap in 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Li Na, the current Australian Open champion had a rematch of her final with Dominika Cibulkova only this time it was a more even fight as both players took it the distance but it was Li Na who triumphed again with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 scoreline. Li Na also for me remains a favourite to win the title given her current form she has a good chance of winning as well so we will see how it goes.
So moving onto the men's matches first up we had Andy Murray (and yep I will dedicate a few paragraphs to this one!) who in the 3rd round faced a qualifier, Jiri Veseley from the Czeck Republic, being 6' 6" resembled Del Potro and he had a serve to match. In the match Andy was the clear favourite to win however despite a strong start in the first set taking a 3-0 lead he then went on to surrender his break and before we knew it was a tiebreak and Andy lost it 7-2. In the 2nd set Andy had to come from a break down to level the match and again he did the same in the 3rd where he eventually managed to wear down the talented yet inexperienced Veseley after a tough near three hour battle in 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. This has to be one of the most shocking displays I have ever seen from Andy in all the times I have watched his matches as his serve was horrendously off target and he had to fight so many times from a down position in the match. And in the end the only thing that really got him through was his mental resilience and experience to hang in there.
Which brings me onto Andy's 4th round match which was between Milos Raonic, whom he has had his struggles with in the past as the big serving Canadian lead their head to head 2-1. However Andy seemed to improve on his poor effort in the previous round as he made a confident solid start and broke Raonic to take the first set and he continued his fine form in the second set even though he lost it. But in the 3rd Andy took the ascendancy as he got an early break, but unfortunately he couldn't hold onto it and it was not long before Raonic was able to fashion a break of his own against the increasingly fragile Murray serve and he went on to serve out the match to produce another upset for the British No.1 in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. While the result was by no means a disgrace, what was so poor about the match was Andy's capitulation on serve in the crucial moments of the final set. And once again it really does highlight the vulnerability of his service games, as he cannot appear to get his first serve percentage high enough (usually around the 50% mark) and his 2nd serve remains the biggest Achilles heel in his game as it hovers around the 70-80 mph mark which is just too slow.
So this match did show a few worrying signs for Andy and yet again he has failed to beat a player ranked below him and he is even yet to beat a player ranked inside the top 20 never mind the top 10 this year. However I guess we still have to take into consideration that Andy will take time to fully recover his form and I do believe he will hopefully at some point later this year get it back. And it also has to be said that Indian Wells is a tournament that hasn't been kind to him over the years as he struggled badly there in the past. But hopefully with the Sony Open in Miami coming Andy will enjoy better luck as he plays well there (usually!) and he uses Miami as his base training camp away from home (or his home from home). And in Miami he will also meet up with Ivan Lendl again so hopefully they can use that time to work on things before he is set to defend his title. Can he???? Hmmm seems doubtful but we shall see.
Right as for other matches, Rafael Nadal after winning his tough match against Radek Stepanek, fell foul to the biggest upset of the tournament as he was knocked out by the in form Alexandr Dologopolov in the 3rd round. The dog (his nickname!) hadn't even taken a set off Rafa before this match in their previous meetings, but here Rafa struggled on serve in the match and there were times were it was a reminder of his painful defeat in the final of Melbourne as the Ukranian knocked out the defending champ in 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Rafa certainly did show signs of a lack confidence again in this match as he appeared to be still haunted by his defeat in the final of the Australian open and he was even leaving the stadium trying to hold back the tears. Rafa will of course need to regroup for Miami where we will see how he favours there as he hasn't played there for two years.
Next up we had Roger Federer, who so far has shown great form in the last few weeks as he won his first title of the year in Dubai and so far he has confidently progressed into the quarter finals. In his 3rd round match Roger faced the tricky Russian, Dimitri Tursinov who he fought past to win their match in 7-6, 7-6. And in the fourth round, Roger overcame another old foe, Tommy Haas, however he managed to dispatch the German with fair ease as he beat him in 6-4, 6-4. This sees Roger looking good for the rest of the tournament and I actually still pick him as a strong favourite to win the title again. Then we have the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic who has been in pretty good form so far in the desert, although he suffered a mid match dip in his 3rd round match against the qualifier, Alejandro Gonzalez, as he lost the 2nd set, but he regrouped well to seal the win in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. And in the 4th round Nole faced his first real danger opponent in Marin Cilic, who has been in great form of late as he recently also hired Goran Ivanesivic as his coach. Cilic came out the blocks strong and won the first set in 20 minutes, but after that Novak regrouped to level the match and he went on to break Cilic again in the 3rd to seal his place in the quarter finals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.
In other matches on the men's a few more upsets, the biggest being Stan Wawrinka as his perfect start to the season came to an end as he played the South African giant, Kevin Anderson, and the big guy served Stan off the court for the most part. Stan took a set but in the 3rd set he mistimed his shots and his serves and it allowed for Anderson to take a double break to seal the deal to reach the quarter finals with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 win. Grigor Dimitrov, who has in top form lately, also was upset by his close new rival, Ernests Gulbis, as the two of them did battle together, only this time it was Gulbis who sealed the win and reach the 4th round in 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Gulbis then went on to beat Tomas Berdych's conqueror, Roberto Bautista-Agut after a tough three set match in 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. The Frenchman, Julienne Benneateau also put out another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter finals with a 6-3, 7-6 score. And lastly John Isner, a former finalist here two years ago, managed to edge Fernando Verdasco in a tight encounter with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
So this sets up and the men's quarter finals and also the ladies quarters and semis and I will be back with more action soon as we get to real business end of the tournament in the desert.
Until the next one bye for now.
So to start with the ladies we had a few upsets starting with the defending champion Maria Sharapova who's had a rather slow comeback just like Andy Murray so far this year, as she suffered a surprise defeat to the Italian player, Camila Ciorgi, who stunned the Russian in 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. This certainly shows that Maria is making pretty slow progress in her comeback so far and similar to Andy it may take her time before she will manage to get herself back on top of her game. Next up we had the former champion and last year's finalist, Caroline Wozniacki suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the back in form Jelena Jankovic who thrashed the Dane in 6-3, 6-1. Petra Kvitova also fell at the hands of the pint sized Dominika Cibulkova who defeated Petra with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win. And Sam Stosur also fell to the Italian player who has recently shown good form again, Flavia Pennetta, as Pennetta battled to victory in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
As for other matches we had Simona Halep, who has been in red hot form lately who has made her way into the semi finals having battled past Luci Safarova and Eugenie Bouchard both in three sets before dismissing the Aussie player, Casey Dellacqua in just 6-2, 6-2. Halep has made an amazing meteoric rise over the last 12 months and she already won titles on all surfaces and even remarkably she has won the final of every tournament she has reached (seven so far and counting) so for me she remains a favourite to win the title or at least reach the final. Agnieszka Radwanska who has shown good form again of late also managed to battle her to the semi finals as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in a tough three set scrap in 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Li Na, the current Australian Open champion had a rematch of her final with Dominika Cibulkova only this time it was a more even fight as both players took it the distance but it was Li Na who triumphed again with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 scoreline. Li Na also for me remains a favourite to win the title given her current form she has a good chance of winning as well so we will see how it goes.
So moving onto the men's matches first up we had Andy Murray (and yep I will dedicate a few paragraphs to this one!) who in the 3rd round faced a qualifier, Jiri Veseley from the Czeck Republic, being 6' 6" resembled Del Potro and he had a serve to match. In the match Andy was the clear favourite to win however despite a strong start in the first set taking a 3-0 lead he then went on to surrender his break and before we knew it was a tiebreak and Andy lost it 7-2. In the 2nd set Andy had to come from a break down to level the match and again he did the same in the 3rd where he eventually managed to wear down the talented yet inexperienced Veseley after a tough near three hour battle in 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. This has to be one of the most shocking displays I have ever seen from Andy in all the times I have watched his matches as his serve was horrendously off target and he had to fight so many times from a down position in the match. And in the end the only thing that really got him through was his mental resilience and experience to hang in there.
Which brings me onto Andy's 4th round match which was between Milos Raonic, whom he has had his struggles with in the past as the big serving Canadian lead their head to head 2-1. However Andy seemed to improve on his poor effort in the previous round as he made a confident solid start and broke Raonic to take the first set and he continued his fine form in the second set even though he lost it. But in the 3rd Andy took the ascendancy as he got an early break, but unfortunately he couldn't hold onto it and it was not long before Raonic was able to fashion a break of his own against the increasingly fragile Murray serve and he went on to serve out the match to produce another upset for the British No.1 in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. While the result was by no means a disgrace, what was so poor about the match was Andy's capitulation on serve in the crucial moments of the final set. And once again it really does highlight the vulnerability of his service games, as he cannot appear to get his first serve percentage high enough (usually around the 50% mark) and his 2nd serve remains the biggest Achilles heel in his game as it hovers around the 70-80 mph mark which is just too slow.
So this match did show a few worrying signs for Andy and yet again he has failed to beat a player ranked below him and he is even yet to beat a player ranked inside the top 20 never mind the top 10 this year. However I guess we still have to take into consideration that Andy will take time to fully recover his form and I do believe he will hopefully at some point later this year get it back. And it also has to be said that Indian Wells is a tournament that hasn't been kind to him over the years as he struggled badly there in the past. But hopefully with the Sony Open in Miami coming Andy will enjoy better luck as he plays well there (usually!) and he uses Miami as his base training camp away from home (or his home from home). And in Miami he will also meet up with Ivan Lendl again so hopefully they can use that time to work on things before he is set to defend his title. Can he???? Hmmm seems doubtful but we shall see.
Right as for other matches, Rafael Nadal after winning his tough match against Radek Stepanek, fell foul to the biggest upset of the tournament as he was knocked out by the in form Alexandr Dologopolov in the 3rd round. The dog (his nickname!) hadn't even taken a set off Rafa before this match in their previous meetings, but here Rafa struggled on serve in the match and there were times were it was a reminder of his painful defeat in the final of Melbourne as the Ukranian knocked out the defending champ in 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Rafa certainly did show signs of a lack confidence again in this match as he appeared to be still haunted by his defeat in the final of the Australian open and he was even leaving the stadium trying to hold back the tears. Rafa will of course need to regroup for Miami where we will see how he favours there as he hasn't played there for two years.
Next up we had Roger Federer, who so far has shown great form in the last few weeks as he won his first title of the year in Dubai and so far he has confidently progressed into the quarter finals. In his 3rd round match Roger faced the tricky Russian, Dimitri Tursinov who he fought past to win their match in 7-6, 7-6. And in the fourth round, Roger overcame another old foe, Tommy Haas, however he managed to dispatch the German with fair ease as he beat him in 6-4, 6-4. This sees Roger looking good for the rest of the tournament and I actually still pick him as a strong favourite to win the title again. Then we have the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic who has been in pretty good form so far in the desert, although he suffered a mid match dip in his 3rd round match against the qualifier, Alejandro Gonzalez, as he lost the 2nd set, but he regrouped well to seal the win in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. And in the 4th round Nole faced his first real danger opponent in Marin Cilic, who has been in great form of late as he recently also hired Goran Ivanesivic as his coach. Cilic came out the blocks strong and won the first set in 20 minutes, but after that Novak regrouped to level the match and he went on to break Cilic again in the 3rd to seal his place in the quarter finals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.
In other matches on the men's a few more upsets, the biggest being Stan Wawrinka as his perfect start to the season came to an end as he played the South African giant, Kevin Anderson, and the big guy served Stan off the court for the most part. Stan took a set but in the 3rd set he mistimed his shots and his serves and it allowed for Anderson to take a double break to seal the deal to reach the quarter finals with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 win. Grigor Dimitrov, who has in top form lately, also was upset by his close new rival, Ernests Gulbis, as the two of them did battle together, only this time it was Gulbis who sealed the win and reach the 4th round in 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Gulbis then went on to beat Tomas Berdych's conqueror, Roberto Bautista-Agut after a tough three set match in 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. The Frenchman, Julienne Benneateau also put out another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter finals with a 6-3, 7-6 score. And lastly John Isner, a former finalist here two years ago, managed to edge Fernando Verdasco in a tight encounter with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
So this sets up and the men's quarter finals and also the ladies quarters and semis and I will be back with more action soon as we get to real business end of the tournament in the desert.
Until the next one bye for now.
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Indian Wells Part 1: The desert showdown begins...
Right so I thought it was high time I did a post on the first joint ATP/WTA big event of the year outside the grand slams, which is the BNP Paribas Open from the desert at Indian Wells in Califorinia, where its baking hot and the sun probably shines all the time (or about as much as it rains here!). So let's have a look at the action so far...
Right starting with the ladies we've had one or two upsets, starting with Victoria Azarenka, the former 2012 champion, who got off to the worst possible start as she suffered a shock loss to the American, Lauren Davis. Vika started off horribly in the first set as she suffered a bagel set, however she fought back in the 2nd and pushed play to a tiebreak, but she soon came undone as she struggled with a foot injury and it was the young American who won the match in 6-0, 7-6. Angelique Kerber was another big casualty in the desert as she lost out to a Spanish qualifier, Maria Teresa Torror Flor in a tight three set battle, as the Spaniard won 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Sabine Lisicki, last year's Wimbledon finalist also suffered an early defeat Alexandra Wozniak of Canada, who won in 7-5, 1-6, 7-6.
Other seeded players however faired better such as the defending champion Maria Sharapova, who defeated Julia Goerges of Germany with ease in 6-1, 6-4. The newly crowned Australian open champ, Li Na also won her match against her compatriot Zheng Jie, as she had to come from a break down in the 2nd set to win her match in 6-1, 7-5. Sam Stosur also defeated former French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone easily with a straight set 6-2, 6-3 victory. Caroline Wozniacki who was also a former champion and last year's finalist also kept her strong record going in the desert as she trounced Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia in 6-1, 6-3. Sara Errani also raced her way into the 3rd round as she hammered Sharon Fichman of Canadia dropping only two games to her win in 6-1, 6-1. Jelena Jankovic also a former Indians Wells champ won her first match against Yvonne Meusburger in 6-3, 6-1 to continue her good form. Petra Kvitova who has been very much up and down in her form lately, managed to come through her match impressively as she dismissed the American Coco Vandeweghe with a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline. And lastly Agnieszka Radwanska got off to a good start after she scored a comfortable win against Heather Watson in 6-4, 6-3.
As for the Williams sisters well they continue their boycott of the event at Indian Wells after a controversy with an audience they had back in 2001 where the crowd booed Venus who withdrew minutes before her scheduled semi final with her sister Serena. After this Serena was booed throughout the final that year against Kim Clijsters and since then the Williams sisters have never played there again. The Williams sisters also claimed the crowd were being blatantly racist to them as well at the time, so it remains to be seen if they will ever return to the desert but it seems unlikely they ever will. The WTA have also made a special concession for the sisters on this tournament given that all the Premier Mandatory titles are indeed mandatory, this is the one they are exempt from and they won't lose any ranking points for not playing.
Now the for the men's starting with Andy Murray who took on Rafa's conqueror two years ago at Wimbledon, Lukas Rosol. Rosol got off to a stronger start as he broke Andy twice to move ahead and take the first set, despite Andy breaking back. In the 2nd set however Andy fought back from going an immediate break down at the start and went on to break Rosol himself and he soon levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set, Andy took a swift lead as Rosol's all or nothing game chalked too many unforced errors and in the end Andy served it out to reach the 3rd round after a trikcy 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. While it wasn't the best start, Andy did well in pulling it back from Rosol, who simply made too many mistakes to keep up with Andy as he clocked 51 unforced errors in total. Andy however has a real tough draw ahead of him as he could face Milos Raonic in the fourth round, Rafa in the quarters and either Roger or Stan Wawrinka in the semis. So he has alot of work ahead of him before he can come even anywhere near the final and personally I think it will be doubtful he can win the title, but just wait and see.
Next up Rafa who is the defending champion had a real stern test in his first match against Radek Stepanek. Rafa appeared to be at times a bit uncomfortable on serve as he served eight double faults in the match and he lost the first set going down a double break. In the 2nd set however he fought back and broke Stepy and levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set Rafa faced a real scare as he had to save three break points on his own serve at 2-3, which he did to level 3-3. And at 5-5, Rafa made the vital break to move ahead of Stepanek and serve it out, which he did to reach the 3rd round with a tough 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win. Well first match scrapes don't come closer than this one and Rafa really had to dig deep in the 3rd set to rescue his own serve, but he did what he always does and fight like a great champ. And from here in the season Rafa has alot of points to defend from last year and the luxury of the points he accumulated from last year is over so there is more hard work ahead for him.
Next up we had the Swiss fellas, with Roger Federer who made a confident start against the Frenchman, Paul Henri Mathieu and despite going being broken back in the 2nd set, he sealed the tiebreaker to win the match in 6-2, 7-6. It has to be said that Roger is starting to look pretty good again this year and it looks like his appointment of Stefan Edberg is paying off, especially after his victory last week in Dubai. And for me he remains one of the favourites to win the title here again in Indian Wells. And then there was Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss No.1, and reigning Australian open champion, who also made a strong start as he dismissed the giant Croatian, Ivo Karlovic in just over an hour with a convincing 6-3, 7-5 win. On the basis of this performance it looks like Stan is set to do some serious damage this year and he is looking pretty confident and he also remains a firm favourite to win the title here at Indian Wells.
And as for the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic was up against Victor Hanescu in a rather flat match which did see Nole struggle a little with his serve as he had to save several break points in the first set. However Nole went on to confidently close out the first set in the tibreaker 7-1 and he went to secure a double break to win the 2nd set and match 7-6, 6-2. This was perhaps a slightly edgy start for Nole but it sees him in good form and he should go deep into the tournament, although I'm still not entirely convinced that he will win it but we shall see.
In other matches we had Tommy Haas who beat Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to reach the 3rd round in 6-3, 6-4. Milos Raonic was made to work ahead to battle his way past another Frenchman, Eduardo Roger-Vasselin in 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Gael Monfils on the other hand breezed his way into the 3rd round as he swept aside Sergei Stakhovsky in 6-2, 6-4. Jerzy Janowicz, the big bean Pole on the other hand lost out to Alejandro Falla of Colombia after a tough three set match as the Colombian previaled in 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. And lastly Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine has set up another clash with Rafa as he beat the American player, Tim Smyzeck in 7-6, 6-4.
So that's it for now more will follow with the results of the 3rd round and maybe 4th round matches for the men's and ladies.
So until the next one bye for now.
Right starting with the ladies we've had one or two upsets, starting with Victoria Azarenka, the former 2012 champion, who got off to the worst possible start as she suffered a shock loss to the American, Lauren Davis. Vika started off horribly in the first set as she suffered a bagel set, however she fought back in the 2nd and pushed play to a tiebreak, but she soon came undone as she struggled with a foot injury and it was the young American who won the match in 6-0, 7-6. Angelique Kerber was another big casualty in the desert as she lost out to a Spanish qualifier, Maria Teresa Torror Flor in a tight three set battle, as the Spaniard won 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. Sabine Lisicki, last year's Wimbledon finalist also suffered an early defeat Alexandra Wozniak of Canada, who won in 7-5, 1-6, 7-6.
Other seeded players however faired better such as the defending champion Maria Sharapova, who defeated Julia Goerges of Germany with ease in 6-1, 6-4. The newly crowned Australian open champ, Li Na also won her match against her compatriot Zheng Jie, as she had to come from a break down in the 2nd set to win her match in 6-1, 7-5. Sam Stosur also defeated former French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone easily with a straight set 6-2, 6-3 victory. Caroline Wozniacki who was also a former champion and last year's finalist also kept her strong record going in the desert as she trounced Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia in 6-1, 6-3. Sara Errani also raced her way into the 3rd round as she hammered Sharon Fichman of Canadia dropping only two games to her win in 6-1, 6-1. Jelena Jankovic also a former Indians Wells champ won her first match against Yvonne Meusburger in 6-3, 6-1 to continue her good form. Petra Kvitova who has been very much up and down in her form lately, managed to come through her match impressively as she dismissed the American Coco Vandeweghe with a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline. And lastly Agnieszka Radwanska got off to a good start after she scored a comfortable win against Heather Watson in 6-4, 6-3.
As for the Williams sisters well they continue their boycott of the event at Indian Wells after a controversy with an audience they had back in 2001 where the crowd booed Venus who withdrew minutes before her scheduled semi final with her sister Serena. After this Serena was booed throughout the final that year against Kim Clijsters and since then the Williams sisters have never played there again. The Williams sisters also claimed the crowd were being blatantly racist to them as well at the time, so it remains to be seen if they will ever return to the desert but it seems unlikely they ever will. The WTA have also made a special concession for the sisters on this tournament given that all the Premier Mandatory titles are indeed mandatory, this is the one they are exempt from and they won't lose any ranking points for not playing.
Now the for the men's starting with Andy Murray who took on Rafa's conqueror two years ago at Wimbledon, Lukas Rosol. Rosol got off to a stronger start as he broke Andy twice to move ahead and take the first set, despite Andy breaking back. In the 2nd set however Andy fought back from going an immediate break down at the start and went on to break Rosol himself and he soon levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set, Andy took a swift lead as Rosol's all or nothing game chalked too many unforced errors and in the end Andy served it out to reach the 3rd round after a trikcy 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. While it wasn't the best start, Andy did well in pulling it back from Rosol, who simply made too many mistakes to keep up with Andy as he clocked 51 unforced errors in total. Andy however has a real tough draw ahead of him as he could face Milos Raonic in the fourth round, Rafa in the quarters and either Roger or Stan Wawrinka in the semis. So he has alot of work ahead of him before he can come even anywhere near the final and personally I think it will be doubtful he can win the title, but just wait and see.
Next up Rafa who is the defending champion had a real stern test in his first match against Radek Stepanek. Rafa appeared to be at times a bit uncomfortable on serve as he served eight double faults in the match and he lost the first set going down a double break. In the 2nd set however he fought back and broke Stepy and levelled the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set Rafa faced a real scare as he had to save three break points on his own serve at 2-3, which he did to level 3-3. And at 5-5, Rafa made the vital break to move ahead of Stepanek and serve it out, which he did to reach the 3rd round with a tough 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win. Well first match scrapes don't come closer than this one and Rafa really had to dig deep in the 3rd set to rescue his own serve, but he did what he always does and fight like a great champ. And from here in the season Rafa has alot of points to defend from last year and the luxury of the points he accumulated from last year is over so there is more hard work ahead for him.
Next up we had the Swiss fellas, with Roger Federer who made a confident start against the Frenchman, Paul Henri Mathieu and despite going being broken back in the 2nd set, he sealed the tiebreaker to win the match in 6-2, 7-6. It has to be said that Roger is starting to look pretty good again this year and it looks like his appointment of Stefan Edberg is paying off, especially after his victory last week in Dubai. And for me he remains one of the favourites to win the title here again in Indian Wells. And then there was Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss No.1, and reigning Australian open champion, who also made a strong start as he dismissed the giant Croatian, Ivo Karlovic in just over an hour with a convincing 6-3, 7-5 win. On the basis of this performance it looks like Stan is set to do some serious damage this year and he is looking pretty confident and he also remains a firm favourite to win the title here at Indian Wells.
And as for the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic was up against Victor Hanescu in a rather flat match which did see Nole struggle a little with his serve as he had to save several break points in the first set. However Nole went on to confidently close out the first set in the tibreaker 7-1 and he went to secure a double break to win the 2nd set and match 7-6, 6-2. This was perhaps a slightly edgy start for Nole but it sees him in good form and he should go deep into the tournament, although I'm still not entirely convinced that he will win it but we shall see.
In other matches we had Tommy Haas who beat Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to reach the 3rd round in 6-3, 6-4. Milos Raonic was made to work ahead to battle his way past another Frenchman, Eduardo Roger-Vasselin in 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Gael Monfils on the other hand breezed his way into the 3rd round as he swept aside Sergei Stakhovsky in 6-2, 6-4. Jerzy Janowicz, the big bean Pole on the other hand lost out to Alejandro Falla of Colombia after a tough three set match as the Colombian previaled in 6-3, 2-6, 7-6. And lastly Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine has set up another clash with Rafa as he beat the American player, Tim Smyzeck in 7-6, 6-4.
So that's it for now more will follow with the results of the 3rd round and maybe 4th round matches for the men's and ladies.
So until the next one bye for now.
Monday, 17 February 2014
Andy's mend and slow comeback
Well OK here's another tennis post although this one isn't about a tournament as such as it is more about the comeback of Andy Murray to the tennis tour in 2014. And there has been alot of speculation as to how Andy would come back from his back surgery from last year, with his last match being an impressive victory for Great Britain in the Davis cup last September, which secured their place in the World Group.
And with Andy making his return to the tour season this year, there was alot of surmising as to whether Andy could make the amazing comeback that Rafa did. Rafa who was out for 7 months with a knee injury came back in 2013 stronger than ever and he won 10 titles, which included 2 grand slams at the French and the US Open and as well as 5 Masters titles and he put together an incredible 22 match winning streak on hard courts, which marked his best ever hard court season. However Andy's comeback has been quite different from Rafa's and it has been much slower in progress, as Rafa sprung back into action pretty fast and enjoyed great success, Andy has had much the opposite.
At the start of the season Andy returned in Doha as he struggled to get anything going there and he fell to Florian Mayer in the 2nd second in 3 sets. Admittedly Andy looked a step slow and he was said to have been a bit sore after the surgery and he needed to give himself time to get more in shape. However when the Australian open came around, expectations were raised higher as Andy looked to try and win his maiden title down under. But ultimately Andy came undone against Roger Federer as he lost to him in the quarter finals after battling over four sets. Now this given the fact Andy had just returned to the tour was quite impressive and Andy made a brave fightback in the 3rd set, having gone two sets and a break down, he somehow managed to dig deep enough to claw his way back into the match and take only his second ever tiebreak off Federer to nab the set. Andy also continued to fight hard in the 4th set but ultimately all Rog had to do was wear Andy done and he did just that in the end. Despite that though there were still plenty of positives for Andy to take from Melbourne despite his loss, he still managed to make the last eight and that was a good effort in itself.
Next up Andy played in the Davis cup as Great Britain faced the stern test of taking on the USA on their homeland in San Diego. And the Yanks who were keen to try and derail Andy by playing the tie on clay, his weakest surface, in the end backfired as Andy came through the tie in fine style as he trounced Donald Young in straight sets in the first round rubber, and James Ward upset the odds and defeated the US No.1, Sam Querrey in five sets to take the 2-0 lead. The Bryan Brothers kept the Americans hopes all alive by winning the doubles, but Andy then fought his way past Sam Querrey in four sets to clinch the tie for Great Britain. It signalled that Andy's form was starting to return and he looked to be in good shape for the remaining season.
After this Andy decided to accept a wildcard for ATP tour event in Rotterdam, where he wanted to try and gain some ranking points and get some more matches under his belt. Andy however has always been a bit up and down on the ATP tour events, but he did make a solid start in his first round match against Eduardo Roger-Vasselin of France, as he dismissed the Frenchman in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. In the second round, Andy had a much tougher test ahead of him as he battled it out against the rising star, Dominic Thiem of Austria. Andy made a good start going 3-0 up but Thiem soon battled back and reduced the deficit to one break in the 1st set, but Andy still closed it out. In the 2nd set Thiem however made his move and broke Andy with some relentless and aggressive tennis and he went on to serve out the set. In the 3rd set however, Andy managed to regroup and broke the young Austrian to move ahead, but Thiem was still not yet done as he fought hard to keep it to other single break. In the end however Andy managed to hold on and her served it out for reach the quarter finals after a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory. After this though, Andy faced the big Croat, Marin Cilic, who was in great form and in the match Andy struggled to hold his serve as he was broken once per set and from there Cilic held his own to grab his second career win against Andy in 6-3, 6-4.
This was a pretty disappointing loss for Andy no doubt as not only did it see him make an unexpected exit to Cilic, it also saw his ranking drop further from No.6 to No.7 as Tomas Berdych went on to win the title, replacing Andy as No.6. However despite that, the season is far from over and it has to be expected that Andy's comeback will take time for him to get back to his best and a back injury is quite different from a knee injury such as Rafa's. The danger though for Andy is he doesn't want his ranking to slip too far as he may see himself fall out of the top ten before long and that is where he doesn't want to be as he will be forced to play the top players earlier on in the big events, which will not be good for his chances. And with the American hard court swing coming up, Andy has alot of points to defend at Indian wells where he reached the quarter finals last year and he won the title in Miami. And if he takes a hit on points there then his ranking will drop again.
However Andy still can make up any potential shortfall when he reaches the clay court season and he has already shown encouraging signs on the red dirt in the Davis cup. But he will need to maintain that sort of form to have any chance against the best players on clay. In the meantime however, Andy has another tournament coming up at the Mexican open next week, so he will again have a chance to gain more points there and hopefully he will have a good chance of going deep into the tournament, where he could face David Ferrer in the final as he will be the No.1 seed there. But Andy still has a lot of work ahead of him before he can get there, but should he win the title there, it will show encouraging signs that his comeback really is started to get going.
And Andy has said himself that he can take positives out of his performance so far on the tour, as he has played three nights in a row in Rotterdam, which shows his body is holding up fairly well to the demands of the tour. But Andy still needs to improve alot more before he can come close to winning a title again, but hopefully that won't be too far away. Just how the rest of 2014 will pan out for him remains to be seen, but we can hope that once he is back to 100 percent fitness, he will get back up to the top of the rankings.
So I shall leave it there for now and be back soon.
And with Andy making his return to the tour season this year, there was alot of surmising as to whether Andy could make the amazing comeback that Rafa did. Rafa who was out for 7 months with a knee injury came back in 2013 stronger than ever and he won 10 titles, which included 2 grand slams at the French and the US Open and as well as 5 Masters titles and he put together an incredible 22 match winning streak on hard courts, which marked his best ever hard court season. However Andy's comeback has been quite different from Rafa's and it has been much slower in progress, as Rafa sprung back into action pretty fast and enjoyed great success, Andy has had much the opposite.
At the start of the season Andy returned in Doha as he struggled to get anything going there and he fell to Florian Mayer in the 2nd second in 3 sets. Admittedly Andy looked a step slow and he was said to have been a bit sore after the surgery and he needed to give himself time to get more in shape. However when the Australian open came around, expectations were raised higher as Andy looked to try and win his maiden title down under. But ultimately Andy came undone against Roger Federer as he lost to him in the quarter finals after battling over four sets. Now this given the fact Andy had just returned to the tour was quite impressive and Andy made a brave fightback in the 3rd set, having gone two sets and a break down, he somehow managed to dig deep enough to claw his way back into the match and take only his second ever tiebreak off Federer to nab the set. Andy also continued to fight hard in the 4th set but ultimately all Rog had to do was wear Andy done and he did just that in the end. Despite that though there were still plenty of positives for Andy to take from Melbourne despite his loss, he still managed to make the last eight and that was a good effort in itself.
Next up Andy played in the Davis cup as Great Britain faced the stern test of taking on the USA on their homeland in San Diego. And the Yanks who were keen to try and derail Andy by playing the tie on clay, his weakest surface, in the end backfired as Andy came through the tie in fine style as he trounced Donald Young in straight sets in the first round rubber, and James Ward upset the odds and defeated the US No.1, Sam Querrey in five sets to take the 2-0 lead. The Bryan Brothers kept the Americans hopes all alive by winning the doubles, but Andy then fought his way past Sam Querrey in four sets to clinch the tie for Great Britain. It signalled that Andy's form was starting to return and he looked to be in good shape for the remaining season.
After this Andy decided to accept a wildcard for ATP tour event in Rotterdam, where he wanted to try and gain some ranking points and get some more matches under his belt. Andy however has always been a bit up and down on the ATP tour events, but he did make a solid start in his first round match against Eduardo Roger-Vasselin of France, as he dismissed the Frenchman in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. In the second round, Andy had a much tougher test ahead of him as he battled it out against the rising star, Dominic Thiem of Austria. Andy made a good start going 3-0 up but Thiem soon battled back and reduced the deficit to one break in the 1st set, but Andy still closed it out. In the 2nd set Thiem however made his move and broke Andy with some relentless and aggressive tennis and he went on to serve out the set. In the 3rd set however, Andy managed to regroup and broke the young Austrian to move ahead, but Thiem was still not yet done as he fought hard to keep it to other single break. In the end however Andy managed to hold on and her served it out for reach the quarter finals after a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory. After this though, Andy faced the big Croat, Marin Cilic, who was in great form and in the match Andy struggled to hold his serve as he was broken once per set and from there Cilic held his own to grab his second career win against Andy in 6-3, 6-4.
This was a pretty disappointing loss for Andy no doubt as not only did it see him make an unexpected exit to Cilic, it also saw his ranking drop further from No.6 to No.7 as Tomas Berdych went on to win the title, replacing Andy as No.6. However despite that, the season is far from over and it has to be expected that Andy's comeback will take time for him to get back to his best and a back injury is quite different from a knee injury such as Rafa's. The danger though for Andy is he doesn't want his ranking to slip too far as he may see himself fall out of the top ten before long and that is where he doesn't want to be as he will be forced to play the top players earlier on in the big events, which will not be good for his chances. And with the American hard court swing coming up, Andy has alot of points to defend at Indian wells where he reached the quarter finals last year and he won the title in Miami. And if he takes a hit on points there then his ranking will drop again.
However Andy still can make up any potential shortfall when he reaches the clay court season and he has already shown encouraging signs on the red dirt in the Davis cup. But he will need to maintain that sort of form to have any chance against the best players on clay. In the meantime however, Andy has another tournament coming up at the Mexican open next week, so he will again have a chance to gain more points there and hopefully he will have a good chance of going deep into the tournament, where he could face David Ferrer in the final as he will be the No.1 seed there. But Andy still has a lot of work ahead of him before he can get there, but should he win the title there, it will show encouraging signs that his comeback really is started to get going.
And Andy has said himself that he can take positives out of his performance so far on the tour, as he has played three nights in a row in Rotterdam, which shows his body is holding up fairly well to the demands of the tour. But Andy still needs to improve alot more before he can come close to winning a title again, but hopefully that won't be too far away. Just how the rest of 2014 will pan out for him remains to be seen, but we can hope that once he is back to 100 percent fitness, he will get back up to the top of the rankings.
So I shall leave it there for now and be back soon.
Monday, 3 February 2014
Davis cup weekend round up
OK so the first slam of the season is out of the way with Stan Wawrinka and Li Na emerging victorious at the Australian Open, but the rest of the season lies ahead and this weekend we had the Davis cup ties. And the main focus of this post will be on Great Britain's world group tie against the USA, which promised to a real stern test for the GB team, especially as the Americans have big John Isner and Sam Querrey on their side, as well as the greatest doubles partnership in the history of the sport with the Bryan brothers. So let's have a look at the busy and dramatic weekend team GB had with the old US of A.
Right starting with day 1, it was revealed that John Isner had been struggling with an ankle injury so he was forced to withdraw from the tie, and his place they put Donald Young. Young however had an uphill battle ahead of him as in his first tie he came up against Britain's No.1 player and the World No.6, Andy Murray. And in this match Andy rarely put a foot wrong and despite the Americans having deliberately chosen clay as their surface of choice (as its Andy's weakest surface) this did nothing to phase Andy throughout the match as he moved great and struck the ball with effortless precision. And it wasn't long before Donald Young found himself facing a two set deficit as Andy raced into the lead, and despite a more spirited fight from Young in the 3rd, it was too little too late as Andy closed out the match and won the first rubber for GB with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory. This match really saw Andy in great form and what's more important is in the match his back appeared to be holding up exceptionally well and he showed virtually no signs of pain, and given it was a fast clay court (which was actually built on a baseball ground) Andy did a terrific job overall.
In the second rubber on Day 1, James Ward, the British No.2 took on the American No.1 (well No.2 in John Isner's absence) Sam Querrey. This was a match that Ward was not expected to win given the gulf in rankings between the two. However in Davis cup rankings can go out the window and in the end its all about playing for your country. But at the start of the match, the rankings seemed to dictate the possible outcome, as Wardy made a nervous start and went down a double break, which saw Querrey take the first with ease. In the 2nd however, Ward started to find his feet and play went by serve and into a tiebreak, which Ward upset Querrey and the odds by winning. At a set all however Ward felt the pressure again as he failed to hold in the 3rd and Querrey took the two sets to one lead, which saw him draw closer to victory. In the 4th set, Querrey looked even closer to the finish line as the American went a break up early on, but then Wardy did the unthinkable and broke back and went on to break Qurrey's increasingly fragile serve to level the match at two sets all. And in the 5th set, Ward's game really caught fire as he went right through Querrey, who had no answer at all for the inspired Brit, who pulled off a big upset by winning the match to give GB a real cushion lead of 2-0 with a dramatic 1-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
This really was a tremendous effort form James Ward, who once again proved in Davis cup that when you play for your country, it can really bring out the best in you as a player. And this has certainly proved to be the case for James Ward, who's win played a key part in GB's potential victory over the USA in their first world group tie. And with the two rubber cushion (and I don't mean a cushion made out of rubber!) then it saw an opportunity for Andy to close out the tie by playing Querrey on the Sunday.
So moving onto day 2 we had the doubles rubber, which was always going to be an uphill struggle for GB to win as they were up against the Bryan Brothers, Bob and Mike, the most successful doubles players in the history of the men's game with 15 major titles to their name. So for the Brits, Colin Fleming and Dominic Inglot, it was going to be a tough ask to get past them. And right enough it was as Inglot, who made his debut in the doubles got off to a nervy start as the Byrans got a break straight away and later sped to a double break to grab the first set. In the 2nd set it was the same again as the Brits went a break down and the Bryans raced into a two set lead. in teh 3rd however, the Brits started to play better as Fleming and Inglot broke the Americans and took the 3rd set to keep their hopes alive. But it was short lived in the end as the Bryans confidently raced to victory in the 4th set with a double break to guarantee America's hopes of keeping the tie alive with a four set victory in 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and cut the deficit to 2-1. So it was always going to be a big ask for Fleming and Inglot to try and win against the Bryans, but with 2-0 lead, it was a rubber they could afford to lose and it now would all hinge on the third day.
Which brings me onto the 3rd day and the key remaining singles rubber, which was between Andy Murray and Sam Querrey, which would either see GB win the tie to go 3-1, or see the US even the scores to go 2-2. And the match itself proved to be quite a tight and highly entertaining affair as Querrey came out firing, despite going a break down in the opening set, he fought back to level at 5-5 and play went to a tiebreak. The breaker was a tense affair with Andy going an early break down, but he soon broke back and managed to break Querrey instead to grab the first set. In the 2nd set play went by serve and this time it was Querrey who was victorious in the tiebreak as he attacked a couple of Andy's slow second serves to nab the second set, levelling the match. In the 3rd set however, the cracks started to show in Querrey's game as he started to tire against a determined Andy Murray who broke the American yet again to take a two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set, Andy made his move as he attacked Querry's serve, which eventually broke down and Andy took the break with it. However the match wasn't without its drama in closing it out, as Andy desperately tried to break Querry at 5-2 in order to save him serving it out, but Querrey managed to hold on as he forced Andy to close out the match. And in the last game Andy had a bit of a test, although not as titanic as his final game at Wimbledon, but he went 15-40 down on his serve, but dug deep to finally close out the match and win the tie for Great Britain after a hard fought 7-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory and a 3-1 result for the tie.
Well there was no doubt that this rubber was the highlight of the tie as both men put on a great display for the thrilled crowd, who finally had something to get their teeth into after a letdown from day 1. And Querrey for two sets threw everything he had at Andy, but in the end once Andy moved two sets to one up, the match was firmly in his control. But Querrey deserves a great deal of credit for his spirited battle against Andy, but in the end Andy proved to be the better player as he outclassed the American with some incredible tennis throughout. And again what's reassuring about this match was how well Andy moved during it, and again his back appeared to be no problem at all for him as Andy was pushed from pillar to post around the court by Querrey. And as it was his second match on clay, he really showed he was capable of playing at a really high level on what is actually his weakest surface. And if Andy continues to play like this on the red dirt then he is sure to be a big threat to the other players come the beginning of the clay court season in April.
And Andy's next tournament will be the Mexican open, which up until this year was actually played on red clay, but this year the event will make its transition to hard court. This event was actually won by Rafa last year but he has chosen not to compete this year and with Rafa still recovering from his back injury in Melbourne, it remains to be seen what tournaments he will compete in. So this will give Andy a bit more preparation just before the beginning of the first American hard court swing where the first two 1000 Masters series title of the season await at in Indian Wells and Miami. But given his ranking has slipped down to No.6 in the world, going into the hard court swing in America, he has a fair few points to defend as he reached the quarter finals of Indian Wells last year and he won the title in Miami also, so he can't afford to drop too many points or else he will be in danger of dropping out of the top ten. But hopefully Andy will be able to do his best to ensure he can defend those points as best he can and already in the beginning of 2014, his tennis is looking very encouraging with hopefully more great things ahead for him.
So that's it for team GB who deserve a big congrats for having won their first world group tie and to reach the quarter finals of the Davis cup, where they will next play Italy and with Andy in their corner, they are sure to be the fair favourites to win there, even if it will be an away game, as it will be in Italy. And its a huge credit to both Andy Murray and James Ward who played their parts in winning the tie for their team, as well as their team captain, Leon Smith, who has done a superb job with the team, as they have now won 8 out of 9 ties since he has taken over the captaincy. And I think now team GB have a good chance to reach the semi finals and should they beat Italy then they may well face Switzerland in the semis and we all know who is playing on that team! And what a match up that could be in prospect, but for victory over Federer or Wawrinka, Andy will definitely need to play for the team, but we can leave that for another day.
Which quickly leads to sum up the other results, as Switzerland secured victory over Serbia (who were without Djokovic or Tipsarevic) as they won 3-2, but having already secured 3-0 by the Saturday, Serbia won the remaining dead rubbers. Germany also triumphed over Spain as they took an emphatic 4-1 victory over them, however they were also without their best players, Rafa or Ferrer. The Czeck Republic, the defending champs had a tough time however against the Netherlands, but they came through 3-2 to keep ahold of their title. France on the other hand had no trouble in getting past Australia as they drubbed them emphatically with a very convincing 5-0 result. And Japan also sealed their victory over Canadia with a similarly very convincing victory in 4-1. Kazhakstan secured their victory over Belgium with a tight 3-2 result. And lastly Italy took out Argentina to set up their meeting with Great Britain, and they also won 3-1.
And that's it for my look at the Davis cup first round of 2014, with the quarter finals coming up in April, probably around Easter time, so that will be another exciting weekend of tennis to look forward to.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon, which will probably be on the next big tournament for the ladies and men, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which is often considered the "fifth slam". So until then bye for now. :-)
Right starting with day 1, it was revealed that John Isner had been struggling with an ankle injury so he was forced to withdraw from the tie, and his place they put Donald Young. Young however had an uphill battle ahead of him as in his first tie he came up against Britain's No.1 player and the World No.6, Andy Murray. And in this match Andy rarely put a foot wrong and despite the Americans having deliberately chosen clay as their surface of choice (as its Andy's weakest surface) this did nothing to phase Andy throughout the match as he moved great and struck the ball with effortless precision. And it wasn't long before Donald Young found himself facing a two set deficit as Andy raced into the lead, and despite a more spirited fight from Young in the 3rd, it was too little too late as Andy closed out the match and won the first rubber for GB with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory. This match really saw Andy in great form and what's more important is in the match his back appeared to be holding up exceptionally well and he showed virtually no signs of pain, and given it was a fast clay court (which was actually built on a baseball ground) Andy did a terrific job overall.
In the second rubber on Day 1, James Ward, the British No.2 took on the American No.1 (well No.2 in John Isner's absence) Sam Querrey. This was a match that Ward was not expected to win given the gulf in rankings between the two. However in Davis cup rankings can go out the window and in the end its all about playing for your country. But at the start of the match, the rankings seemed to dictate the possible outcome, as Wardy made a nervous start and went down a double break, which saw Querrey take the first with ease. In the 2nd however, Ward started to find his feet and play went by serve and into a tiebreak, which Ward upset Querrey and the odds by winning. At a set all however Ward felt the pressure again as he failed to hold in the 3rd and Querrey took the two sets to one lead, which saw him draw closer to victory. In the 4th set, Querrey looked even closer to the finish line as the American went a break up early on, but then Wardy did the unthinkable and broke back and went on to break Qurrey's increasingly fragile serve to level the match at two sets all. And in the 5th set, Ward's game really caught fire as he went right through Querrey, who had no answer at all for the inspired Brit, who pulled off a big upset by winning the match to give GB a real cushion lead of 2-0 with a dramatic 1-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
This really was a tremendous effort form James Ward, who once again proved in Davis cup that when you play for your country, it can really bring out the best in you as a player. And this has certainly proved to be the case for James Ward, who's win played a key part in GB's potential victory over the USA in their first world group tie. And with the two rubber cushion (and I don't mean a cushion made out of rubber!) then it saw an opportunity for Andy to close out the tie by playing Querrey on the Sunday.
So moving onto day 2 we had the doubles rubber, which was always going to be an uphill struggle for GB to win as they were up against the Bryan Brothers, Bob and Mike, the most successful doubles players in the history of the men's game with 15 major titles to their name. So for the Brits, Colin Fleming and Dominic Inglot, it was going to be a tough ask to get past them. And right enough it was as Inglot, who made his debut in the doubles got off to a nervy start as the Byrans got a break straight away and later sped to a double break to grab the first set. In the 2nd set it was the same again as the Brits went a break down and the Bryans raced into a two set lead. in teh 3rd however, the Brits started to play better as Fleming and Inglot broke the Americans and took the 3rd set to keep their hopes alive. But it was short lived in the end as the Bryans confidently raced to victory in the 4th set with a double break to guarantee America's hopes of keeping the tie alive with a four set victory in 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and cut the deficit to 2-1. So it was always going to be a big ask for Fleming and Inglot to try and win against the Bryans, but with 2-0 lead, it was a rubber they could afford to lose and it now would all hinge on the third day.
Which brings me onto the 3rd day and the key remaining singles rubber, which was between Andy Murray and Sam Querrey, which would either see GB win the tie to go 3-1, or see the US even the scores to go 2-2. And the match itself proved to be quite a tight and highly entertaining affair as Querrey came out firing, despite going a break down in the opening set, he fought back to level at 5-5 and play went to a tiebreak. The breaker was a tense affair with Andy going an early break down, but he soon broke back and managed to break Querrey instead to grab the first set. In the 2nd set play went by serve and this time it was Querrey who was victorious in the tiebreak as he attacked a couple of Andy's slow second serves to nab the second set, levelling the match. In the 3rd set however, the cracks started to show in Querrey's game as he started to tire against a determined Andy Murray who broke the American yet again to take a two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set, Andy made his move as he attacked Querry's serve, which eventually broke down and Andy took the break with it. However the match wasn't without its drama in closing it out, as Andy desperately tried to break Querry at 5-2 in order to save him serving it out, but Querrey managed to hold on as he forced Andy to close out the match. And in the last game Andy had a bit of a test, although not as titanic as his final game at Wimbledon, but he went 15-40 down on his serve, but dug deep to finally close out the match and win the tie for Great Britain after a hard fought 7-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory and a 3-1 result for the tie.
Well there was no doubt that this rubber was the highlight of the tie as both men put on a great display for the thrilled crowd, who finally had something to get their teeth into after a letdown from day 1. And Querrey for two sets threw everything he had at Andy, but in the end once Andy moved two sets to one up, the match was firmly in his control. But Querrey deserves a great deal of credit for his spirited battle against Andy, but in the end Andy proved to be the better player as he outclassed the American with some incredible tennis throughout. And again what's reassuring about this match was how well Andy moved during it, and again his back appeared to be no problem at all for him as Andy was pushed from pillar to post around the court by Querrey. And as it was his second match on clay, he really showed he was capable of playing at a really high level on what is actually his weakest surface. And if Andy continues to play like this on the red dirt then he is sure to be a big threat to the other players come the beginning of the clay court season in April.
And Andy's next tournament will be the Mexican open, which up until this year was actually played on red clay, but this year the event will make its transition to hard court. This event was actually won by Rafa last year but he has chosen not to compete this year and with Rafa still recovering from his back injury in Melbourne, it remains to be seen what tournaments he will compete in. So this will give Andy a bit more preparation just before the beginning of the first American hard court swing where the first two 1000 Masters series title of the season await at in Indian Wells and Miami. But given his ranking has slipped down to No.6 in the world, going into the hard court swing in America, he has a fair few points to defend as he reached the quarter finals of Indian Wells last year and he won the title in Miami also, so he can't afford to drop too many points or else he will be in danger of dropping out of the top ten. But hopefully Andy will be able to do his best to ensure he can defend those points as best he can and already in the beginning of 2014, his tennis is looking very encouraging with hopefully more great things ahead for him.
So that's it for team GB who deserve a big congrats for having won their first world group tie and to reach the quarter finals of the Davis cup, where they will next play Italy and with Andy in their corner, they are sure to be the fair favourites to win there, even if it will be an away game, as it will be in Italy. And its a huge credit to both Andy Murray and James Ward who played their parts in winning the tie for their team, as well as their team captain, Leon Smith, who has done a superb job with the team, as they have now won 8 out of 9 ties since he has taken over the captaincy. And I think now team GB have a good chance to reach the semi finals and should they beat Italy then they may well face Switzerland in the semis and we all know who is playing on that team! And what a match up that could be in prospect, but for victory over Federer or Wawrinka, Andy will definitely need to play for the team, but we can leave that for another day.
Which quickly leads to sum up the other results, as Switzerland secured victory over Serbia (who were without Djokovic or Tipsarevic) as they won 3-2, but having already secured 3-0 by the Saturday, Serbia won the remaining dead rubbers. Germany also triumphed over Spain as they took an emphatic 4-1 victory over them, however they were also without their best players, Rafa or Ferrer. The Czeck Republic, the defending champs had a tough time however against the Netherlands, but they came through 3-2 to keep ahold of their title. France on the other hand had no trouble in getting past Australia as they drubbed them emphatically with a very convincing 5-0 result. And Japan also sealed their victory over Canadia with a similarly very convincing victory in 4-1. Kazhakstan secured their victory over Belgium with a tight 3-2 result. And lastly Italy took out Argentina to set up their meeting with Great Britain, and they also won 3-1.
And that's it for my look at the Davis cup first round of 2014, with the quarter finals coming up in April, probably around Easter time, so that will be another exciting weekend of tennis to look forward to.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon, which will probably be on the next big tournament for the ladies and men, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which is often considered the "fifth slam". So until then bye for now. :-)
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