Yep its time for another movie franchise analysis and this time its one of my favs, and that is the Die Hard franchise. Four films of classy action set-pieces, wisecracks and thrills a few minutes, with your affable down to earth cop John McClane at the centre of it all. So why not start with the first film, which has become a real classic in the annals of action thriller movies, so here's more about the plot (SPOILERS may abound!!).
The film starts with New York police officer, John McClane (Bruce Willis) arriving in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to meet up with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) who has a very prominent job working for the Nakatomi corporation. Driven in a fancy limosuine to the Nakatomi plaza, McClane meets with Holly (who uses her maiden surname Generro instead while employed with the company) and her boss Joseph Takagi (James Shigeta) who arranged the limo. After McClane washes up, he starts to talk with Holly, but they argue with each other about their marriage, and their conversation is interrupted by one of the employees who calls on Holly to speak to her staff. Pretty soon at this point, a group men in cars and a truck pull into the plaza, two of the men in the car, Karl (Alexander Gudonov) and Theo (Clarence Gilyard) enter the building and shoot the security guard on the front desk. Theo locks down the building using the computers in the security office, and the other men enter the building from the parking lot in the basement of the building. The men of course are terrorists who are lead by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), who are apparently there to teach the Nakatomi corporation a lesson for their greed. Hans once having identified Takagi takes him upstairs to the boardroom where he asks for the code to their vault as he wants to enter the vault to steal $640 million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds. Takagi however refuses to cooperate which leaves Hans with no other choice but to shoot him and puts his man Theo, the computer hacker specialist on the job of opening the vault.
At this point McClane has managed to sneak away from the terrorists before being captured, and listens in on Hans conversation with Takagi. McClane then sets off a fire alarm which attracts the attention of Hans, who sends one of his men to investigation, who soon finds McClane, they fight and in the ensuing struggle, they fall down the stairs, and the terrorist is killed in the fall. McClane then takes the terrorist's gun and checks his pockets to find he has a phoney ID and a CB radio. The terrorist however is revealed to be the brother of Hans main henchman, Karl, who is enraged. McClane runs up to the roof where he uses his radio to call the police, who respond to his call, but don't believe his call is for real. By then Karl and his men engage McClane in a gunfight on the roof, which McClane narrowly escapes and makes his way back into the building, via the elevator shafts. The police dispatchers however send an off duty officer, Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) to investigate the Plaza, on arriving he speaks with one of the terrorists, who has assumed the role of the security guard, and reassures nothing is up. During this point, McClane having re-entered the boardroom where Takagi was shot, he smashes one of the windows to try and get the attention of the officer below, but is then confronted by some of the terrorists, and McClane kills them. McClane then takes one of the bodies and dumps it out the window onto Powell's car, just as he is about to leave, with the terrorists shooting at Powell's car, Powell narrowly avoids being shot as he backs his car away.
Pretty soon the police arrive on the scene and try to take control of the situation by sending their SWAT team into the building, however this fails miserably as Gruber's men shoot and maim the team members who try to make their way in the front door. The SWAT team also try to send in a reinforced vehicle (RV) to the building, but the terrorists James and Alexander, destroy the RV with rockets. McClane outraged retaliates by using some of the C4 he got from one of the dead terrorists, and throws it down the lift shaft, which kills the two terrorists, James and Alexander. During all this McClane keeps in contact with Powell by radio, and gives him an assumed name to protect his identity. However one of the execs at the party Ellis (Hart Bochner), a cocky negotiator for the company, in attempt to end the seige, gives McClane's real name away to the Gruber, and tries to reason with McClane to give himself up, but McClane refuses, and pleads with Ellis to tell them he isn't McClane's friend, however Gruber shoots Ellis. After the debacale with the SWAT team, the FBI are sent in to try and mop up the situation, lead by special agents Johnson (Robert Davi) and Johnson (Grand L. Bush) who arranged to cut the building's power and go in with armed choppers to take out the terrorists, who they have agreed to meet with on the roof, allegedly with choppers for transport.
Gruber however has planned a double cross to blow the roof. McClane soon enough finds C4 in the floors above wired to blow, and Karl finds him and they engage an intense fight, which McClane finally escapes from after hanging Karl up in chains. McClane gets to the roof, where the hostages have been sent to and gets them to go back down, which prompts Hans to blow the roof. McClane dives off the roof with a firehose attached to his waist, he manages to smash back into an office floor below. McClane makes his way back upstairs to the 30th floor where Hans now holds Holly hostage, and the two men have the final showdown.
Die Hard is without a doubt one of the best action movies of the 1980s and it signalled the start of Bruce Willis's film career. John McTiernan, who directed the excellent Arnie action flick Predator, does a terrific job here in keeping up the suspense, and brilliantly stages some great action scenes, that include McClane's fight with Karl, and the famous scene where he jumps off the roof, with a fire hose attached round his waist. Although admittedly it is a rather silly way for McClane to try and get off the roof, surely he could have just ran back down the stairs and tried to stay out of sight from the terrorists. However Die Hard is about all things proposterous, and what it does very well, is take an average joe like McClane and turns him into a hero in an impossible situation. Of course as the Die Hard films progressed the situations got even more and more ridiculous, right up until Die Hard 4.0 where McClane faces off a Harrier jet plane, as you do! McTiernan also uses the sets very well and the building to utilise the cat and mouse chase between McClane and the terrorists, and there some really well stage gunfights, especially in the roof scenes and the scene in the office where Gruber and Karl shoot out the office windows to force McClane to walk on the glass. The Fox Plaza building of course also doubles as the Nakatomi Plaza building, although I doubt they used it to blow the roof and blast out the windows!
In terms of performances, Die Hard has a pretty strong cast, and Bruce Willis is perfect for the role of John McClane, a wise-cracking cop, who is very down to earth and quite likeable and has plenty of lines we can all remember such as "Yippe ki-yay motherfucker!" and "I'm not the one that just got butt-fucked on national TV, Dwayne!" and "welcome to the party, pal!!". Although at the start of the film I have to say Willis's take on McClane is somewhat cold, as he refuses to engage in conversation the limo drive Argyle (De'Voreaux White). However as things progress McClane really emerges and becomes the affable character that he remained in the rest of the franchise. Alan Rickman is just great as the Hans Gruber, a quintessentially smooth, suave, intellectual villain who as Holly says at one point in the film is no more than a common thief. Rickman gets his fair share of the best dialogue in the film and plays Gruber with a dry wit and a cold calculating persona.
The supporting cast are also very good, with Reginald VelJohnson playing the desk jockey cop Al Powell, as a decent cop who got off the street after making the mistake of shooting a kid in the past. Bonnie Bedelia too is very good as McClane's wife, Holly, a headstrong woman, and she keeps a cool head during the seige, and she gets one of the funniest moments in the film where she punches the sleazy news reporter Dick Thornburg (Richard Atherton) on TV at the end! Paul Gleason is also quite amusing as Dwayne T. Robinson, the deputy chief of police, who despite his authority, is pretty incompetent in the film, and he gets one of the all time best lines in the film, when the FBI chopper is blown up, "Holy Christ! Looks like we're gonna need more FBI guys I guess!". And finally Alexandar Gudonov is quite effective as the steely cold henchman, Karl, and he too gets some good lines, when he argues with Hans for example about killing McClane, Hans says "We do not alter the plan!", and Karl replies "And if he alters it?????".
Although if there is one critcism that can be levelled at Die Hard is its depiction of the police in the film, as they are pretty much all potrayed as idiots, except McClane and Powell. The SWAT team in particularly make the silly decision to go in to the Nakatomi building, despite the drastic repercusions they will face if they do, and did face when the terrorists retaliated. And one of the more amusing scenes shows the dim-witted qualities of Dwayne Robinson, when Gruber contacts him with his list of "demands" which are to release political prisoners, such as the Asian Dawn, and Robinson carries on following it up, despite the fact Gruber is just bluffing them to keep them away. And the FBI aren't much brighter as they use as Powell describes "the universal terrorist playbook and play it step by step" in cutting the building's power, which lets the terrorist access the vault to get their money. But again it is an action movie and the writers are poking fun at law enforcement as they have a tendacy to do.
And finally here's a bit on the score written by Michael Kamen, which is very good and has plenty of fine dramatic passages, Kamen of course went on to score the 2nd and 3rd films as well, before he sadly passed away in 2003. However if you listen closely near the end, you can hear a passage that was nicked from James Horner's score for Aliens, which was apparently left in by the studio as a temp track (according to the ol Wikipedia). The other tracks in the film are also pretty memorably used, especially Beethoven's 9th Symphony when the terrorists finally crack into the vault and raid it, and of course "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!" at the end.
Rrrrright well that's my analysis of Die Hard over with and it remains one of my favourite action films. Die Hard 2 will soon follow.....
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Best first leg men's hard court matches of 2012
Ok here's another excuse for a tennis post, and yes ok, its only April, but I quite fancied putting up some of my favourite tennis matches of the year so far, all from the hard court season, just as the clay season is looming.
5. Sony Ericsson Open, Quarter final, Novak Djokovic d. David Ferrer, 6-2, 7-6(1).
Ok to kick off I thought I would add this thoroughly entertaining and high quality match, which was between the World No.1 Novak Djokovic, and the World No.5, David Ferrer (now currently No.6). Djokovic was in imperious in Miami last year, and this year, he regrouped here after losing out in Indian Wells to play some of his best tennis of the season so far. In the first set, Djokovic showed just why he is the best player in the world, as he displayed some razor sharp play around the court, at the net, and showed off some amazing defensive skills, and broke Ferrer twice to take the set. In the 2nd set however, Ferrer fought back hard and he pushed Djokovic around the court, after being broken, Ferrer broke straight back. The 2nd set in particular had some highy entertaining and thrilling rallies, which easily must have been 30+ shots. Despite being broken again at 4-4 to make it 5-4, for Djokovic, Ferrer continued to fight and broke again to make it 5-5 all. In the ensuing tiebreak however, Ferrer in the end was unable to compete with Djokovic, who dominated the rallies and closed it out for a place in the semi finals. Djokovic also showed that he really is a worthy No.1 and a great sportsman, as he warmly shook Ferrer's hand at the net and said "David, it was a pleasure". Top stuff.
4.Davis Cup Africa/Europe Group I tie, Great Britain vs Slovak Republic, Dan Evans d. Martin Klizan, 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.
I'm putting this match in my favourites list because I was there, so that's good enough for me. This was the pivotal match for Great Britain in their tie against the Slovak Republic as it was 2-2 all in the 3rd day of the tie. In the first two sets, Dan Evans, who up until then had only won one Davis cup match for GB, went on put on a dazzling display of tennis, which blasted his Slovak opponent off the court. In the 3rd set, after destroying his racquet, Klizan started to find his form and broke Evans to take it into the 4th, and in the 4th he broke again to level the match at 2 sets all. In the 5th set, it looked doubtful that Evans could come back in and win the match, however we were all proved so wrong, and Evans broke Klizan eary on to take the lead and he never let go. And on Klizan's serve at 5-3, he double faulted at the crucial match point 15-40, handing the match and the tie to Great Britain, which saw the whole crowd go in an uproar of delight. This was a great match to be a part of, as I was one of the audience members that day, and atmosphere was terrific throughout, as fans knew how much was at stake, and Dan Evans stunned everyone with his terrific display, and played pretty much the match of his life in winning the tie. Kilzan to his credit, did well to get back into the match and turn it around to level things, but it was down to Dan the man, and he came through for Great Britain just in the nick of time. The tie was also very important to Great Britain as it secured them to keep their place in the Africa/Europe Group I, and they were one tie away from a place in the World Group play offs. Sadly they didn't get there, but that's a different story, but this match was a great effort from Dan Evans and one to remember.
3. Indian Wells, Semi final, John Isner d. Novak Djokovic, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(5).
It was not for sure if Novak Djokovic was going to have the same kind of year he did last year after winning the Australian Open. However having already suffering his first loss of the season to Andy Murray in Dubai, it was John Isner in this match that offered Novak his 2nd shock loss of the season, marking the 2nd title he had failed to defend this year (the other being Dubai of course). But the match itself was high on quality, particularly from the massive Isner, who's big powerful serve frequently knocked Djokovic off his feet and he failed to win the 1st set tiebreak. In the 2nd set Djokovic managed to finally break Isner's serve to secure the 2nd set, but in the 3rd again it went to a tiebreak where Isner pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating Novak Djokovic the World No.1 for the first time. This match really did see John Isner arrive on the scene and it secured his place in the top 10, also for the first time in his career. It was again a highly enjoyable match with both men putting on a great display for the crowd, although Djokovic after a while started yelling in frustration with the big Yank, constantly knocking him off his feet with his big serves. But Isner without a doubt deserved big credit for winning this match, and it secured his first 1000 Masters series final.
2. Australian Open, Final, Novak Djokovic d. Rafae Nadal, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
This match in itself was unquestionably a landmark in the history of the sport, as it was the longest grand slam final of all time, just clocking in at under 6 hours (5 hours and 53 minutes to be exact). After having gotten the better of Rafa with relative ease in their last few meetings (apart from the US Open final of course) Rafa here took Djokovic all the way and showed just why he is a 10 time grand slam champion. Despite all that though, Djokovic despite showing clear signs of fatigue and tiredness after his epic match against Andy Murray, somehow managed to battle through the exhaustion and pain to once again get the better of his old rival. And for the first 3 sets admittedly the match was a bit lacking in excitement and pace, but that all changed in the 4th set, when it suddenly turned into a thrilling contest, especially at 4-3, on Rafa's serve to level it 4-4 all, he nearly was broken, but used all his champion qualities to square the set, and on winning the game, he gave the biggest fist pump he's ever given! After that Rafa battled on to take the 4th set in one of the best tiebreaks you will ever see, taking the match into the decider, where Rafa got a break against Djokovic. However Djokovic broke straight back, and at 5-5 all, Djokovic went on to take the crucial break, and after another mammoth game, facing break points, Djokovic finally closed out an exhaustive epic encounter, with him successfully defending his Aussie open title. While this match lacked the consistent quality of their US Open final last year, the Australian Open final made it up for it in producing a scintallating conclusion, where the US Open kind of petered out towards the end. In the trophy presentation, you could clearly see how exhausted Djokovic was as he stared into space while the tournament organisers gave their speeches. Its also a testement to Djokovic's improved fitness that he spent 11 hours on court over the space of three days, and still was able to come through against all adversity and everything Rafa threw at him. And despite his loss, Rafa should take nothing but positives from how he played in the final, and it also seemed to exorcise his demons from last year, when he didn't play as well against Djokovic. It was also a great start to the slam season and it signals a great French Open is just ahead, as well as proving Djokovic is without a doubt the World No.1 and one of the sport's best competitors. Great stuff.
1. Australian Open, Semi final, Novak Djokovic d. Andy Murray, 6-3, 3-6, 6(4)-7, 6-1, 7-5.
In last year's final of the Australian open, Djokovic without a doubt outplayed Andy Murray in every way possible, but even Djokovic before going out on court in his pre-match interview admitted this would be quite a different encounter, and it sure was. Andy Murray a year on, and now being coached by Ivan Lendl, made an incredible transition, from someone who folded under pressure in the big matches, to a man who stood up and dished it out to the best player in the world. Right from the start, Djoko and the Muzza traded some amazing rallies from the baseline as the two of them throughout endured a punishing and gruelling physical match, which kept the Aussie crowd thrilled. After dropping the 1st set, Andy showed no signs of faltering like he did last year, and went on to take the 2nd, and went even one better to seal the 3rd in a tiebreak. However with the advantage in his sights, Djokovic broke Andy and levelled the match at 2 sets all, and in the 5th, despite breaking Andy at 4-2, at 5-3 on Djoko's serve, Andy pulled out one of the games of his career and broke Djokovic to love. At 5-5 all we had another titanic struggle with Andy desperately trying to break Djokovic, but to no avail, only to have his own serve broken by Djoko at 6-5 to seal the match. No doubt it, this was the one of the best matches of the year so far, and not only that, its the first time in a big match situation that Andy has really managed to push a World No.1 to the limit. It saw the British No.1 come of age on court, and Andy produced some of the matches real highlights, especially one shot during his 3rd tiebreak, and that amazing 5th set game at 5-3, where he broke Djokovic to love. This match not only was one of the great highlights of a terrific Australian Open campaign, it also signals a bright future for Andy Murray in future slams this year, and if he can build on this, that first major can't be far off.
That's it for now....
5. Sony Ericsson Open, Quarter final, Novak Djokovic d. David Ferrer, 6-2, 7-6(1).
Ok to kick off I thought I would add this thoroughly entertaining and high quality match, which was between the World No.1 Novak Djokovic, and the World No.5, David Ferrer (now currently No.6). Djokovic was in imperious in Miami last year, and this year, he regrouped here after losing out in Indian Wells to play some of his best tennis of the season so far. In the first set, Djokovic showed just why he is the best player in the world, as he displayed some razor sharp play around the court, at the net, and showed off some amazing defensive skills, and broke Ferrer twice to take the set. In the 2nd set however, Ferrer fought back hard and he pushed Djokovic around the court, after being broken, Ferrer broke straight back. The 2nd set in particular had some highy entertaining and thrilling rallies, which easily must have been 30+ shots. Despite being broken again at 4-4 to make it 5-4, for Djokovic, Ferrer continued to fight and broke again to make it 5-5 all. In the ensuing tiebreak however, Ferrer in the end was unable to compete with Djokovic, who dominated the rallies and closed it out for a place in the semi finals. Djokovic also showed that he really is a worthy No.1 and a great sportsman, as he warmly shook Ferrer's hand at the net and said "David, it was a pleasure". Top stuff.
4.Davis Cup Africa/Europe Group I tie, Great Britain vs Slovak Republic, Dan Evans d. Martin Klizan, 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3.
I'm putting this match in my favourites list because I was there, so that's good enough for me. This was the pivotal match for Great Britain in their tie against the Slovak Republic as it was 2-2 all in the 3rd day of the tie. In the first two sets, Dan Evans, who up until then had only won one Davis cup match for GB, went on put on a dazzling display of tennis, which blasted his Slovak opponent off the court. In the 3rd set, after destroying his racquet, Klizan started to find his form and broke Evans to take it into the 4th, and in the 4th he broke again to level the match at 2 sets all. In the 5th set, it looked doubtful that Evans could come back in and win the match, however we were all proved so wrong, and Evans broke Klizan eary on to take the lead and he never let go. And on Klizan's serve at 5-3, he double faulted at the crucial match point 15-40, handing the match and the tie to Great Britain, which saw the whole crowd go in an uproar of delight. This was a great match to be a part of, as I was one of the audience members that day, and atmosphere was terrific throughout, as fans knew how much was at stake, and Dan Evans stunned everyone with his terrific display, and played pretty much the match of his life in winning the tie. Kilzan to his credit, did well to get back into the match and turn it around to level things, but it was down to Dan the man, and he came through for Great Britain just in the nick of time. The tie was also very important to Great Britain as it secured them to keep their place in the Africa/Europe Group I, and they were one tie away from a place in the World Group play offs. Sadly they didn't get there, but that's a different story, but this match was a great effort from Dan Evans and one to remember.
3. Indian Wells, Semi final, John Isner d. Novak Djokovic, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(5).
It was not for sure if Novak Djokovic was going to have the same kind of year he did last year after winning the Australian Open. However having already suffering his first loss of the season to Andy Murray in Dubai, it was John Isner in this match that offered Novak his 2nd shock loss of the season, marking the 2nd title he had failed to defend this year (the other being Dubai of course). But the match itself was high on quality, particularly from the massive Isner, who's big powerful serve frequently knocked Djokovic off his feet and he failed to win the 1st set tiebreak. In the 2nd set Djokovic managed to finally break Isner's serve to secure the 2nd set, but in the 3rd again it went to a tiebreak where Isner pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating Novak Djokovic the World No.1 for the first time. This match really did see John Isner arrive on the scene and it secured his place in the top 10, also for the first time in his career. It was again a highly enjoyable match with both men putting on a great display for the crowd, although Djokovic after a while started yelling in frustration with the big Yank, constantly knocking him off his feet with his big serves. But Isner without a doubt deserved big credit for winning this match, and it secured his first 1000 Masters series final.
2. Australian Open, Final, Novak Djokovic d. Rafae Nadal, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
This match in itself was unquestionably a landmark in the history of the sport, as it was the longest grand slam final of all time, just clocking in at under 6 hours (5 hours and 53 minutes to be exact). After having gotten the better of Rafa with relative ease in their last few meetings (apart from the US Open final of course) Rafa here took Djokovic all the way and showed just why he is a 10 time grand slam champion. Despite all that though, Djokovic despite showing clear signs of fatigue and tiredness after his epic match against Andy Murray, somehow managed to battle through the exhaustion and pain to once again get the better of his old rival. And for the first 3 sets admittedly the match was a bit lacking in excitement and pace, but that all changed in the 4th set, when it suddenly turned into a thrilling contest, especially at 4-3, on Rafa's serve to level it 4-4 all, he nearly was broken, but used all his champion qualities to square the set, and on winning the game, he gave the biggest fist pump he's ever given! After that Rafa battled on to take the 4th set in one of the best tiebreaks you will ever see, taking the match into the decider, where Rafa got a break against Djokovic. However Djokovic broke straight back, and at 5-5 all, Djokovic went on to take the crucial break, and after another mammoth game, facing break points, Djokovic finally closed out an exhaustive epic encounter, with him successfully defending his Aussie open title. While this match lacked the consistent quality of their US Open final last year, the Australian Open final made it up for it in producing a scintallating conclusion, where the US Open kind of petered out towards the end. In the trophy presentation, you could clearly see how exhausted Djokovic was as he stared into space while the tournament organisers gave their speeches. Its also a testement to Djokovic's improved fitness that he spent 11 hours on court over the space of three days, and still was able to come through against all adversity and everything Rafa threw at him. And despite his loss, Rafa should take nothing but positives from how he played in the final, and it also seemed to exorcise his demons from last year, when he didn't play as well against Djokovic. It was also a great start to the slam season and it signals a great French Open is just ahead, as well as proving Djokovic is without a doubt the World No.1 and one of the sport's best competitors. Great stuff.
1. Australian Open, Semi final, Novak Djokovic d. Andy Murray, 6-3, 3-6, 6(4)-7, 6-1, 7-5.
In last year's final of the Australian open, Djokovic without a doubt outplayed Andy Murray in every way possible, but even Djokovic before going out on court in his pre-match interview admitted this would be quite a different encounter, and it sure was. Andy Murray a year on, and now being coached by Ivan Lendl, made an incredible transition, from someone who folded under pressure in the big matches, to a man who stood up and dished it out to the best player in the world. Right from the start, Djoko and the Muzza traded some amazing rallies from the baseline as the two of them throughout endured a punishing and gruelling physical match, which kept the Aussie crowd thrilled. After dropping the 1st set, Andy showed no signs of faltering like he did last year, and went on to take the 2nd, and went even one better to seal the 3rd in a tiebreak. However with the advantage in his sights, Djokovic broke Andy and levelled the match at 2 sets all, and in the 5th, despite breaking Andy at 4-2, at 5-3 on Djoko's serve, Andy pulled out one of the games of his career and broke Djokovic to love. At 5-5 all we had another titanic struggle with Andy desperately trying to break Djokovic, but to no avail, only to have his own serve broken by Djoko at 6-5 to seal the match. No doubt it, this was the one of the best matches of the year so far, and not only that, its the first time in a big match situation that Andy has really managed to push a World No.1 to the limit. It saw the British No.1 come of age on court, and Andy produced some of the matches real highlights, especially one shot during his 3rd tiebreak, and that amazing 5th set game at 5-3, where he broke Djokovic to love. This match not only was one of the great highlights of a terrific Australian Open campaign, it also signals a bright future for Andy Murray in future slams this year, and if he can build on this, that first major can't be far off.
That's it for now....
Monday, 9 April 2012
Beligum, man, Belgium!!!
Oh well that's the end of another Davis cup tie at the Braehead arena, and for all we know it could well be the last, but time will tell on that. But this crucial tie which if they would win would see Great Britain go into a world group play-off was crucial for them, as they took on their most potentially stern opposition yet, Belgium.
And here is where the GB team truly met their match, as the Belgium team were more than a match for the Brits, and if you look at their line-up they have two singles players in the top 100, with Olivier Ruchus and Steve Darcie. And in this tie we were not only without Andy Murray, we were without James Ward as well, so things weren't looking especially good for team GB, however we did have the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans step in and new addition Josh Goodall, who has had recent success in the Challenger level events, so here is a bit more on how things went over the 3 day tie.
On the first day, GB first off faced in usual tradition, reverse singles rubbers, with the No.1 brit player playing the away Belgian No.2 player, so that was Josh Goodall vs Steve Darcie. This was actually a pretty tight close match, with Goodall coming in and serving well, as he took the opening set on a tiebreak, however Darcie soon found his range and went on to take the 2nd set, and pretty soon went on to close out the match in 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. It marked the first defeat for Great Britain, but things at this point didn't look so bad as it was just the first rubber, and Dan Evans soon took on the Belgium No.1, Olivier Ruchus, who is a well established veteran on the men's tour and has had many years experience on the Davis cup. However things didn't look too good for GB here, although Dan like Josh, did put in a very good performance, again he took the opening set, and after being 1 set all, it went to a 3rd set tiebreak where Dan had a chance to go 2 sets to 1 up, but at a crucial set point, his forehand went slightly wide. However without the benefit of Hawkeye (i.e. the eletronic system that tells whether a ball is out or not) Dan had to rely on the judgment of the umpire, but by the looks of things his return was in, nonetheless as a result he endured the loss of the 3rd set and in the 4th, despite Dan being at one point a break up, lost the lead, and Rocuhus got the crucial break to hand Belgium their 2nd win of the day in 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4. Ending the first day trailing 2-0 was not looking good for Great Britain.
On the second day however things improved as the doubles team Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins took to the court against the Belgium doubles team, David Goffin and Ruben Bemalmens. With Flemo and Hutch being ranked as the World No.10 in the doubles, they naturally were the favourites to win, but they did come up against some stern opposition by the plucky Belgian team, as they took the first set. In the 2nd set, Flemo and Hutch got a break, but at 5-3, with a chance to serve for the set, they were broken, however at 6-5, on Belgium's service, team GB got the break to level the match, and from then on it was the world class doubles team that took control and secured a much needed first win in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. With Great Britain trailing 1-2 at this point, it was vital that they got a chance to level the tie on Sunday, which is were I came in, or attended at least (I wasn't on the team that's for sure!).
Soooo on the final day (Easter Sunday, Happy Easter by the way!!), it was down to the singles players to decide who won the tie, so first up we had Josh Goodall who played the young David Goffin, who stood in for Olivier Rochus who had suffered cramp and was deemed unfit to play. And despite a bravely fought effort from Goodall, it was all in vain, as Goffin, who is ranked about a 120 places higher than he, showed just why he is that, and sealed the Davis cup tie for Belgium in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. And in the dead rubber, the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans, came out and played against Ruben Bemelmans, and obviously feeling the disappointment of defeat, Dan wasn't able to come up with the inspirational performance he did last time, and dropped his serve in both sets, handing the single break that Ruben needed in each set, to deny GB's consolation prize, winning in 6-4, 6-4, and the final tie scoreline reading an overwhelming 4-1 in Belgium's favour.
Well it really has to be said overall it was a disappointing weekend for the GB team, and that they certainly didn't get the result we had all hoped for. But to be honest the odds were firmly stacked against them right from the start, as they were minus their best player and minus James Ward as well. And that brings me to say a little about GB's best player, Andy Murray, who once again decided not to play for Great Britain in the Davis Cup, and I felt he really let the team down badly by choosing not to play. Davis Cup in the past has always been a special event for nations worldwide and its been a great tradition, and even the other top players, such as Rafa, Roger and Novak play their part in Davis Cup, so its a great pity that Andy hasn't done the same. And without Andy, the Great Britain team will forever flounder, and will struggle to get back into the World Group, and if he had played, they certainly would have been the winners today, but such as it is, they weren't. However to be fair to Andy, Davis Cup always arrives at a difficult time in the tennis calendar, as he has been preparing for the upcoming clay court season just now, and its understandable that Andy would want to commit himself to that just now instead, but at the same time its just a disappointment that he chose not to pitch in when GB needed it the most, especially when they were so close to getting back into the World Group.
And this brings me to the problem with the current Davis GB cup team, the singles players ranked below Andy simply aren't good enough to take on the world class players, who continually play in the men's ATP tour throughout the year. Players like Dan Evans and Josh Goodall mainly play in Challenger events, and today we both saw them struggle, Josh particularly, who to be fair played today probably about as well as he could under the pressure of the event, but he struggled to hold his serve, and despite breaking Goffin's serve in the 3rd set, he couldn't consolidate the break, which cost him and the team. In the first day however Goodall and Evans did show their potential, and they both played really good tight matches, and despite all that, they have nothing to be ashamed of and played about as well as they could. But they aren't world class players, and that is the big problem, and that's what the GB team is lacking in Andy's absence.
As for the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans given the right frame of mind and form, on his day, he can be terrific as we saw at the last Davis Cup tie, where he put in a terrific performance against the Slovak Republic, but today he fell well short of the mark. But again Dan was playing a dead rubber match and naturally he would have felt a bit deflated by his team's loss, which would have made it harder for him to try and win the match. And in fact I do wish that the Great Britain team captain, Leon Smith, put Dan Evans on against David Goffin in the crucial rubber, instead of Josh Goodall, as just maybe he could have won it, but that's not to say Goodall would have won the last one, in fact most likely not, but at least the scoreline might have been 3-2 instead of 4-1. James Ward also despite his absence and with the greatest of respect, is very much hot and cold on the court, as he too lacks the consistency in playing well, and he lost his last two rubbers in the Slovak Republic tie, and most likely would have lost here too.
And that's another big difference between the men's team in the Davis cup and the ladies team for the Fed Cup, is that the women have higher ranked players. Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong are both ranked in the top 100 (62 and 72 respectively), whereas Heather Watson and Laura Robson are ranked just outside the top 100, and they are about to go into the stage that the men's team hoped to go into, the world group play offs. And with Judy Murray as their team captain backing them, they promise to do very well, and so far as team they have been very effective. In fact Eurosport will show coverage of their next tie later in the month against Sweden, so I will definitely give that a watch.
So to sum it all up Great Britain's defeat was simply due to Belgium having the better singles players, and that's it. Without Andy Murray there was no way that Great Britain could have pulled off the win, but if he did play then it would be a different story, and a different post I would be making just now. But what's done is done, and despite it all, Great Britain in Andy's absence, played about as well as they could have given the circumstances, even though it wasn't enough to get the win. And the Belgium team definitely do deserve credit for their performance this weekend, as their team played very well indeed, and for once as the away team, they brought a team of outside supporters to the arena, who were quite vocal as well in their support and they gave the usual GB suspects (from Sterling uni) a run for their money, complete with beating drums as well as chanting!
Sooooo that's that, another Davis Cup tie over with, and unfortunately we didn't get the result we had all hoped for, but given the very tough opposition it was to be expected, nonetheless, Dan Evans and Jason Goodall did acquit themselves pretty well this weekend. And despite GB's loss today, they will remain in the Africa/Europe Group I, but whether or not they will play next time at the Braehead arena or not is uncertain. Given the fact that they won their previous ties, that was why they were able to host the them there, but if they lose, then it might change things and they may have to play away from home. Another thing that is for sure is that the GB team will not play again this year in the Davis Cup, which is a real bummer because I was hoping to see more live tennis, but that's the way it goes if they lose. Hopefully next year, Andy Murray will be able to commit more to the event, although his attendance at the Davis Cup has always been very patchy in the past, perhaps if he gets that highly elusive first slam, maybe he can commit himself more in the future, but who knows. However in the meantime the Great Britain team deserve a great deal of credit, in getting back into the Africa/Europe Group I, as does Leon Smith who up until now remained unbeaten in his tenure as the team captain.
Well that's all for now, more tennis posts to follow once the clay court season get's under way, with the men's next 1000 Masters series tournament being the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, with all the top names playing except Roger Federer for some reason. Hmmmm. Anyway that promises to be really good, so that's it the now.
Byeeee!
P.S. The title of the post actually is a rather obscure reference to Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the two-headed character, Zaphod Beeblebrox exclaims "Belgium, man, Belgium!" when dangling from a precipice at one point in an episode, as Belgium is described as one of the worst words you can say in a dire situation. But I don't mean any disrepect to the Belgians of course, but it just fitted the theme of the post.:-)
And here is where the GB team truly met their match, as the Belgium team were more than a match for the Brits, and if you look at their line-up they have two singles players in the top 100, with Olivier Ruchus and Steve Darcie. And in this tie we were not only without Andy Murray, we were without James Ward as well, so things weren't looking especially good for team GB, however we did have the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans step in and new addition Josh Goodall, who has had recent success in the Challenger level events, so here is a bit more on how things went over the 3 day tie.
On the first day, GB first off faced in usual tradition, reverse singles rubbers, with the No.1 brit player playing the away Belgian No.2 player, so that was Josh Goodall vs Steve Darcie. This was actually a pretty tight close match, with Goodall coming in and serving well, as he took the opening set on a tiebreak, however Darcie soon found his range and went on to take the 2nd set, and pretty soon went on to close out the match in 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. It marked the first defeat for Great Britain, but things at this point didn't look so bad as it was just the first rubber, and Dan Evans soon took on the Belgium No.1, Olivier Ruchus, who is a well established veteran on the men's tour and has had many years experience on the Davis cup. However things didn't look too good for GB here, although Dan like Josh, did put in a very good performance, again he took the opening set, and after being 1 set all, it went to a 3rd set tiebreak where Dan had a chance to go 2 sets to 1 up, but at a crucial set point, his forehand went slightly wide. However without the benefit of Hawkeye (i.e. the eletronic system that tells whether a ball is out or not) Dan had to rely on the judgment of the umpire, but by the looks of things his return was in, nonetheless as a result he endured the loss of the 3rd set and in the 4th, despite Dan being at one point a break up, lost the lead, and Rocuhus got the crucial break to hand Belgium their 2nd win of the day in 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4. Ending the first day trailing 2-0 was not looking good for Great Britain.
On the second day however things improved as the doubles team Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins took to the court against the Belgium doubles team, David Goffin and Ruben Bemalmens. With Flemo and Hutch being ranked as the World No.10 in the doubles, they naturally were the favourites to win, but they did come up against some stern opposition by the plucky Belgian team, as they took the first set. In the 2nd set, Flemo and Hutch got a break, but at 5-3, with a chance to serve for the set, they were broken, however at 6-5, on Belgium's service, team GB got the break to level the match, and from then on it was the world class doubles team that took control and secured a much needed first win in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. With Great Britain trailing 1-2 at this point, it was vital that they got a chance to level the tie on Sunday, which is were I came in, or attended at least (I wasn't on the team that's for sure!).
Soooo on the final day (Easter Sunday, Happy Easter by the way!!), it was down to the singles players to decide who won the tie, so first up we had Josh Goodall who played the young David Goffin, who stood in for Olivier Rochus who had suffered cramp and was deemed unfit to play. And despite a bravely fought effort from Goodall, it was all in vain, as Goffin, who is ranked about a 120 places higher than he, showed just why he is that, and sealed the Davis cup tie for Belgium in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. And in the dead rubber, the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans, came out and played against Ruben Bemelmans, and obviously feeling the disappointment of defeat, Dan wasn't able to come up with the inspirational performance he did last time, and dropped his serve in both sets, handing the single break that Ruben needed in each set, to deny GB's consolation prize, winning in 6-4, 6-4, and the final tie scoreline reading an overwhelming 4-1 in Belgium's favour.
Well it really has to be said overall it was a disappointing weekend for the GB team, and that they certainly didn't get the result we had all hoped for. But to be honest the odds were firmly stacked against them right from the start, as they were minus their best player and minus James Ward as well. And that brings me to say a little about GB's best player, Andy Murray, who once again decided not to play for Great Britain in the Davis Cup, and I felt he really let the team down badly by choosing not to play. Davis Cup in the past has always been a special event for nations worldwide and its been a great tradition, and even the other top players, such as Rafa, Roger and Novak play their part in Davis Cup, so its a great pity that Andy hasn't done the same. And without Andy, the Great Britain team will forever flounder, and will struggle to get back into the World Group, and if he had played, they certainly would have been the winners today, but such as it is, they weren't. However to be fair to Andy, Davis Cup always arrives at a difficult time in the tennis calendar, as he has been preparing for the upcoming clay court season just now, and its understandable that Andy would want to commit himself to that just now instead, but at the same time its just a disappointment that he chose not to pitch in when GB needed it the most, especially when they were so close to getting back into the World Group.
And this brings me to the problem with the current Davis GB cup team, the singles players ranked below Andy simply aren't good enough to take on the world class players, who continually play in the men's ATP tour throughout the year. Players like Dan Evans and Josh Goodall mainly play in Challenger events, and today we both saw them struggle, Josh particularly, who to be fair played today probably about as well as he could under the pressure of the event, but he struggled to hold his serve, and despite breaking Goffin's serve in the 3rd set, he couldn't consolidate the break, which cost him and the team. In the first day however Goodall and Evans did show their potential, and they both played really good tight matches, and despite all that, they have nothing to be ashamed of and played about as well as they could. But they aren't world class players, and that is the big problem, and that's what the GB team is lacking in Andy's absence.
As for the hero of the last tie, Dan Evans given the right frame of mind and form, on his day, he can be terrific as we saw at the last Davis Cup tie, where he put in a terrific performance against the Slovak Republic, but today he fell well short of the mark. But again Dan was playing a dead rubber match and naturally he would have felt a bit deflated by his team's loss, which would have made it harder for him to try and win the match. And in fact I do wish that the Great Britain team captain, Leon Smith, put Dan Evans on against David Goffin in the crucial rubber, instead of Josh Goodall, as just maybe he could have won it, but that's not to say Goodall would have won the last one, in fact most likely not, but at least the scoreline might have been 3-2 instead of 4-1. James Ward also despite his absence and with the greatest of respect, is very much hot and cold on the court, as he too lacks the consistency in playing well, and he lost his last two rubbers in the Slovak Republic tie, and most likely would have lost here too.
And that's another big difference between the men's team in the Davis cup and the ladies team for the Fed Cup, is that the women have higher ranked players. Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong are both ranked in the top 100 (62 and 72 respectively), whereas Heather Watson and Laura Robson are ranked just outside the top 100, and they are about to go into the stage that the men's team hoped to go into, the world group play offs. And with Judy Murray as their team captain backing them, they promise to do very well, and so far as team they have been very effective. In fact Eurosport will show coverage of their next tie later in the month against Sweden, so I will definitely give that a watch.
So to sum it all up Great Britain's defeat was simply due to Belgium having the better singles players, and that's it. Without Andy Murray there was no way that Great Britain could have pulled off the win, but if he did play then it would be a different story, and a different post I would be making just now. But what's done is done, and despite it all, Great Britain in Andy's absence, played about as well as they could have given the circumstances, even though it wasn't enough to get the win. And the Belgium team definitely do deserve credit for their performance this weekend, as their team played very well indeed, and for once as the away team, they brought a team of outside supporters to the arena, who were quite vocal as well in their support and they gave the usual GB suspects (from Sterling uni) a run for their money, complete with beating drums as well as chanting!
Sooooo that's that, another Davis Cup tie over with, and unfortunately we didn't get the result we had all hoped for, but given the very tough opposition it was to be expected, nonetheless, Dan Evans and Jason Goodall did acquit themselves pretty well this weekend. And despite GB's loss today, they will remain in the Africa/Europe Group I, but whether or not they will play next time at the Braehead arena or not is uncertain. Given the fact that they won their previous ties, that was why they were able to host the them there, but if they lose, then it might change things and they may have to play away from home. Another thing that is for sure is that the GB team will not play again this year in the Davis Cup, which is a real bummer because I was hoping to see more live tennis, but that's the way it goes if they lose. Hopefully next year, Andy Murray will be able to commit more to the event, although his attendance at the Davis Cup has always been very patchy in the past, perhaps if he gets that highly elusive first slam, maybe he can commit himself more in the future, but who knows. However in the meantime the Great Britain team deserve a great deal of credit, in getting back into the Africa/Europe Group I, as does Leon Smith who up until now remained unbeaten in his tenure as the team captain.
Well that's all for now, more tennis posts to follow once the clay court season get's under way, with the men's next 1000 Masters series tournament being the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, with all the top names playing except Roger Federer for some reason. Hmmmm. Anyway that promises to be really good, so that's it the now.
Byeeee!
P.S. The title of the post actually is a rather obscure reference to Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the two-headed character, Zaphod Beeblebrox exclaims "Belgium, man, Belgium!" when dangling from a precipice at one point in an episode, as Belgium is described as one of the worst words you can say in a dire situation. But I don't mean any disrepect to the Belgians of course, but it just fitted the theme of the post.:-)
Friday, 6 April 2012
Bottling the sauce
OK I thought I would do a post on The Apprentice episode three which was just on there on Wednesday night, and it was an entertaining episode which saw the start of the men and ladies teams being mixed up, so here's a bit more on that.
The task this week was for the two teams to come with a condiment (basically a sauce e.g. mustard) and sell it to the public and traders. So the two teams, Sterling saw two guys Duane and Nick move to them for the first time, and Phoenix saw Katie move to their team. In Sterling, Duane became the team leader and Katie was the team leader for Phoenix. Sterling came up with the idea of creting a pineapple and ginger chutney sauce, which at first was so disgustingly pungent, that Duan on sampling it nearly coughed up his lungs! Sterling then had to re-work the sauce mix and went to their business meeting with potential buyers without the sauce itself. Meanwhile team Phoenix had come with an Italian themed table sauce, which essentially a spicy tomato and chili sauce. However they came into trouble at the factory as the Phoenix team failed to create enough produce of their sauce, and ended up with only 60% of their stock ready for selling. Not to mention Katie's team who came up with the name Bellissimo for the table sauce, neglected to even check the spelling of the word, and ended up spelling it with only one "l" which caused them some embarrassment at their meeting with the marketeers. Despite the production problems both teams managed to sale quite well, and team Sterling also got an additional order from a grocers.
In the boardroom it was revealed that team Sterling were indeed the winners as they managed to come up with a profit £1028, while team Phoenix only managed to sale £585 in comparison. In the losing team Katie decided while deliberating with the others that the failure of the task came down to the lack of production in the factory and sales from their sub-team and decided to bring in Michael, who was in charge of the sub-team and Ricky who was in charge of the factory production. In the boardroom Ricky stood his ground and debated Katie's decision to bring him back into the boardroom, although to be honest he was in charge of the factory produce. Michael on the other hand found in hard to speak up for himself over Ricky's loudmouth-ness, and he basically berated Michael for not delivering in the task. Katie also being in the losing team for the 3rd time in a row, came under threat but Lord Sugar realised that she did sell well as part of her team and recognised they had a problem with the limited stock and chose to raise the price of the remaining stock.
So here comes the SPOILER: so in the end Lord Sugar decided to fire Michael as he felt he was out of his depth in the process and also badly mismanaged the sub-team. He also gave Katie a warning for being in the boardroom for the 3rd time in a row and said he did not want to see her back in there. To be fair I think Lord Sugar did make the right decision as Michael really was a bit out of his depth, and 50% of the process is how well you defend your corner in the boardroom, and that was something he failed to do.
But in the Apprentice there usually are a few twats to be found in the show, and on the twat detector I have to say it has come up with two prize candidates, one being Ricky, who in this episode was a real dick, as he obviously was big headed and thought he was better than everyone else, and he also belittled Michael in the boardroom. Ricky however has been quite capable so far, so I'd imagine he will stay in the process for quite a while and since he is a knob, that makes for good TV. The other twat in my opinion is Adam, who basically was kissing Ricky's ass throughout the episode and most likely the process. Adam also said something really obnixious to Katie when he welcomed her into team Phoenix as he said "welcome to the team, Katie, where we do things differently, such as winning". And of course ironically on this occassion they were on the losing team, what a dick!
Anyway that's another episode over, 3 candidates gone, and 13 remain. Next week's episode should be a good one as the two teams have to sell second items and furniture for a profit, so I look forward to that one.
So I will leave it there.
The task this week was for the two teams to come with a condiment (basically a sauce e.g. mustard) and sell it to the public and traders. So the two teams, Sterling saw two guys Duane and Nick move to them for the first time, and Phoenix saw Katie move to their team. In Sterling, Duane became the team leader and Katie was the team leader for Phoenix. Sterling came up with the idea of creting a pineapple and ginger chutney sauce, which at first was so disgustingly pungent, that Duan on sampling it nearly coughed up his lungs! Sterling then had to re-work the sauce mix and went to their business meeting with potential buyers without the sauce itself. Meanwhile team Phoenix had come with an Italian themed table sauce, which essentially a spicy tomato and chili sauce. However they came into trouble at the factory as the Phoenix team failed to create enough produce of their sauce, and ended up with only 60% of their stock ready for selling. Not to mention Katie's team who came up with the name Bellissimo for the table sauce, neglected to even check the spelling of the word, and ended up spelling it with only one "l" which caused them some embarrassment at their meeting with the marketeers. Despite the production problems both teams managed to sale quite well, and team Sterling also got an additional order from a grocers.
In the boardroom it was revealed that team Sterling were indeed the winners as they managed to come up with a profit £1028, while team Phoenix only managed to sale £585 in comparison. In the losing team Katie decided while deliberating with the others that the failure of the task came down to the lack of production in the factory and sales from their sub-team and decided to bring in Michael, who was in charge of the sub-team and Ricky who was in charge of the factory production. In the boardroom Ricky stood his ground and debated Katie's decision to bring him back into the boardroom, although to be honest he was in charge of the factory produce. Michael on the other hand found in hard to speak up for himself over Ricky's loudmouth-ness, and he basically berated Michael for not delivering in the task. Katie also being in the losing team for the 3rd time in a row, came under threat but Lord Sugar realised that she did sell well as part of her team and recognised they had a problem with the limited stock and chose to raise the price of the remaining stock.
So here comes the SPOILER: so in the end Lord Sugar decided to fire Michael as he felt he was out of his depth in the process and also badly mismanaged the sub-team. He also gave Katie a warning for being in the boardroom for the 3rd time in a row and said he did not want to see her back in there. To be fair I think Lord Sugar did make the right decision as Michael really was a bit out of his depth, and 50% of the process is how well you defend your corner in the boardroom, and that was something he failed to do.
But in the Apprentice there usually are a few twats to be found in the show, and on the twat detector I have to say it has come up with two prize candidates, one being Ricky, who in this episode was a real dick, as he obviously was big headed and thought he was better than everyone else, and he also belittled Michael in the boardroom. Ricky however has been quite capable so far, so I'd imagine he will stay in the process for quite a while and since he is a knob, that makes for good TV. The other twat in my opinion is Adam, who basically was kissing Ricky's ass throughout the episode and most likely the process. Adam also said something really obnixious to Katie when he welcomed her into team Phoenix as he said "welcome to the team, Katie, where we do things differently, such as winning". And of course ironically on this occassion they were on the losing team, what a dick!
Anyway that's another episode over, 3 candidates gone, and 13 remain. Next week's episode should be a good one as the two teams have to sell second items and furniture for a profit, so I look forward to that one.
So I will leave it there.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Miami Part 6: Yep it does kind of end with a whimper.
Welllllll this the last part of my Sony Ericsson Open coverage, the big tournament on the mens and ladies tour, so this post will cover the mens and ladies finals.
Starting with the ladies final which was between Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska who fought it out on the centre stadium for the right for the title trophy. And the match itself was a pretty tight affair, which was almost like a game of cat and mouse, or Tom and Jerry even! In the first set it was pretty taut stuff as the players held serve until 6-5, where on Sharapova's serve she gifted the break to Radwanska on an unforced error. In the second set it was tight again until 5-4, with Sharapova serving to level up 5-5, when Sharapova yet again proved to be her worst enemy as she hit a final unforced error (her 45th!) to hand the match and championship to Radwanska, with the Pole winning her first Miami title in 7-5, 6-4.
The scoreline for this one was pretty tight but it was yet again for the fourth time, the same result as before. But to be fair Sharapova did give a good account of herself, way better than she did in Indian Wells. But Maria as usual failed in one main regard and that was in keeping her unforced error count down, she has improved her serve incredibly, but if she keeps making the errors then it doesn't count for much in the end. You could also see the look on Sharapova's face when she lost, as she rolled her eyes and looked like she was saying "Not again!!!". Radwanska on the other hand did incredibly well and used her game to mix things up, and while she lacks the power that Sharapova has, she has the ability to create points and use the court to her advantage. Radwanska's consistency over the last 6 months or so has been alarmingly good, and at this rate she could even raise higher in the rankings, as she is now the world no.4, but she could push it even further, maybe even to the No.2 spot. Also Agnieszka has only been beaten by one player this year, and that's Victoria Azarenka, but she has the same number of wins under her shorts (belt!), 26. So big well done to Agnieszka, who keeps going on the rise, and you never know, just maybe we could be looking another slam champion in the making here. And that's a great thing about Radwanksa and even Wozniacki as they are both counterpunchers, they bring something a little different to the proceedings, rather than just the aggressive bit hitters who just blast the ball down the court from the baseline, they also try to out-think each other and push each other into making the error, which is different from just hitting the ball as hard as you can.
Now onto the men's final which was a much anticipated match up between Andy Murray and the World No.1 Novak Djokovic. This promised to be quite a match, but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to expectations, as from the start Andy didn't look very comfortable out on court, he also looked pretty rusty in comparison to Djoko who was match sharp. In the first set Djokovic dominated right from the start and was able to break Andy twice, and served it out 6-1. In the 2nd however it proved to be a tighter contest, but Andy had to fight hard to hold onto his service games, while Djokovic breezed through his, until 5-6, on Djokovic's serve, which came under threat for the first time. However Djoko managed to survive all the break points on his serve and pushed it to a tiebreak, which he came out on top on, and won his 3rd title in Miami, in 6-1, 7-6(4).
This wasn't a bad final overall even though it was by no means a classic, but to be fair I guess with two walkovers and having only played 3 matches up until then, Andy's game wasn't as sharp as he would like it to have been. However Andy just failed to get his serve going, and he dumped his first serve too often into the net, and his return game ultimately let him down. The conditions on court of course probably didn't help matters much as it was very hot and humid, and you could see both players were feeling it quite a bit and in the 1st set it was pretty flat. However the 2nd set did provide some terrific rallies from both players, and some of the real highlights were from Andy who hit some great winners, particularly a superb drop shot during the breaker at 2-2. And despite the scoreline the match itself was no pushover for Djokovic, as they were out on court for nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes, and plenty of matches with that scoreline have lasted much shorter.
But Djokovic definitely proved he was the World No.1 in this match and this tournament, where he didn't even drop a single set throughout. And what's more alarming for the other players on tour it looks like he's worked on his main weakness, which has been tiebreaks, as he didn't lose a single tiebreak in this tournament either. So that could mean even bigger trouble for the other players on tour if they can't even take a set off Djoko in a tiebreak. Gulp! But Djokovic definitely deserves full credit for his performance throughout the tournament, as he returned and served brilliantly and it helps keep him safely at the top spot once more, and with another 1000 points onto his ranking, no one will knock him off the top spot anytime soon.
As for Andy Murray, well to be fair, he did well to fight back in the 2nd set, but he will need to make sure he improves his performance for future finals. But despite the loss, he has reached another final, and that's already three this year, despite losing two, its still a good start in comparison to last year where at this time he failed to even win a set never mind a title. But here's hoping in time it will to come Andy, but for now he might as well go back to the training camp with Lendl and work on what's loose. For me and everyone else, it is the serve that hurts him most, and Greg Rusedski said the right thing about it, which is quite often he changes the direction of his ball toss and he keeps trying to thump it too hard on the first serve, if slow down the speed of the serve to get it in, he would have better chances of increasing his percentage. But it really remains Andy's Achilles heel, and despite it all, his serve is terrific when it goes in, its a tough one to stop, but he needs to find that consistency, and that's where he has always struggled since the beginning.
And while he has made two finals this year against two of the top 3 players in the world, he has struggled to bring out his best tennis in either of those finals, and that is definitely something Andy needs to work on. But there are more chances ahead, and here's hoping that he can take some of them, or at least one of them! He is also still talking of hoping to reach the No.1 spot by the end of the year, but from here its a mighty big ask, as Novak Djokovic might just have something to say about it, especially as Andy has yet to even win a grand slam, so the sound of pigs fluttering up springs to mind at that one, I have to unfortunately say. One thing however that is impressive for Andy that he is now for the first time in quite a while got 8000 points to his ranking, which puts him just over a thousand points underneath Federer, so all he needs to do is keep plugging away, try to reach a few more finals or even try to win a Masters title and it will put him ahead of Federer. But I think as Andy rightly has said that he will try his best to peak at the French Open, and I hope he does, even if he gives himself a decent shot of getting to the final, but its still a mammoth ask to get past Rafa or Djokovic in the final. But with Lendl on his side, you never know, he put in a great performance in Melbourne, and that is something he can hopefully build on for the French Open.
But anyway that's the hard court season come to an end for now, and in a week or so it will be time for the red dirt, or clay. And this will most likely see the return of Rafa to his winning ways, or will it???? Because let's face it, if he faces Djokovic in another clay court final, be it a Masters, he could lose once again. But last year was last year, and it will be very interesting to see where Rafa will be at with his game on clay this time, and we will also see if he can somewhere down the line snap his losing streak to Djokovic. And if there is a place where he should and I would love to see him do it, then that place would be Roland Garros.
But that's another story, for now I shall leave it there and say goodbye to the Sony Ericsson Open which has been a terrific tournament this year, especially on the ladies side of the net, some great matches, and the Miami crowd are really receptive, far more so than the heavily sedated atmos at Indian Wells. So next up will be the start of the clay season, and on the WTA it kicks off with the Family Circle Cup from Charleston in the US, except this is green clay (yuck!). And there are quite a few big names playing there such as the Williams sisters, Sam Stosur, Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki and Jelena Jankovic, so it promises to be pretty good!
Oh and also Great Britain's next Davis Cup tie at the Braehead Arena is on this coming week, which is Easter week of course, and I will be going myself, with my cousin, my uncle and my dad to see it (yep its become a family thing!). And unfortunately once again Andy Murray will not be playing the tie, so it will leave Great Britain with a big big task ahead of them in getting past their next opponents, Belgium. The Belgium team have two very good singles players who are within the Top 100, Xavier Malisse and Oliver Rochus, and Malisse is also a great doubles player, so team GB have their work cut out in both the singles and doubles departments. And if I'm being honest I really don't see Great Britain winning this time, no matter how much home advantage they might have, I just don't think it will be quite enough. However having said that I really didn't expect them to win last time, and yet they pulled a great win out of the bag, and provided a terrific and very close tie, so just maybe you never know, they might just be able to pull it off again. I sincerely hope they do and I will be there on Easter Sunday to cheer them on, or groan in dispair when they lose, either way I'm prepared for the either scenario, and I've seen just about enough tennis not to be too surprised, well nearly!
Right that's finally it for now!
Starting with the ladies final which was between Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska who fought it out on the centre stadium for the right for the title trophy. And the match itself was a pretty tight affair, which was almost like a game of cat and mouse, or Tom and Jerry even! In the first set it was pretty taut stuff as the players held serve until 6-5, where on Sharapova's serve she gifted the break to Radwanska on an unforced error. In the second set it was tight again until 5-4, with Sharapova serving to level up 5-5, when Sharapova yet again proved to be her worst enemy as she hit a final unforced error (her 45th!) to hand the match and championship to Radwanska, with the Pole winning her first Miami title in 7-5, 6-4.
The scoreline for this one was pretty tight but it was yet again for the fourth time, the same result as before. But to be fair Sharapova did give a good account of herself, way better than she did in Indian Wells. But Maria as usual failed in one main regard and that was in keeping her unforced error count down, she has improved her serve incredibly, but if she keeps making the errors then it doesn't count for much in the end. You could also see the look on Sharapova's face when she lost, as she rolled her eyes and looked like she was saying "Not again!!!". Radwanska on the other hand did incredibly well and used her game to mix things up, and while she lacks the power that Sharapova has, she has the ability to create points and use the court to her advantage. Radwanska's consistency over the last 6 months or so has been alarmingly good, and at this rate she could even raise higher in the rankings, as she is now the world no.4, but she could push it even further, maybe even to the No.2 spot. Also Agnieszka has only been beaten by one player this year, and that's Victoria Azarenka, but she has the same number of wins under her shorts (belt!), 26. So big well done to Agnieszka, who keeps going on the rise, and you never know, just maybe we could be looking another slam champion in the making here. And that's a great thing about Radwanksa and even Wozniacki as they are both counterpunchers, they bring something a little different to the proceedings, rather than just the aggressive bit hitters who just blast the ball down the court from the baseline, they also try to out-think each other and push each other into making the error, which is different from just hitting the ball as hard as you can.
Now onto the men's final which was a much anticipated match up between Andy Murray and the World No.1 Novak Djokovic. This promised to be quite a match, but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to expectations, as from the start Andy didn't look very comfortable out on court, he also looked pretty rusty in comparison to Djoko who was match sharp. In the first set Djokovic dominated right from the start and was able to break Andy twice, and served it out 6-1. In the 2nd however it proved to be a tighter contest, but Andy had to fight hard to hold onto his service games, while Djokovic breezed through his, until 5-6, on Djokovic's serve, which came under threat for the first time. However Djoko managed to survive all the break points on his serve and pushed it to a tiebreak, which he came out on top on, and won his 3rd title in Miami, in 6-1, 7-6(4).
This wasn't a bad final overall even though it was by no means a classic, but to be fair I guess with two walkovers and having only played 3 matches up until then, Andy's game wasn't as sharp as he would like it to have been. However Andy just failed to get his serve going, and he dumped his first serve too often into the net, and his return game ultimately let him down. The conditions on court of course probably didn't help matters much as it was very hot and humid, and you could see both players were feeling it quite a bit and in the 1st set it was pretty flat. However the 2nd set did provide some terrific rallies from both players, and some of the real highlights were from Andy who hit some great winners, particularly a superb drop shot during the breaker at 2-2. And despite the scoreline the match itself was no pushover for Djokovic, as they were out on court for nearly 2 hours and 20 minutes, and plenty of matches with that scoreline have lasted much shorter.
But Djokovic definitely proved he was the World No.1 in this match and this tournament, where he didn't even drop a single set throughout. And what's more alarming for the other players on tour it looks like he's worked on his main weakness, which has been tiebreaks, as he didn't lose a single tiebreak in this tournament either. So that could mean even bigger trouble for the other players on tour if they can't even take a set off Djoko in a tiebreak. Gulp! But Djokovic definitely deserves full credit for his performance throughout the tournament, as he returned and served brilliantly and it helps keep him safely at the top spot once more, and with another 1000 points onto his ranking, no one will knock him off the top spot anytime soon.
As for Andy Murray, well to be fair, he did well to fight back in the 2nd set, but he will need to make sure he improves his performance for future finals. But despite the loss, he has reached another final, and that's already three this year, despite losing two, its still a good start in comparison to last year where at this time he failed to even win a set never mind a title. But here's hoping in time it will to come Andy, but for now he might as well go back to the training camp with Lendl and work on what's loose. For me and everyone else, it is the serve that hurts him most, and Greg Rusedski said the right thing about it, which is quite often he changes the direction of his ball toss and he keeps trying to thump it too hard on the first serve, if slow down the speed of the serve to get it in, he would have better chances of increasing his percentage. But it really remains Andy's Achilles heel, and despite it all, his serve is terrific when it goes in, its a tough one to stop, but he needs to find that consistency, and that's where he has always struggled since the beginning.
And while he has made two finals this year against two of the top 3 players in the world, he has struggled to bring out his best tennis in either of those finals, and that is definitely something Andy needs to work on. But there are more chances ahead, and here's hoping that he can take some of them, or at least one of them! He is also still talking of hoping to reach the No.1 spot by the end of the year, but from here its a mighty big ask, as Novak Djokovic might just have something to say about it, especially as Andy has yet to even win a grand slam, so the sound of pigs fluttering up springs to mind at that one, I have to unfortunately say. One thing however that is impressive for Andy that he is now for the first time in quite a while got 8000 points to his ranking, which puts him just over a thousand points underneath Federer, so all he needs to do is keep plugging away, try to reach a few more finals or even try to win a Masters title and it will put him ahead of Federer. But I think as Andy rightly has said that he will try his best to peak at the French Open, and I hope he does, even if he gives himself a decent shot of getting to the final, but its still a mammoth ask to get past Rafa or Djokovic in the final. But with Lendl on his side, you never know, he put in a great performance in Melbourne, and that is something he can hopefully build on for the French Open.
But anyway that's the hard court season come to an end for now, and in a week or so it will be time for the red dirt, or clay. And this will most likely see the return of Rafa to his winning ways, or will it???? Because let's face it, if he faces Djokovic in another clay court final, be it a Masters, he could lose once again. But last year was last year, and it will be very interesting to see where Rafa will be at with his game on clay this time, and we will also see if he can somewhere down the line snap his losing streak to Djokovic. And if there is a place where he should and I would love to see him do it, then that place would be Roland Garros.
But that's another story, for now I shall leave it there and say goodbye to the Sony Ericsson Open which has been a terrific tournament this year, especially on the ladies side of the net, some great matches, and the Miami crowd are really receptive, far more so than the heavily sedated atmos at Indian Wells. So next up will be the start of the clay season, and on the WTA it kicks off with the Family Circle Cup from Charleston in the US, except this is green clay (yuck!). And there are quite a few big names playing there such as the Williams sisters, Sam Stosur, Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki and Jelena Jankovic, so it promises to be pretty good!
Oh and also Great Britain's next Davis Cup tie at the Braehead Arena is on this coming week, which is Easter week of course, and I will be going myself, with my cousin, my uncle and my dad to see it (yep its become a family thing!). And unfortunately once again Andy Murray will not be playing the tie, so it will leave Great Britain with a big big task ahead of them in getting past their next opponents, Belgium. The Belgium team have two very good singles players who are within the Top 100, Xavier Malisse and Oliver Rochus, and Malisse is also a great doubles player, so team GB have their work cut out in both the singles and doubles departments. And if I'm being honest I really don't see Great Britain winning this time, no matter how much home advantage they might have, I just don't think it will be quite enough. However having said that I really didn't expect them to win last time, and yet they pulled a great win out of the bag, and provided a terrific and very close tie, so just maybe you never know, they might just be able to pull it off again. I sincerely hope they do and I will be there on Easter Sunday to cheer them on, or groan in dispair when they lose, either way I'm prepared for the either scenario, and I've seen just about enough tennis not to be too surprised, well nearly!
Right that's finally it for now!
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Miami Part 5: The final showdown!
Right this is now the penultimate post of the Sony Ericsson Open entries, covering the tournament from Crandon Tennis Park, as it is now reaching the end of the event with the ladies final today and the men's final tomorrow.
So starting with the men's semi finals as a catch up, there were two matches set up, the first being a very much anticipated match between Andy and Rafa, which unfortunately didn't take place because Rafa had a knee injury, which forced him to withdraw from the event, which saw Andy get another walkover into the final. The other match was between Djokovic and the Argentine No.2, Juan Monaco, who had reached his first 1000 Masters semi final. The match itself proved to be a fairly tough encounter for Djokovic, who breezed through the first set with ease, but in the 2nd he faced a fightback from Monaco who after going down a break down, broke back to make it 5-5 all, and pushed the match to a 2nd set tiebreak. However in the tiebreak Djokovic once again prevailed as he did against Ferrer in their excellent quarter final match, and securing his place in the final, winning the match in 6-0, 7-6(5).
Well well well, this sets up another showdown between two of the best players in the world, Novak and Andy, and its already their 3rd meeting this year, and they have both won one match each, so who will win this one?????? It really is tough to decide, as on one hand Andy hasn't played a match in three days so he will feel fit and fresh going into the final, however on the other hand, Djokovic has had match play over the last few days, which could give him the edge as he may be sharper on court tomorrow. And if Andy gets off to a rusty start, it could give Djokovic a strong advantage, which is something Andy can't afford to give him. But Andy also has a way of fighting his way into a match, like he did in Rome last year during the clay season, where he lost the 1st 6-1, and went on to win 2nd and play a very close match in the 3rd, which he lost. So if I'm going to pick a winner, I can't really say for sure, but if Andy comes out a bit rusty I can see Djokovic take an earlier advantage and possibly close it out in straight sets or 3 sets, but Andy might prove to be very sharp and take it to Djoko and win in straight set or maybe 3. The best we can hope for is a very tight final like we got last year from Djokovic and Rafa, but either one of them could win, and there are no favourites. Whatever way it goes, I think it promises to be a great final, so watch this space....
So today we have the ladies final which is between Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska who defeated Marion Bartoli in the semi finals in straight sets. And this also promises to be a very interesting match, and a much more intruiging one than if Victoria Azarenka where in the final, because we all would know what to expect if she was! Maria however has an emphatic lead on their head to head, with a 7-1 win loss in her favour, but looking at their past matches, they have been quite close, so this could be a very good one, with their last match being at the French Open last year, where Maria won in 7-6, 7-5. But Agnieszka since then has improved even more as a player, so I think this one could be even tighter, and regarding both players, Radwanska is a counterpuncher, who has a clever and creative game, and Sharapova is the aggressive baseliner who can hit flat out winners from anywhere on the court, so it really is a fascinating contrast in styles once again. Whichever way it goes it should be a very entertaining final.
So more to follow tomorrow once the tournament is over and we know who has lifted that nice glass trophy.
So starting with the men's semi finals as a catch up, there were two matches set up, the first being a very much anticipated match between Andy and Rafa, which unfortunately didn't take place because Rafa had a knee injury, which forced him to withdraw from the event, which saw Andy get another walkover into the final. The other match was between Djokovic and the Argentine No.2, Juan Monaco, who had reached his first 1000 Masters semi final. The match itself proved to be a fairly tough encounter for Djokovic, who breezed through the first set with ease, but in the 2nd he faced a fightback from Monaco who after going down a break down, broke back to make it 5-5 all, and pushed the match to a 2nd set tiebreak. However in the tiebreak Djokovic once again prevailed as he did against Ferrer in their excellent quarter final match, and securing his place in the final, winning the match in 6-0, 7-6(5).
Well well well, this sets up another showdown between two of the best players in the world, Novak and Andy, and its already their 3rd meeting this year, and they have both won one match each, so who will win this one?????? It really is tough to decide, as on one hand Andy hasn't played a match in three days so he will feel fit and fresh going into the final, however on the other hand, Djokovic has had match play over the last few days, which could give him the edge as he may be sharper on court tomorrow. And if Andy gets off to a rusty start, it could give Djokovic a strong advantage, which is something Andy can't afford to give him. But Andy also has a way of fighting his way into a match, like he did in Rome last year during the clay season, where he lost the 1st 6-1, and went on to win 2nd and play a very close match in the 3rd, which he lost. So if I'm going to pick a winner, I can't really say for sure, but if Andy comes out a bit rusty I can see Djokovic take an earlier advantage and possibly close it out in straight sets or 3 sets, but Andy might prove to be very sharp and take it to Djoko and win in straight set or maybe 3. The best we can hope for is a very tight final like we got last year from Djokovic and Rafa, but either one of them could win, and there are no favourites. Whatever way it goes, I think it promises to be a great final, so watch this space....
So today we have the ladies final which is between Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska who defeated Marion Bartoli in the semi finals in straight sets. And this also promises to be a very interesting match, and a much more intruiging one than if Victoria Azarenka where in the final, because we all would know what to expect if she was! Maria however has an emphatic lead on their head to head, with a 7-1 win loss in her favour, but looking at their past matches, they have been quite close, so this could be a very good one, with their last match being at the French Open last year, where Maria won in 7-6, 7-5. But Agnieszka since then has improved even more as a player, so I think this one could be even tighter, and regarding both players, Radwanska is a counterpuncher, who has a clever and creative game, and Sharapova is the aggressive baseliner who can hit flat out winners from anywhere on the court, so it really is a fascinating contrast in styles once again. Whichever way it goes it should be a very entertaining final.
So more to follow tomorrow once the tournament is over and we know who has lifted that nice glass trophy.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Miami Part 4: The Lazarus of tennis, 26-1 and first Semi in!
OK now into part 4 of the Sony Ericsson Open from Miami which saw some great tennis on display and a pretty big upset in the ladies tournament which I will delve into more in a bit.
Starting with the men's tennis we had some good stuff on display as Andy Murray started off his quarter final match against the Serb No.2, Janko Tipsarevic who gave the British No.1 a real run for his money, although Andy himself was struggling with a stomach bug, and didn't look that well in the first set, which was a topsy turvey affair, which Janko won. In the 2nd set, Andy didn't start any better either as he went down a break straight away, and he had to call the doctor onto the court at one point to have a look at him. However after that Andy fought back and levelled the match, breaking Tipsarevic at 3-3, to make it 4-3, he moved ahead, and in the decider, Andy got the crucial break and closed out a hard fought match in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was another gutsy effort from the Muzza, who I honestly thought was dead and buried in this match, especially in the 2nd set being 2-0 down, but he did another Lazarus and pulled out the win as he has been known to do. Overall despite being a mixed bag in quality, it was quite a good match, and again a fine example of how resilient Andy is in the face of adversity, although his serve was once again questionable, which will hinder him in the next round if he doesn't improve.
In the second men's quarter final match, Rafa Nadal took on the World No.6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which proved to be a really tough encounter. Tsonga had beaten Rafa in their previous two meetings, but this time Rafa started out strong winning 6-2 in the 1st, but after making some errors in the 2nd set, Tsonga hit back and rattled off 3 games in a row to take the 2nd. But in the 3rd it was down to Rafa who secured the break at 3-3 and went onto close out the match, eventually winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, in an exhaustive 2 hours and 49 minutes. This was Rafa's first big test of the tournament and he did well to come through it, as he was having trouble with tendonitis at one point in the match. So this sets up another very potentially exciting meeting with Andy Murray, which should hopefully be a real belter. Rafa leads the head to head with an overwhelming 13-5 ratio in his favour, but hard court is Andy's best surface and he won in Miami back in 2009, so hopefully he can utilise that to try and win, either way it promises to be a really good one.
So now onto the ladies, and starting with Agnieszka Radwanska, who will move up to the world no.4 after this event, who took on a resurgent Venus Williams, who impressively made it to this stage. The match itself however was a bit of a mixed affair, with Venus coming out quite strong in the first set, and being broken, but breaking back, but soon broken yet again by Radwanska. By the second set however, Venus was clearly feeling the effects of her previous matches and the toll it had taken on her, and slipped away from the match, leaving Radwanska to close it out comfortably in 6-4, 6-1. Despite the scoreline though, this match was quite a tricky one for Radwanska, as she had to deal with some old school tennis from Venus, probably something she hasn't been used to up until now. But Radwanska was by far the fresher of the two, as she has yet to even drop a set in the tournament.
And noowwww onto the second quarter final match between the World No.1 Victoria Azarenka and World No.7 Marion Bartoli, which promised to be quite a match up. The match itself however was quite a surprise as Bartoli came out strong and broke Victoria straight away, and secured a double break at 4-0, but Vika soon found enough to break back, however it wasn't enough as Marion served it out for 6-3. And in the 2nd set Azarenka broke Bartoli's serve, and it looked like we were heading for another fightback and a from behind victory. But it wasn't to be as Bartoli broke back once again and made another crucial break, and did what no one else was able to do so far in 2012: beat the World No.1 the first time, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. This was quite a performance Marion Bartoli, and I always though she had a chance of beating Azarenka at some point, and I also think after playing and winning 26 consecutive matches, that physically it had token its toll on Victoria. I think though Dominika Cibulkova did most of the hard work in the previous round to run Azarenka ragged, and it was Bartoli who delivered the final knockout blow. But take nothing away from Bartoli as she is definitely a player who has beaten the best in the past, including Azarenka, and she deserved to win without a doubt.
As for Victoria Azarenka, well she knew this day would have come sooner or later, but she has put together a very very impressive run of form, especially in such a time where tennis is so competitive, so to win 26 matches and 4 titles in a row is quite an achievement. So she can at least take heart in knowing that while her winning run is over, she has made a great start to 2012 and she can work on that for the rest of the year, and I think she has a strong chance of going on to win more slams this season as well.
So this sets up an exciting semi final match up on the ladies with Radwanska vs Bartoli, and Sharapova vs Wozniacki.
And as an update I couldn't help but give my opinion on the Sharapova/Wozniacki match which has now finished (as of 29/03 913:PM typing this!) as on paper it looked like a fascinating match up between the aggressor and the counterpuncher. And thankfully the match lived up to expectations as the two players battled it out and put on a terrific display for the near full capacity crowd. Sharapova came out the stronger of the two with brute force and accuracy as she bludgeoned many of Wozniacki's second serves back at her, and raced to a 4-1 lead. However at that point the errors started to creep into Sharapova's game, which let Caroline break back, and before we knew it, it was 5-4 with Caroline serving it out for the 1st set. In the 2nd set however Maria found her range and effectively powered past Caroline, and secured a double break to level the match. In the 3rd however things got really interesting as Sharapova broke twice and on serving out at 5-2, Caroline broke back, playing two very aggressive games to get her back to the single break. However in the final game, it was Sharapova who managed to close it out and secured her place in her 4th Miami final, winning in 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
This really was a terrific match from both women and it was also a great contrast of styles, watching the aggressive baseliner and the counterpuncher go at it. The match itself also had a bit controversy at the end, with the second last point being called out by a line judge, but the umpire made a correction saying the ball was good. At this point Caroline had run out of challenges (you get 3 per set) and argued with the umpire because he insisted the ball was good, and wouldn't let Maria challenge as he was convinced it was, and as it turned out, it was. So at the end, the Wozza was pretty miffed as she refused to shake the umpire's hand, Kader Nouni, when the match finished.
To be honest I don't blame Caroline for not shaking his hand as Nouni has in the past shown he can be a dick, an example of this is the Australian Open this year during a match between David Nalbandian and John Isner. In the match, Nalbandian made a challenge, but because he took a short time to make the decision to challenge, Nouni refused to let him challenge, which had a knock on effect in the match, which possibly cost him losing the match. And Nouni himself referred to Caroline, reminding her that she had used up all her challenges just before she was about to serve at 5-3 in the 3rd set, and even saying that her coach and father Piotr Wozniacki was giving Caroline too much advice. Basically the guy was interfering just a bit too much in my opinion, but that's umpires for you, they do a tough job themselves, and they aren't always popular with the players.
In regards to Caroline in the match, she did at times did struggle with her first serve, which left her 2nd serve frequently getting blootered by Sharapova, who overall hit 50 winners in the whole match. But it didn't take away from the highly entertaining contest that both of them brought to the match, and Caroline despite her shortcomings battled bravely until the end. She also in those two final games she won showed glimpses of how she should really play in the future, as she really attacked Sharapova's serve at 5-2, and held serve well after that. If she can keep up that kind of pace then she definitely has a chance of winning the bigger titles or a major, but it she stays as a counterpuncher, it will be something she will struggle to do. But I still admire Caroline as a player, as she is a great competitor and one of the best defensive players in the game today, and she has such a great positive outlook on life, and comes across as a good fun person. And this has been a really good tournament for Caroline which sees her move forward in the right direction, so here's hoping she can continue to, and her semi final even though didn't produce the result she wanted, it was one of the real highlights of the tournament. And as I said the contrast in styles made this match a very entertaining contest, as if it was just another example of Sharapova playing Azarenka, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good or competitive.
OK that's it for now, more soon to follow on the remaning men's quarter finals, Djokovic vs Ferrer, and Fish vs Monaco, and on the remaining ladies semi finals. Should be very good!
Bye the now (me).
Starting with the men's tennis we had some good stuff on display as Andy Murray started off his quarter final match against the Serb No.2, Janko Tipsarevic who gave the British No.1 a real run for his money, although Andy himself was struggling with a stomach bug, and didn't look that well in the first set, which was a topsy turvey affair, which Janko won. In the 2nd set, Andy didn't start any better either as he went down a break straight away, and he had to call the doctor onto the court at one point to have a look at him. However after that Andy fought back and levelled the match, breaking Tipsarevic at 3-3, to make it 4-3, he moved ahead, and in the decider, Andy got the crucial break and closed out a hard fought match in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was another gutsy effort from the Muzza, who I honestly thought was dead and buried in this match, especially in the 2nd set being 2-0 down, but he did another Lazarus and pulled out the win as he has been known to do. Overall despite being a mixed bag in quality, it was quite a good match, and again a fine example of how resilient Andy is in the face of adversity, although his serve was once again questionable, which will hinder him in the next round if he doesn't improve.
In the second men's quarter final match, Rafa Nadal took on the World No.6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, which proved to be a really tough encounter. Tsonga had beaten Rafa in their previous two meetings, but this time Rafa started out strong winning 6-2 in the 1st, but after making some errors in the 2nd set, Tsonga hit back and rattled off 3 games in a row to take the 2nd. But in the 3rd it was down to Rafa who secured the break at 3-3 and went onto close out the match, eventually winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, in an exhaustive 2 hours and 49 minutes. This was Rafa's first big test of the tournament and he did well to come through it, as he was having trouble with tendonitis at one point in the match. So this sets up another very potentially exciting meeting with Andy Murray, which should hopefully be a real belter. Rafa leads the head to head with an overwhelming 13-5 ratio in his favour, but hard court is Andy's best surface and he won in Miami back in 2009, so hopefully he can utilise that to try and win, either way it promises to be a really good one.
So now onto the ladies, and starting with Agnieszka Radwanska, who will move up to the world no.4 after this event, who took on a resurgent Venus Williams, who impressively made it to this stage. The match itself however was a bit of a mixed affair, with Venus coming out quite strong in the first set, and being broken, but breaking back, but soon broken yet again by Radwanska. By the second set however, Venus was clearly feeling the effects of her previous matches and the toll it had taken on her, and slipped away from the match, leaving Radwanska to close it out comfortably in 6-4, 6-1. Despite the scoreline though, this match was quite a tricky one for Radwanska, as she had to deal with some old school tennis from Venus, probably something she hasn't been used to up until now. But Radwanska was by far the fresher of the two, as she has yet to even drop a set in the tournament.
And noowwww onto the second quarter final match between the World No.1 Victoria Azarenka and World No.7 Marion Bartoli, which promised to be quite a match up. The match itself however was quite a surprise as Bartoli came out strong and broke Victoria straight away, and secured a double break at 4-0, but Vika soon found enough to break back, however it wasn't enough as Marion served it out for 6-3. And in the 2nd set Azarenka broke Bartoli's serve, and it looked like we were heading for another fightback and a from behind victory. But it wasn't to be as Bartoli broke back once again and made another crucial break, and did what no one else was able to do so far in 2012: beat the World No.1 the first time, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. This was quite a performance Marion Bartoli, and I always though she had a chance of beating Azarenka at some point, and I also think after playing and winning 26 consecutive matches, that physically it had token its toll on Victoria. I think though Dominika Cibulkova did most of the hard work in the previous round to run Azarenka ragged, and it was Bartoli who delivered the final knockout blow. But take nothing away from Bartoli as she is definitely a player who has beaten the best in the past, including Azarenka, and she deserved to win without a doubt.
As for Victoria Azarenka, well she knew this day would have come sooner or later, but she has put together a very very impressive run of form, especially in such a time where tennis is so competitive, so to win 26 matches and 4 titles in a row is quite an achievement. So she can at least take heart in knowing that while her winning run is over, she has made a great start to 2012 and she can work on that for the rest of the year, and I think she has a strong chance of going on to win more slams this season as well.
So this sets up an exciting semi final match up on the ladies with Radwanska vs Bartoli, and Sharapova vs Wozniacki.
And as an update I couldn't help but give my opinion on the Sharapova/Wozniacki match which has now finished (as of 29/03 913:PM typing this!) as on paper it looked like a fascinating match up between the aggressor and the counterpuncher. And thankfully the match lived up to expectations as the two players battled it out and put on a terrific display for the near full capacity crowd. Sharapova came out the stronger of the two with brute force and accuracy as she bludgeoned many of Wozniacki's second serves back at her, and raced to a 4-1 lead. However at that point the errors started to creep into Sharapova's game, which let Caroline break back, and before we knew it, it was 5-4 with Caroline serving it out for the 1st set. In the 2nd set however Maria found her range and effectively powered past Caroline, and secured a double break to level the match. In the 3rd however things got really interesting as Sharapova broke twice and on serving out at 5-2, Caroline broke back, playing two very aggressive games to get her back to the single break. However in the final game, it was Sharapova who managed to close it out and secured her place in her 4th Miami final, winning in 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
This really was a terrific match from both women and it was also a great contrast of styles, watching the aggressive baseliner and the counterpuncher go at it. The match itself also had a bit controversy at the end, with the second last point being called out by a line judge, but the umpire made a correction saying the ball was good. At this point Caroline had run out of challenges (you get 3 per set) and argued with the umpire because he insisted the ball was good, and wouldn't let Maria challenge as he was convinced it was, and as it turned out, it was. So at the end, the Wozza was pretty miffed as she refused to shake the umpire's hand, Kader Nouni, when the match finished.
To be honest I don't blame Caroline for not shaking his hand as Nouni has in the past shown he can be a dick, an example of this is the Australian Open this year during a match between David Nalbandian and John Isner. In the match, Nalbandian made a challenge, but because he took a short time to make the decision to challenge, Nouni refused to let him challenge, which had a knock on effect in the match, which possibly cost him losing the match. And Nouni himself referred to Caroline, reminding her that she had used up all her challenges just before she was about to serve at 5-3 in the 3rd set, and even saying that her coach and father Piotr Wozniacki was giving Caroline too much advice. Basically the guy was interfering just a bit too much in my opinion, but that's umpires for you, they do a tough job themselves, and they aren't always popular with the players.
In regards to Caroline in the match, she did at times did struggle with her first serve, which left her 2nd serve frequently getting blootered by Sharapova, who overall hit 50 winners in the whole match. But it didn't take away from the highly entertaining contest that both of them brought to the match, and Caroline despite her shortcomings battled bravely until the end. She also in those two final games she won showed glimpses of how she should really play in the future, as she really attacked Sharapova's serve at 5-2, and held serve well after that. If she can keep up that kind of pace then she definitely has a chance of winning the bigger titles or a major, but it she stays as a counterpuncher, it will be something she will struggle to do. But I still admire Caroline as a player, as she is a great competitor and one of the best defensive players in the game today, and she has such a great positive outlook on life, and comes across as a good fun person. And this has been a really good tournament for Caroline which sees her move forward in the right direction, so here's hoping she can continue to, and her semi final even though didn't produce the result she wanted, it was one of the real highlights of the tournament. And as I said the contrast in styles made this match a very entertaining contest, as if it was just another example of Sharapova playing Azarenka, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good or competitive.
OK that's it for now, more soon to follow on the remaning men's quarter finals, Djokovic vs Ferrer, and Fish vs Monaco, and on the remaining ladies semi finals. Should be very good!
Bye the now (me).
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