Australian Open - Day four

Day four of the Australian Open and Agnieszka Radwanska beat Johanna Larsson in straight and it was not much of a contest and Aga barely broke sweat to win this match. 

However she has got a tough draw ahead and reastically it will be hard for her  to beat both Venus and Serena to make to the final were could face either Simona or Maria so it could be a tough ask. 

Serena Wiliams beat Vera Zvonareva in straight sets and it was tough first set for Serena who came two sets down to win the set and ultimately the match. 

Venus Williams beat Lauren Davis in straight sets and it was pretty routine win for Venus who did not have to expand much energy to get this win. 

Victoria Azarenka beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets and this was a bit of a surprise result for me as I thought that Caroline was going to win as Victoria is still coming back from injury. But it was a very comfortable win for Victoria. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic beat Andrey Kuznetsov in straight sets and it was another routine win for Novak and I would not bet against him from winning the title. 

Stan Wawrinka beat Marius Copil in straight sets and as the defending champion there must be a lot of pressure on his shoulders which he seems to be handling very well. 

Day twelve - US Open

Day twelve at the US Open and it was ladies semi finals day. In the first semi-final Caroline Wozniacki beat Shuai Peng after Shaui retired in the second set. 

It was rather tragic way to get to the finals for Caroline but she played well and sized her opportunity. 

Second semi finals Serena Williams beat Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets and a Serena played a near perfect game of tennis to secure the win and move to the finals. 

Day nine - US Open

Day nine at the US Open Shuai Peng beat Belinda Bencic in straight sets and this ended the good run that Belina had made. 

However this run that Belinda has been excellent for career and I am sure it will motivate her to work harder to get the top of the game. 

Caroline Wozniacki beat Sara Errani in straight sets and it was a very  uncomfortable for Sara and quite an embarrassing scoreline. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Roberto Baustista Agut in straight sets and it was a fairly routine win for Roger against player that I have never heard off.

Like I said in my previous blog I think Roger has been a beneficiary of favourable draw and this may help him make it to at least the final. 

The surprise result of the day was Gael Monfils beating tournament favourite Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets. It was three very close sets with Gael winning the key points and the match. 

Day seven - US Open

Day seven at the US Open and Caroline Wozniacki beat Maria Sharapova in three sets.

 This was a really good result for Caroline as I did not think she would have fire power to beat Maria.

It was a shocking result for Maria and a certainly a result that I did not see coming but Caroline has been playing for quite well for some time. 

Belinda Bencic beats Jelena Jankovic in straight sets and that this was a great win for Belinda and very much unexpected. 

Before this tournament I had not really heard of Belinda and I think it's good that she is having a strong tournament. 

But I am always little wary of players who have done nothing for the whole tennis year turn up at one a Grand Slam and all of a sudden are able to get amazing wins. 

It will be interesting to see if Belinda can go all the way in this tournament and these days with the women's draw never say never. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Marcel Granollers in four sets and I really think Roger has had a good draw and surprised he dropped against Marcel. 

The surprise of the day was Giles Simon beating David Ferrer in four sets and I was not expecting David to win the title but was expecting him to get past Giles. 

Southern & Western Open - Cincinnati - Day six

Day six at of Southern & Western Open and in the first semi-final Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in three sets. Apart from the fact that Caroline is Serena new best friend. 

Caroline was dictating a large part of this match and Serena seemed a step slower and a little tired. 

However she increased her energy levels and cut down the rallies to finish off the points quicker and this lead to winning the set and the match. 

In the second semi final Ana Ivanovic beat Maria Sharapova in three sets. This match had controversial end when Ana took an injury time out in the last couple of games.

However Ana went on to win the game and this was a very good win for Ana and I knew it was going to be tough for Maria but I thought she would get through. 

So I was surprised that Ana won but she was a little more consistent than Maria who had a lot of unforced errors.

Southern & Western Open - Cincinnati - Day four

Day four of the Southern & Western Open and Agnieszka Radwanska beat Sabine Lisicki in straight sets.

 This was a good win for Agnieszka but I still don't believe she has the talent to get past Maria Sharapova or Serena Williams. 

Jelena Jankovic beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets and Sloane's summer just gets worse. She has been hardly able to string more than two wins together and if she is not careful she will be dropping out of the top thirty. 

Caroline Wozniacki beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets and this was a good win for Caroline and will be heading back to the top ten very soon. 

Serena Williams beat Flavia Pennetta in straight sets and for Serena she is hoping to win this Southern & Western title for the first time ever. 

Rogers Cup - Montreal - Day five

Day five at the Rogers Cup and Serena Wiliiams beat Caroline Wozniacki in three sets and it was tough match for Serena who scrapped through by the skin of her teeth against an in-form Caroline. 

Venus Williams beat Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets and this was an incredibly tough match for Venus who had to go up several levels to beat Carla. 

By the third set it more less looked like Venus was going to win and hopefully Venus will have enough energy left for a tough semi-final match against her sister Serena Williams. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Victoria Azarenka in straight sets and this was going to be a very tough match for Victoria so I was not surprised that Agnieszka won. 

Ekaterina Makarova beat Coco Vandeweghe in three sets and I thought this was going to be an easy win for Ekaterina but Coco is in great form and pushed Ekaterina all the way. 

Miami Open - Day six

TDay six at the Miami Open and Venus Williams beat Casey Dellacqua in three sets. 

This was a very good win for Venus and commentators have appointed out this was the kind of match that Venus would have lost this time last year.

 So Venus has made vast improvement this year and I  am hoping that she will be back in the top twenty. 

Caroline Wozniacki hammered Sloane Stephens in three sets. This was very bad result for Sloane and surprising that as I was expecting her to do a lot better. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Elena Vesnins in straight sets. This was a good win for Aga and hopefully she has put her previous injury problems behind her.

Miami Open - Day four

Day four at the Miami Open and Venus Williams beat Anna Schmiedlova in straight sets. This was a very good second round victory as she continues to gain momentum. 

Elsewhere Agnieszka Radwanska beat  Romina Oprandi in straights to move the third round. This should mean that the injury that hampered her in the final of the Indian Wells is behind her.

Sloane Stephens beat Zarina Dyas in straight sets and this was quite a routine win for Sloane but tougher opponents await her. 

Caroline Wozniacki beat Monica Puig in three sets and a good run in this tournament and Caroline will be back in the top ten.

Dubai Open - day five

Day five of the Dubai Open and Alize Cornet beat Serena Williams in straight sets. 

 

Alize played well and came up with shots that Serena could not get. However Serena still does not look fully fit but all credit for Alize for get this amazing win. 

Venus Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. This was a surprise scoreline as I had expected Caroline to take this match to a third set. 

But Venus played like a champion and kept her unforced errors down to win the match and a place in the final. 

WTA - Luxembourg

WTA Luxembourg started this week and Heather Watson lost in three sets to Yanina Wickmayer. 

Yanina is good former top twenty player. Heather is not playing well and with little  confidence. 

Now that the tennis season is nearly over, it should give her time to regroup and play better. 

 

Sloane Stephens won her first round with relative ease. Sloane now faces Yvonne Meusburger in the second match tomorrow.

Sabine Liscki and Caroline Wozniacki are playing in this tournament. So the semi - finals and the finals should be good one.

WTA Beijing Open- Quarter finals

Yesterday was quarter finals day and Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. 

To be fair it was always going to be a challenge for Caroline. The second set was more more competitive, but that was because Serena started to relax after racing into a four love lead. 

I would say that in this tournament I have seen Caroline play some good tennis. If she can keep this up then she might start going a little further in the Grand Slams.

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets. However this was a strange match where in the first set Agnieszka raced into a five to one lead. 

Then Angelique worked hard and clawed it back and brought it to a tie break. Angelique then had three set points and could not take any of them. 

She never got over losing the first set and the second set came went quickly too. 

So Agniezka Radwanska will play Serena Williams the semi- finals. Agnieska  likes to get every ball back into play and Serena likes to blast winners from anywhere. Therefore it should be an interesting match. 

In the other quarter finals Jelena Jankovic     

beat Lucie Safarova in three sets. Petra Kivitova beat Ni La in three sets, so Petra and Jelena will play against in each other the semi-finals. 

Toray Pan Pacific Open - day five

Day five at the Toray Pan Pacific Open and Venus was in action again. Today Venus was beaten by Petra Kivitova in three close sets.

Venus has really had a fantastic tournament and has a lot to be proud of. She has not allowed her debilitating illness to stand in the way of her playing top level tennis. 

Petra also had to play very well to beat Venus,  it was very good tennis and a long match. This may be factor when Petra plays Angelique Kerber in the final.

Angelique beat Caroline Wozniacki  in straight sets. so Angie might have more energy in the final than Petra.

 Petra played two matches yesterday and a long two and half hour match against Venus today. 

But in tennis anything can happen and I am sure Petra will get a adrenalin rush from making it to the final. 

Angelique is the higher ranked player but I would not rule Petra out from winning this title. 

Toray Pan Pacific Open - day four

Day four at the Toray Open and Venus Williams was back in action today. She beat the young and coming Eugenie Bouchard in three long sets. 

Venus managed to unofficially equal her fastes serve record of 129 mph. It seems that Venus has now got her confidence back and to hopefully try and win the tournament.

 

The shock and unexpected award of the days go to Angela Kerber who beat the world number three. Agneiska Radwanska in straight sets.

Angela Kerber now faces Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the final. 

  

Wimbledon day four

There were few shocks today after all the excitement of yesterday a lot of the top seeds in both the women and the men's draw had routine wins.

Men

Novak Djokovic got through to the third round beating the American Bobby Reynolds in three straight sets. For the American men Wimbledon has not been good to them because with Bobby Reynolds out it is the first time since 1912 that there are no American man in the third round.

I know that John Isner pulled out yesterday but realistically it's highly unlikely that he would have got past the fourth round and it's a real shame that USTA did not build on the success of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.

Women

Serena Williams had comfortable win against Caroline Garcia, beating her in straight sets. I have to say that I really liked Caroline's game and I think that  if she played like that every week she would quickly rise in the rankings. 

Serena Williams is playing Kimiko Date on Saturday and as great as it is for a 42 year old women to be still playing competitive tennis. I hope Serena is going to continue learn and develop her game and most importantly does not lose focus when she is playing Kimiko Date.  

Eastbourne Semi-Finals

Today is semi-finals day and as regular readers of my blog would have noted. Earlier this week I wrote a post about the increasing strength and depth of USA's women team.

So I am not surprised that Jamie Hampton has made the semi-finals and we will find out how far her grass court game has developed when she takes on Caroline Wozniacki.

In the second semi-finals Yanina Wickmayer takes on Elena Vesnina. I watched Elena's previous game against Heather Watson and although she won I am not yet convinced that she can be a grand slam winner. 

However as world number 34 this could be a very good year for her. Where she could gain lots of points and finish the year in at least the top twenty.

So I believe that the final could be between Jamie Hampton and Elena Vesnina. I would say that for Wickmayer, Vesnina and Hampton whether they win or lose they will all do well with the ranking points they would have gained.