Southern & Western Open - Cincinnati - Day one

Day one of the Southern and Western Open and Taylor Townsend beat Klara Koukalova in straight sets and this was an excellent win for Taylor who is getting closer to being in the top one hundred . 

Taylor has a good summer and did especially at French Open and she is hoping to have a similar run at the US Open. 

Shuai Zhang beat Heather Watson in three sets and Heather did not play well for a lot of this match. 

She also looked very tired and was struggling with her serve. These days she she is able to get a lot of cheap points from her serve but today her serve let her down badly. 

Whilst it was a disappointing exit I think the rest will do Heather the world of good to prepare for the US Open. 

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets and so far it's been a poor US Open serious for Dominika who should be doing alot better than going out in first and second rounds. 

She is hoping that her form will pick up before the US Open which starts in under two weeks time. 

Rogers Cup - Montreal - Day three

Day three of the Rogers Cup and Heather Watson beat Dominika Cibulkova in three sets. It was another up and down match for Heather she could have closed it out in two sets but threw away a three game advantage and had to win in a third set tie break.

I am hoping this is down to Heather's inexperience of tier one tennis and she will learn how to close out matches in straight sets. 

Venus Williams beat Yulia Putintseva in straight sets and it took a little while for Venus to handle Yulia "moon balls" but once Venus found her rhythm she was smacking the moons balls away and getting winners. 

Jelena Jankovic beat Sloane Stephens in three sets and Sloane had been playing reasonably well. But I think she lacks those killer instincts to win a tier one title.

Serena Williams beat Samantha Stosur in straight sets and it was a real demolition job by Serena who took apart Sam's game whilst in second gear. 

It was a little embarrasing to watching considering Sam only beat Serena in the US Open final three years ago. 

Angelique Kerber beat Caroline Garcia in straight sets and Anglique has been in some fine form and plays Venus Williams next. 

WTA Mutual Madrid Open - Day three

Day three of the Madrid Open and Agnieszka Radwanka beat Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. 

This was a good win for Aga against Eugenie a player I see winning a Grand Slam in the not too distant future. 

Ni La beat Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets and this was a good solid win for Ni La who hoping to at least make it to the final. 

The surprise is of the day was Sam Stosur beating Dominika Cibulkova in straight  sets. Dominika had a fairly good hard court season so was expecting her to do reasonably well, maybe she has not adjusted to the clay yet. 

Miami Open - Day nine and ten

Day nine at the Miami Open and Dominika Cibulkova beat Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets. This was a good result for Dominika and it moves her ranking to inside the top ten. 

For Aga this was a tough match and I think it will be a struggle to beat players like Dominika that go for winners and have few unforced errors. 

Ni La beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets and Caroline has had a very good tournament and with some good wins and she did better than I expected. 

Day ten and in the first semi final Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Maria has not beaten Serena in ten years so it would have been more of a surprise if Maria had won. 

In the second semi - final Ni La beat Dominika Cibulkova in three sets and this was an excellent win for Ni La and this would be her first Miami Open final. 

Miami Open - Day seven

Day seven at the Miami Open and Maria Sharapova beat Kirsten Flipkens in three sets. 

This match should have been a little more comfortable for Maria than it was. It was only in the third set that Maria began to look a little more convincing and won the set and the match.

Dominika Cibulkova beat Venus Williams in three sets. Dominika has had a great start to 2014 and was a finalist at the Australian Open. Therefore she was the favourite to win the tie going into this match. 

Venus made a real match of it and fought tooth and nail for every point and in the end she was probably beaten by her own unforced errors. 

Serena Williams had a much more comfortable match and she beat Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets. 

The first set was competitive but in the second set Serena was able to get into grove and win the set and the match. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Elina Svitolina in three sets and in this match Aga struggled. Both the first and second set where very close.

 

 It was only in the third set that Aga was able to pull away and win the set and the match. 

Indian Wells - Day eight and nine

Day eight at Indian Wells and Agnieszka Radwanska beat Jelena Jankovic in three  sets. 

Aga's game seems to be really coming together and now she has made it to the semi finals she has every chance of winning it. 

Day nine and Ni La beat Dominika Cibulkova in three sets and Dominika played well but in the third set Ni La was able to win the big points and the game. 

Flavia Pennetta beat Sloane Stephens in three sets. Sloane did not look 100% fit and was making some really basic errors. 

Flavia was very consistent and could have won the match in two sets but I guess her persistence and patience paid off in the end. 

Review of the Australian Open from the sofa!

This years Australian Open was interesting to say the least. The adverse weather conditions meant players where playing tennis in forty two degrees heat. 

These weather conditions lasted for almost the first week of the slam and resulted in players getting dehydrated, vomiting or some even passing out. 

The second week started with a shock when the women's favourite for title Serena Williams was beating by Ana Ivanovic. 

Serena's exit of the tournament was closely followed by Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka's exits. This ultimately lead to Li Na beating Dominika Cibulkova in the final. 

The men's draw was much more stable and than the women's. It was only final that had me most surprised when Stanislas Wawrinka beat Rafael Nadal. 

The Aussie fans where particularly vocal in the men's final and had some point sections in the crowd where booing Rafael Nadal for his injury time out. Which I thought was particularly unpleasant and was totally uncalled for. 

Some of the men's matches where played until 01.30 in the morning which I thought was a little strange. 

Overall I was surprised by wins of Li Na and Stanislas Wawrinka which I did not see coming. I guess that is why I love tennis because sometimes it can be unpredictable. 

However I can bet a bottom dollar that the players who under performed at this tournament will have a bigger impact in the remaining Gram Slams. 

Australian Open - Day thirteen - Women's final

Day thirteen of the Australian Open and in today's women's final Li Na beat Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. 

The first set was very competitive but in the second set Li Na imposed her authority and Dominika was unable to step up to the challenge. 

For Dominika it has been a great tournament and I am sure at the beginning of the tournament she probably didn't see herself in the final. 

So getting to the final would have improved Dominika's ranking and she will hopefully build on this success to win a grand slam soon. 

For Li Na she would have come into this tournament at least expecting to get to the semi-finals. 

So winning her second grand slam I am sure exceeded her expectations and she will hoping to build on this success for the remaining grand slams of the year.

It was by no means a classic final but aLi Na was fortunate enough not to face a top twenty player on route to the final. But all that means is the draw opened up in favour and made this win possible. 

Australian Open - Day Eleven

Day eleven at the Australian Open and it is ladies semi finals day. Li Na beat the young Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. 

This result was not a surprise as Eugenie did incredibly well to get to this stage and I am sure in a few years time she will be winning grand slams. 

Dominika Cibulkova beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets and this result was a surprise as Agnieszka is the higher ranked player. 

But at the same time Agnieszka has played a lot of three set matches and it was only matter of time before her energy levels dropped. 

So the women's final will be between Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova. 

In the men's draw Stanislas Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych in four sets and he is now through to the final where he will face  either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. 

Australian Open - Day Ten

Day ten at the Australian Open and Agnieszka Radwanska beat the Victoria Azarenka in three sets. 

It definitely was a surprise for me as I thought that as Victoria had been playing reasonably well and I had expected her to least get to the final. 

Agnieszka has done a lot better than I expected but she has played a lot of three set matches at this tournament so don't think she will have any energy left if she does make it to the final. 

Dominika Cibulkova hammered Simona Halep in straight sets. This result was not too much of a suprise as Dominika has a good all round game which is slightly better than Simone's game. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. Although Grigor pushed Rafa I would have been surprised if Grigor had won. 

Roger Federer beat Andy Murray in four sets. The first two sets where not competitive but Roger played incredibly well. However the third and fourth set where very different. 

In the third set Roger made more unforced errors which helped Andy to win the set.

 But in the fourth set Andy's lack of match fitness started to tell and Roger went on to win the set and the match. 

Australian Open - Day Eight

Day eight at the Australian Open and Dominika Cibulkova beat Maria Sharapova in three sets. 

This result was not a huge surprise for me as Maria has been struggling with her serve for a while now and against a player like Dominika it is understandable that her serve would break down. 

 

Victoria Azarenka beat a very poor Sloane Stephens in straight sets. Sloane was desparately disappointing and did not mount any kind of significant attack on Victoria's serve. 

Victoria now goes through to face Agnieszka Radwanska who beat Garbine Muguruza in straight sets. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in straight sets. Jo- Wilfred did not play badly just that Roger was able to win those big points when it mattered. 

Andy Murray beat the 'lucky loser' Stephane Robert in four sets and he will now play Roger Federer in the quarters for a place in the semi- finals.

Rafael Nadal beat Kei Nishikori in three marginally close sets to make it to the quarter finals. 

Kei had chances to win at a least set and he could not take them as Rafa was always able to raise his level and win the match. 

 

WTA Tennis 2014

Ladies and gentlemen I am soo glad to say that tennis is back!

Already it has already been a great start to the year. In the WTA Brisbane International quarter finals Serena Williams beat Dominika Cibulkova in straights. 

Serena will now play Maria Sharapova and Maria beat Kaia Kanepi in three sets to make  it to the semi finals. 

It has been ten years since Maria beat Serena and for Maria it has been ten painful years. 

Maria has now started discussing Serena's private life in public so I am sure Maria must now be feeling very confident out beating Serena.

Elsewhere Auckland International Venus Williams beat Garbine Muguruza Blanco in a straight sets quarter finals win. 

This was another fantastic win for Venus who now plays a fellow American Jamie  Hampton for place in the final.

This should be a very good match which could either way but I am guessing that Venus will win in three tight sets 

Canadian Open

The Canadian Open is hotting up nicely! Yesterday Serena Williams beat Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets to move to the semi-finals where she will play Agnieska Radwanska who beat Sara  Errani in straight sets.

Na Li beat Dominika Cibulkova also in straight sets. But so far the surprise has been Petra Kivitova losing in three sets to Sorana Cirstea. 

Petra has had a bit of an up and down season however I would have expected her to beat Sorana quite comfortably. So the second semi-final  will be between Sorana Cirstea and Na Li.

The women's game is really throwing up some surprises and without likes of Azarenka and Sharapova in the last four it gives a chance to likes of Cirstea  to get to the final and winning the tournament!

Mini round up of the various tennis tournaments taking place this week

I am disappointed that both Laura Robson and Heather Watson lost there second matches. Laura was playing in the Mercury Insurance Open and lost in straight sets to Petra Kivtova. Heather was playing in the Citi Open and lost in straight sets to Alize Cornet.

Heather is currently number 76 in the world so this will not help her ranking and on top of that she has just split from her long term coach and is now working with Jeremy Bates until the end of the hard court season. I am not sure this a good strategy and it could set her back least a year and the chances of winning any kind of silverware become slimmer and slimmer with every passing day.

Agnieska Radwanska is playing her second match at the Citi Open tournament against Daniela Hantuchova. After Agnieska shock loss to Dominika Cibulková  in the Stanford final she will want to bounce back with this title. So it will be interesting to see if she is able to succeed but I think that with the defensive type of tennis that she plays  it will always be challenge to win tennis tournaments.

I am looking forward to the Canadian Open as Serena Williams is scheduled to play there and unfortunately Maria Sharapova has pulled out  of this tournament with an injury but I am confident that it will still be a competitive tournament.