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. 

US Open - Day five

Day five at the US Open Jelena Jankovic beat Johanna Larsson in straight sets that included a bagel. 

Maria Sharapova beat Sabine Lisicki in straight sets and it was pretty much a routine and an expected win for Maria. 

But there were many shocks today, firstly Sara Errani beat Venus Williams in three sets. Sara played well when it mattered but for Venus these days winning a three set match is a real challenge and again I wonder how long she can carry on.

Mirjana Luicic Baroni beat Simona Halep in straight sets and this was an embarrassing defeat for Simona. 

As I have said in my previous blog, there seem to be a lot of hype around Simona and she does not seem to be living up to the hype.

She is a good player but she is well over ranked is more of a top twenty player than a top five player. 

Belinda Bencic beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets and this was another surprise result. Angelique has had a good summer so I was expecting her to make to at least the quarter finals. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Sam Groth in straight sets and it was a pretty routine win for Roger. Roger should at the very least make to the final his side of draw of full of guys he has routinely beaten. 

Grigor Dimitrov beat Dudi Sela in straight sets and this was a good solid win and Grigor could have a very good run at this years US Open. 

Southern & Western - Cincinnati - Day five

Day five at the Southern and Western Open and Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets.

 It was a fairly routine win for Serena and this surprised me because I thought that the match was going to be a little but more competitive. 

It also at the stage of the competition that Serena gets into her zone and she is very difficult to beat.

Maria Sharapova beat Simona Halep in three sets and it was quite a controversial game with Maria's gamesmanship being questioned. 

If I am honest glad that Maria beat Simona as I have yet to be convinced that Simona is worthy of her world number two ranking. 

Simona is what I call a percentage player good at everything but outstanding at nothing. 

Ana Ivanovic beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets and this was a good win for Ana as Elina is slowly rising up the rankings and is an in-form player. 

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. 

French Open - Day nine

Day nine of the French Open and Sara Errani beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets and this was a big win for Sara and she must be one of the favourites for the title. 

Simona Halep beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets and Sloane played pretty poorly and committed too many unforced errors. 

Simona Halep played reasonably well and was able to win the big points and ultimately the match. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Dusan Lajovic in straight sets and this was another comfortable win for Rafa and I am hoping he will be able to keep this form up. 

Andy Murray beat Fernando Verdasco in straight sets and this was an excellent win for Andy especially when you think how he struggled in the previous round. 

Rome Open - Semi Finals

In today's semi-finals Sara Errani beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets and this a fantastic win for Sara. 

She is the first Italian women to make it to the final since 1985, so she has banked some valuable points and has chance to win this title.

Serena Williams beat Ana Ivanovic in three sets and this was a good win for Serena. 

Serena is now one match way from retaining the title. Serena is on course to win this title for the third time and it would also be her 60th title overall. 

Rome Open - Quarter finals

Quarter finals day at the Rome Open and this is what I call the business end of the tournaments. In today's matches Ana Ivanovic beat Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets. 

It was a close a match and to be fair it could have gone either way. But Ana in now winning matches that she used to lose and has to be a genuine contender for the French Open. 

Jelena Jankovic beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets and it was good win for Jelena and it will give her valuable ranking points. 

Serena Williams beat Shaui Zhang in straight sets and for Serena this was a routine win. 

The surprise of the day was Sara Errani beating Ni La in three sets. This was  an excellent win for Sara and will also bank valuable ranking points. 

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. 

Dubai Open - day four

Day four of the Dubai Open and Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets.

 It was a pretty straight forward match for Serena but for Jelena it really hurt to be comprehensively beaten. 

 

So towards the end of the match Jelena and Serena exchanged a few words.

 It was probably more to do with the frustration Jelena felt than Serena keeping her waiting. 

Elsewhere Venus Williams continued her remarkable comeback and beat Flavia Pennetta in straight sets. 

Alize Cornet beat Carla Suarez Navarro in  straight sets to make it to the semi finals where she will play Serena Williams. 

WTA Championships - Semi Finals

The semi-finals of the WTA championships took place yesterday and in the first semi-final Li Na beat Petra Kivitova in three sets. 

This was a really good win for Li Na who hasn't really had a great year. However in the final she faces the formidable Serena Williams.

Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in three sets to make the final. It was a weird match in that Serena appeared to be injured. 

However on the on-court interview she said that it was tiredness that affected her game. 

So the final between Ni La and Serena Williams will be interesting as Serena is battling fatigue so this could be Li Na's best opportunity to beat her. 

WTA Championships - day three

Day three of the WTA Championships and Serena Willams beat Petra Kivitova in straight sets. 

Petra was trying so hard to win every point but Serena is just the better athlete and more comfortable in these pressure situations. 

In both sets Serena played flawless tennis hopefully she can keep this level up for the semi-finals.

Na Li also managed a very good win over Jelena Jankovic. It was a hard fought match in which Na Li eventually on in three sets.

But the shock so far of this tournament was Angelique Kerber beating  Aga Radwanksa in straight sets. 

This means that Aga goes out of this tournament with no wins and three losses. 

It was definitely a surprise for me as I didn't expect Aga lose so early. It also means she can go home get some rest and prepare for 2014.

WTA Beijing Open - Final

The final of the Beijing Open took place yesterday and Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets. 

Serena was very dominant in the first set and Jelena did not get many chance to break. The second was little more competitive but this was  more to do with the fact that both Serena and Jelena where carrying injuries. 

Other than one services blip in the second set Serena's serve was on fire! and alot of the time the ball was whistling past Jelena's ears.

 However Jelena played well and against in other player she would have got a better result.

 But the reality is Serena at the grand old age of thirty two, is light years ahead of the other women. I would say this is largely due to her athleticism and that amazing serve. 

If the other ladies on the tour want to beat Serena they really need to work on their fitness first and foremost. 

As much as I enjoy watching Serena win, her matches are far more fun when Serena is stretched to the limit. 

I am hoping that Serena's match will be a little more competitive and not just a forgone conclusion. 

WTA Beijing Open - Semi-Finals

The semi- finals took place yesterday and Serena Williams beat Aga Radwanska comfortably and in straight sets.  

Serena did have injury time out for her back but she was still able to close out the set and win the match. 

Serena will play Jelena Jankovic in the final. As Jelena beat Petra Kivitova in three sets. 

The final between Serena and Jelena takes place today. It promises to be a good match as Jelena last beat Serena in in the Charleston final in 2012.

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. 

The day of the under dog!

 All the years I have been watching tennis I have never witnessed a day like this, it really is the day of the underdog!

Men

What a shock Tsonga  and Federer out! truly unbelievable it was a bit sad because at the end of the day you want the best players to be there on the last weekend of Wimbledon. I was shocked when Tsonga could no longer continue but watching Federer get beaten like that was a bit of shock but I didn’t think he was going to win this year.

 I watched Tsonga take apart Federer at the French Open and I thought his days of being a champion was over. However I thought that Federer  would have exited the tournament at the quarter final stage.

However it was a very good day for Andy Murray who had a straight set win against Yen Hsun Lu and with the loss of both Tsonga and Federer there is going to be even greater pressure for Andy to win. 

Excellent win for Sergiy Stakhovsky against Federer  he was very impressive and he had no fear  after losing the third set  and he was able to regroup and win the fourth set and the match.

Dustin Brown against Lleyton Hewitt turned out to be a Wimbledon classic. I did not know anything about Dustin but by the end of the match I felt like he was a personal friend! His story to how he got Wimbledon is inspirational and it just goes to show2 that nobody should ever give up on their dream.

Women

Women’s tennis today was equally shocking as Maria Sharapova, the winner in 2004 was also beaten and Victoria  Azarenka pulled out with an injury and Jelena Jankovic  was also beaten in straight sets. However women that did very well today include Sloane Stephens and Michelle Di Barito .

It was a very strange day at Wimbledon so I was relieved that both  Sloane Stephens and Andy Murray  made it to the third round with little fuss.