Mutua Madrid Open - Day four

Day four at the Madrid Open and Maria Sharapova beat Christina Mchale in three tough sets. 

At one point Maria was four games to one down in the third set and managed to come back and win it. 

If Maria is to win this title she is going have to play a lot better or else I don't see her getting past the semi-finals. 

Ni La beat Jie Zheng in straight sets and she had little trouble getting past her Chinese compatriot and is getting better and more tactical with each round. 

Sloane Stephens beat Petra Cetkovska in three tough set and Sloane has had some very tough losses and seem to suffering from a loss of form and confidence so badly needed this win. 

Indian Wells - Day four

Day four at Indian Wells and Maria Sharapova  beat Julia Goerges in straight sets and this was a good win for the defending champion who also has lots of points to defend. 

 

Sloane Stephens also had a straights win against Ajla Tomljanovic and this was a good win for Sloane. 

She is just coming back from injury and has also slipped in the rankings so she needs to perform well to at least stay top twenty. 

 

Ni La also got a good straight sets win against Jie Zheng and Ni La has just won the Australian Open and is also coming back from injury. 

Winning this tournament would definitely help to cement her second place ranking. 

Australian Open - Day Three

Day three at the Australian Open and Serena Williams beat Vesna Dolonc in straight sets. Serena played well and will now play Daniela Hantuchova in the next round. 

Jie Zheng beat the talented American Madison Keys in three sets. For Madison this will be a learning curve and as she was leading by four games to one the third set. 

These are kind of losses that Madison will learn from and will hopefully come back stronger. 

Sam Stosur hammered Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets which included a six love second set. It was a suprise result considering that Tsvetana won the Sydney tournament over the weekend. 

Another surprise result was Monica Niculescu beating Sabine Liscki in three sets. I still feel that Sabine saves all her best tennis for Wimbledon and is not that motivated for the other slams. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer both recorded straight sets wins to progress to the third round. 

WTA HP Open, Osaka. Japan

WTA HP Open Osaka quarter finals took place today and Madison Keys the teenage American recorded a good win straight victory over Jie Zheng.

Madison could potentially win this tournament but there was also good quarter finals win are Eugenie Bouchard and Sam Stosur. 

This tournament has got the experience Sam Stosur and the up and coming teenagers like Eugenie Bouchard and Madison Keys and it certainly helps to make this tournament more interesting and watchable.

 

Guangzhou Open - China

It was quarter finals day and both Laura Robson and Johanna Konta where in action today.

Laura lost in three sets Jie Zheng and to be honest even though Laura lost. It was not a huge surprise Jie Zheng is a good solid player and a former world number fifteen. 

So although Laura is the higher ranked player, I think that Jie Zheng had the ability and the experience to help her beat Laura.

Laura got to the final of this tournament last year so she will lose some ranking points.

But as Laura is still a teen this experience will help her to come back better and win her first WTA title.

Johanna Konta lost in straight sets to Zhang Shui and even though Johanna lost, she will gain valuable ranking points. 

Johanna Konta has been steadily rising up the rankings and I would have thought her next goal would be to break the top one hundred ranking.

 This will not be easy but if she is able to consistently make quarter finals then she will achieve it.

US Open - day three

Day three at the US Open was filled with highs and lows.

The main disappointment was Venus Williams losing in three sets to Jie Zheng.  Venus really played her heart out and could  not have done much more and I think she just run out of energy.

The match was three hours and two minutes which would have been really draining especially with the medical condition Venus has so to me she did very well. 

Andy Murray beat Michel Llodra in straight sets and Andy played well and completed the match in about two hours which good as there will be tougher matches to come.

Laura Robson did well to beat Caroline Garcia in straight sets as her wrist was troubling her. She now plays Na Li in the third round which will be a much tougher match.