Australian Open 2016 - Women draw review

Well the Australian Open 2016 is now over and the winner of the women's draw   was Angelique Kerber. She beat Serena Williams in three sets. 

It was unexpected result everyone including me thought that Serena would win this in straight sets! But Angelique Kerber had other ideas and her serve and return of serve is what won her the match. 

Angelique's serve was reasonably impressive and her never give up attitude was incredible! Whereas Serena lacked match fitness and found it difficult to stay in points. 

So I believe that Angelique was the rightful winner and Serena lack of matches plus pressure of breaking Steffi Graf's 22 Grand Slams title is making even harder for Serena to concentrate.

Elsewhere in the Women's draw British/Hungarian player Johanna Konta played well and reached the quarters finals and I am sure she has won some tier one titles then she will have a realistic chance of winning a Grand Slam.

Whereas it was another disappointing Australian Open for Heather Watson an as she went out in the first round again. 

I really think for Heather this her make or break year and even for retain her become British number one is going to be a mammoth task. However maybe possible but is really going to require to have a complete change of mindset. 

US Open - review 2015

So I didn't get to blog daily about the US Open, however I didn't miss a match! The first week of the US Open was eventful in the women draw at least three of the top ten seeds went out very early and I think that really set the tone for the championships. 

The British number one Heather Watson went out on day one and it was a very disappointing tournament for her. I think it was largely down to poor preparation and still lamenting about the loss to Serena at Wimbledon. 

However the British number two Johanna  Konta did very well and she made it to the fourth round before being knocked out by Petra Kivitova.

The men's first week was largerly uneventful the only real shock was the early exit of Rafael Nadal. Rafa is in a real slump and he threw away a two set lead in a match that he should have won comfortably. 

 

The second of US Open became more eventful in the semi-finals as Serena Williams who was expected to beat Roberta Vinci lost in three sets. 

Serena had looked very nervous and unsure of herself in previous rounds and rightly so Roberta pounced on Serena's uncertainty and was able to win the match and end Serena's bid to win four Grand Slams in a calendar year. 

The other semi final Flavia Panetta beat Simona Halep in straight sets and this too was largely unexpected but Flavia just proved too strong for Simona. 

The men's semi finals was more straight forward both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer recorded comfortable wins to reach the finals were it would be number one versus number two. 

The women's final was an all Italian affair and Flavia Panetta beat Roberta Vinci in straight sets and rightly so. Has been reasonably well in the last couple of years  so to me richly derseved this title. 

The Men's final Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer to win his 10th Grand Slam title. I think it's only the disgraceful behaviour of the fans that marred his victory. 

The fans where so desperate to see a Roger win that they were clapping a Novak errors which was not nice to see.. However Novak overcame the hostility from the crowd to claim his 10th Grand slam.

Wimbledon 2015 - Day one

Day one at Wimbledon and in the women's draw Serena Williams won her match in straight sets and Serena really found her range in in the second set and went on to get a comfortable victory. 

Venus Williams doubled bagled Madison Brengle and it has been a while since Venus has doubled bagled anyone.

Maria Sharapova beat Johanna Konta and it was expected victory for Maria but it's sad that Johanna had to exit the tournament so early. 

The surprise of the day was Carla Suarez Navarro getting knocked out in three sets.  She is now a top ten player so I was expecting to do reasonably well. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic got a straight sets win against.., and it was good first win for Novak who is hoping to make it to the final and win it.

Stanislas Wawrinka won in straight sets and he is through to the second and as the winner of the French Open he is looking to get is third grand slam.

Day one is only had one real surprise but all the players who have real potential of winning the tournament made it to the second round. 

Fed Cup Great Britain v Romania 7th February 2014

Second round Robin match and Heather Watson beat Sorana Ciresta in three sets. This was a very good win for Heather as Sorana is a top thirty player. 

Simona Halep then beat Johanna Konta in straight sets. This would have been a very tough match for Johanna as Simona is a top ten player. 

Then in the doubles match Irina-Camela Begu and Monica Niculescu beat Jocelyn Rae and Heather Watson in straight sets. 

This was always going to be a tough tie to win. But it was good that Heather got that win against a top player like Sorana. 

Fed Cup - GB v Hungary 8th February 2014

In the second round Robin match Heather Watson beat Jani Reka-Luca in straight sets. This was a quite a routine win for Heather as Jani was ranked four hundred places below her. 

Timea Babos beat Johanna Konta in three sets and at one point in the Johanna had several match points but could not take them and end then lost the third set. 

Timea Babos and Jani Reka-Luca then beat Jocelyn Rae and Tara More in three sets. So Hungary won the tie two matches to one. 

It was a tough match for GB but I couldn't help but wonder if Judy Murray picked the strongest line up.  But on the positives Heather Watson got a good win. 

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.