Southern & Western - Cincinnati - Day Two

Day two of the Southern and Western Open and Maria Sharapova beat Madison Keys in three sets.

 I thought this match was going to be difficult for Maria but in the third set Maria showed her true championship quality. 

Lucie Safarova beat Venus Williams in three sets and whilst Lucie has improved her game. 

Venus simply ran out of energy and this would have been her third consecutive tournament which is probably too much when factor in the medical condition that she has got 

I hoping she will get lots of rest from now until the US Open and show some of the form that got her to the Montreal final. 

Sloane Stephens beat Andrea Petkovic in straight sets and this was a very good win for Sloane. 

Who has had a very indifferent summer and is hoping for a good run in this tournament. 

WTA Miami Open - Day two

Day two at the Miami Open and Virginie Razzano beat Heather Watson in straight sets. This was a bad loss for Heather who is desparately trying to climb the rankings. 

After the match she confirmed that she had been suffering from a shoulder injury. So this could take her out for a good few weeks. 

Madison Keys beat Anett Kontaveit in straight sets and this was a good win for Madison against Anett who was given a wild card to compete at this tournament. 

Kiki Bertens beat Victoria Duval in straight sets and to be honest Victoria very young. 

It is about getting the experience and hopefully at some point competing and winning at the highest level. 

Indian Wells - Day three

Day three at Indian Wells and Aga Radwanska beat Heather Watson in straight sets. 

Whilst I was disappointed to see Heather lose she was up against Aga who is a top five player.

 

Heather was able to break Aga's serve on numerous occasions but was not able to consolidate any of those breaks. 

 

The shock of the day was Lauren Davis beaten Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. Albeit Victoria was not a 100% but a win is win. 

Roberta Vinci beat Madison Keys in straight sets and I would have expected Madison do a little better but I guess she still on a learning curve. 

 

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. 

APIA International, Sydney - Semi-Finals

The semi-final matches took place yesterday and in the first semi final Tsvetana Pironkova beat Petra Kivitova in straight sets. 

This was an unexpected result as Petra is  a grand slam winner Tsvetana is currently ranked outside of the top 100.

 So the points gained from beating Petra will really help Tsvetana ranking and also give her some much needed confidence. 

In the second semi-final Angelique Kerber beat Madison Keys in straight sets. To be honest the bigger surprise would have been Madison beating Angelique. 

Madison is still learning and she has gained from valuable ranking points for reaching this stage. 

Angelique is an experienced player and rarely loses to lower ranked players. So though it would been nice to see a Madison grab a set. I was not overly surprised by the result.

So the APIA International final will be between Tsvetana Pironkova and Angelique Kerber. 

I suspect it will be a three set match and I think Angelique will win it. 

APIA International, Sydney, - Quarter - Finals

The quarter finals for the APIA International took place yesterday and Madison Keys played Bethanie Mattek Sands.

Sadly Bethanie was unable to complete this match due to an injury. I felt bad for Bethanie who had come through some tough qualifying matches and beat the defending champion Aganieska Radwanska in the first round. 

Bethanie retirement from the match meant that Madison progressed to the semi-finals.

 For Madison it has been a great start to the tennis year and at this stage she has nothing to lose so she can really go for it in semi-finals. 

Elsewhere Tsevtana Pironkova beat Sara Errani in straight sets. This was good win for Tsevtana who tends to shine at Wimbledon so it's good to see she has playing so well and early in the season.

Angelique Kerber and Petra Kivitova are made it to the Semi-Finals and both won their quarter final matches in straight set. 

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.