Western & Southern Open Cincinnati- 2nd round

The second round matches of Western & Southern Open are taking place today and so far Serena Williams beat Eugenie Bouchard in three sets. Eugenie played quite well and I now understand why tennis world talks about her as a future number one.

Although Serena's serve kept letting her down and some of her shot selection were woeful. Serena managed to grind out the result without really having to go into top gear but I remain worried about her serve and if she is to retain her US Open title her serve needs to be firing on all cylinders.

Venus Williams lost in three sets to Elena Vesnina and to be fair it is a mild improvement for Venus as she had won her previous first round match and she managed to take Elena to three sets. I really do not understand why Venus will not retire she has nothing to prove anybody and medically it will very difficult for to win a grand slam. I really hope Venus can prove me wrong and win a another grand slam but at the moment it would be difficult for her to win 7 consecutive matches.

Sloane Stephens also beat Maria Sharapova in three sets and this result was a real surprise as Sloane has  not being playing well so I thought it was going to be a routine win for Maria. What Sloane now needs is a little consistency in her game and hopefully she will win her next match.

I was surprised that Jelena Jankovic beat Sabine Lisicki in the first round and I guess Sabine also needs to find some consistency as right now it seems to me that she saves all her best tennis for Wimbledon and this is why she is ranked 18.

In the third round Serena plays Mona Barthel and she will need to up her game to beat Mona and Marion Bartoli plays Simona Halep. I think if Serena ups her game she should win in straight sets and I also think Marion will have a possible straight sets victory over Simona.

A review of Wimbledon from the sofa!

This year’s Wimbledon was very different to the previous years that I have been watching as the seeded players went out a lot earlier than expected. One of the most surprising aspects of this year’s Wimbledon was the rise of the “underdogs” i.e. Sergiy Stakhovsky and Dustin Brown.

 I had never heard of either player before Wimbledon but they both definitely helped me to look at tennis in different light. As I tend to focus on the seeded players it is easy to forget the men/women out there working really hard for the same recognition.

Men’s draw changed once Roger Federer and Rafal Nadal went out it became little more open but ultimately it was Novk Djokovic and Andy Murray that made it to the final. As I have said in a previous post I am just relieved that Andy was able to win.

Now hopefully Andy can enjoy the experience of being a Wimbledon champion and I suspect now that he has his Wimbledon title he will more relaxed about the challenges ahead.

The women’s draw also had a few shocks with Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams all exiting the tournament before the quarter finals. I was little surprised about Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli getting to the final.

However the biggest shock for me was watching Serena lose a match that she was in total command. I think Serena underestimated Sabine fighting spirit and before she could mount a comeback she was in the locker room!

Laura Robson also did well to reach the fourth round were she lost to Kaia Kanepi. I am sure that if Laura gets right support and development then she will go even further into the tournament next year.

Heather Watson did not have a great Wimbledon and I suspect she is still recovering from the glandular fever but did not want to miss Wimbledon. Therefore it is difficult to assess her game as the lack of match fitness was key to her first round exit.

As I said in the previous post the Sabine and Marion final was very one-sided with Sabine struggling to get manage her emotions. It was an amazing win by Marion who had beat the odds of getting to the final and winning.

I am really hoping that young children watching both the men’s and women’s final will be inspired enough to want to start playing tennis. As I was inspired by some of the players who never gave up on their dreams.

 

Wimbledon Finals

Both finals were gripping and inspirational...

Women 

Marion Bartoli hammered a poor Sabine Lisicki in straight sets. Sabine had a poor start and it was only really towards the end of the second set were she really started contending for the title.

Sabine broke down crying in the middle of the second set which probably did not help her and might even have motivated Marion.

Marion played a superb match backing up her strong serve with some powerful groundstrokes.

Men 

Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Although Murray was down in the second and the third sets he found the courage to come back both sets and ultimately winning the match.

Andy's first serve and grass court coverage were key to his success against Novak. 

Whilst Novak's serve let him down and he had little variety in his game other than the occasional drop shot. Which Andy eventually was able to read.

Andy's win will hopefully give UK tennis players the belief that they can compete and win and it will hopefully help to inspire a generation. 

Wimbledon Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of both the men and women's lived up to expectations.

Men

Novak Djokovic beat Juan Martin Del Potro in five sets. It was the longest ever Wimbledon semi-final and it lasted nearly five hours. 

Andy Murray beat Jerzy Janowicz in four sets. Andy had to play very good tennis to beat Janowicz and rose to the challenge. It will be interesting to see if he can rise to challenge again and beat Djokovic in the final.

Women

Marion Bartoli hammered Kirsten Flipkens (who appeared to have  an injury) in straight sets. It was a very one sided semi-final and was finished in just over an hour.

Sabine Lisicki beat (the sulky) Aga Radwanska in three sets. Aga gave all she had but Sabine's serve definitely helped power her to a good win and a place in the Wimbledon final .

Predictions!!!

Men

Andy Murray's serve has really impressed me and his court craft gets better and better. 

What will also help Andy against Novak is the crowd. If the crowd really supports him that could help carry him to the title.

I really believe that Andy can win if he goes into this match confidently.

Women

Believe it or not this is a difficult match to predict. I really hope Sabine does well but Sabine will need to start very quickly and keep those unforced errors down to win the title!!!

Wimbledon Day Eight

Today was the women's quarter finals day and as the tournament favourite Serena Williams had exited the tournament the previous day so the draw was now very open.

After beating Serena Williams the previous day, Sabine Lisicki managed to regain her focus to comprehensively beat Kaia Kanpei who was outplayed on every front. Sabine has now become the tournament favourite and I hope she does win as I like her style of tennis.

Aga Radwanska managed to get past Na Li in her typical "I refuse to make winners" fashion. I for one have never understood how Radwanska expects to become a grand slam champion based on other people's errors.  Lindsay Davenport pointed out  that at the end of the match was the first time she had seen Aga happy.

 During the course of the match Radwanska always looked to me like she was about to cry. Maybe this is her game plan but she comes across as negative and not having much believe in herself.

I also don't understand why Radwanska waste so much energy chasing down very single ball. Yes she is 90% successful with this tactic but personally I don't believe that this is strategy that she can maintain long term.

 The most worrying part about Radwanksa's game is the way she goes down on her knees to hit a low ball. if she is not careful she is going to end up with a serious knee injury she already  has bandages around her thighs and I can't imagine those bandages are going to help her win a tough semi final and final should she get there.

Marion Bartoli beat the last American Sloane Stephens and Sloane played a very very poor match. Maybe the nerves of the big occasion and being on a show court got to her. But when you are losing fourteen straight points on your serve that is not grand slam winning ability.

She needs to learn how to capitalize on those opportunities when they come. But I guess that as it is her first Wimbledon quarter final  she was nervous and I hope that she has learnt from this experience.

Kirsten Flipkens saw off Petra Kivtova and Kirsten played a very intelligent match and was rewarded. She broke when it was necessary and stuck to her game and was not overwhelmed by Kivtova or being on Centre Court.

Predictions !!!!

I think that in the semi-finals Sabine Lisicki should beat the "partly injured" Aga Radwanska however I would say that if Sabine makes lost of errors then Aga will win as Aga rarely makes any errors.

I can see Kirsten Flipkens beating Marion Bartoli if plays the way she  did against Kivovta by sticking to her game plan and not going for too much. As Marion can be very erratic so for Marion to beat Flipkens she going to have to play a more consistent game and not go for too much too soon.

 So what are your predictions for the semi-finals?

Wimbledon Day Seven

 

Now that we are down to the last sixteen players this is what I see has the business end of the tournament, were players feel better about playing on the grass court.

Men

Novak Djokovic played well against Tommy Hass and Tommy is only player that has managed to break Novak serve in this Wimbledon. Novak seems really focused and I would be very surprised if he did not make the final.

Andy Murray did enough to win the match and at one point was trailing in the second set but managed to come back and win in straight sets. He also is coming across as very focused and I hope from a UK perspective he makes it to his second Wimbledon final.

Women

Very disappointed to see Serena exit the tournament but if I am honest she has not had the complete focus that she normally has at grand slams and although the has been moving around the court really well. I thought her return of serve really let  her down today and she also seemed a little intimidated by Sabine Lisicki. However I am confident that Serena will bounce back and win the US open.

Sloane Stephens did will to beat Monica Puig but now she face Marion Bartoli and she is going to need to step it up a couple more gears to beat Marion.

Laura Robson did very well against Kaia Kanpei and  it was always going to be a tall ask to expect her to beat Kanepi. Laura will have gained from valuable experience and ranking points which definitely help to make her life easier coming into the hard court season.