US Open - day two

Day two of the US open and Petra Kivitova beat Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets. Petra is somewhat back to her best and does have a realistic chance  of winning it. 

Serena Williams beat Taylor Townsend in straight sets and it was always going to be a difficult match for Taylor who has only recently started playing at the main a Grand Slam tournaments. So long term this would have been good experience for Taylor. 

The shock of the day for me was Sorana Cirstea beating Heather Watson in straight sets. I was very disappointed for Heather as it was a real chance to win a match and a round against someone she has beaten twice. 

It was a painful result for Heather, hopefully she would have learnt her lesson from this embarrassing display.  

Eugenie Bouchard beat Olga Govortsova in straight sets and it was a routine win for Eugenie who will face much tougher oppositions in the later rounds.  

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Marinko Matosevic in straight sets and it was a fairly routine win for Federer who vying for his eighteen grand slam. 

Southern & Western Open - Cincinnati -Day three

Day three at the Southern & Western Open and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Eugenie Bouchard in three sets.

 This was a good win for Svetlana whilst Eugenie is now realising that she has to live up to the hype that has formed around her and it will not be easy. 

Flavia Penetta beat Taylor Townsend in straight sets and this would have been a disappointing loss for Taylor. But at the same time she is young and building some valuable on-court experience. 

Serena Williams beat Samantha Stosur in straight sets but these sets were very close and Serena had to play very well to win both tie breaks to win. 

This was the first real test that Serena has had to face in this tournament and she came out of it with flying colours. 

Southern & Western Open - Cincinnati - Day one

Day one of the Southern and Western Open and Taylor Townsend beat Klara Koukalova in straight sets and this was an excellent win for Taylor who is getting closer to being in the top one hundred . 

Taylor has a good summer and did especially at French Open and she is hoping to have a similar run at the US Open. 

Shuai Zhang beat Heather Watson in three sets and Heather did not play well for a lot of this match. 

She also looked very tired and was struggling with her serve. These days she she is able to get a lot of cheap points from her serve but today her serve let her down badly. 

Whilst it was a disappointing exit I think the rest will do Heather the world of good to prepare for the US Open. 

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets and so far it's been a poor US Open serious for Dominika who should be doing alot better than going out in first and second rounds. 

She is hoping that her form will pick up before the US Open which starts in under two weeks time. 

Citi Open - Washington - Day three

Day three at the Citi Open and Kristina Mladenovic beat Taylor Townsend in straight sets. Taylor had been having a good summer so I was half expecting her to win this match. 

But the reality is she probably needs to be a little more experienced on the tour before Taylor can really start making her mark on the tour. 

Bojana Jovanovski beat Sorana Cirstea in three sets and Sorana has been having a bad year she was once ranked as the top Romanian player but things are not going well for at the moment. 

WTA - Citi Open - Washington

Day two of the Citi Open and Taylor Townsend beat Julia Georges in three sets. This was a fantastic win for Taylor who is certainly inform and at this rate she will be top one hundred before the end of the year. 

Kiki Mladenovic beat Lucie Safarova in three sets and Kiki is also inform and has been have a reasonable summer and seems have put the Wimbledon disappointment behind her. 

Kirsten Flipkens beat Heather Watson in three sets and I was disappointed that Heather didn't win this match. It was a match I feel she should have won. 

At this stage in Heather's career the reality is she needs to be getting wins like this or before she knows it she will go from a potential Grand Slam winner to a journey women. 

I hope she can get some decent wins before the US Open starts as this the time when she can pick up some points and at least make into the top fifty. 

Au revoir.... French Open 2014

This year French Open had some early surprises but ultimately the expected winners.

In the women's draw early losses of Li Na and Serena Williams was a shock. However meant that previously unknown players like Taylor Towsend Garbine Muguruza where able to flourish. 

 

The final between Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep with Maria as the winner was no real surprise. 

In the men's draw the early loss for Stanislas Wawrinka was a shock and it that players like Ernest Gulbis where able to step up and make a name for himself. 

The match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal with Rafa as the winner was no real surprise but it was a fantastic final that really showcased men's tennis. 

So the French Open is over for another year we now have some new household names but the more established players like Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal did what they do best which is winning grand slams. 

French Open - Day six

Day six of the French Open and Maria Sharapova double bagled Paula Ormaechea and as you can imagine it was totally a one-sided match. 

Maria was able to show superiority and totally embarrassed Paula who had to be done very well to reach the third round. 

Carla Suarez Narravo beat Taylor Towsend in straight sets and to be fair it was probably the right result. 

Carla is fantastic on the clay court and very difficult to beat whilst this is Taylor first senior grand slam so to make to the third round was a remarkable achievement. 

The shock of the day was Ajla Tomljanovic beating Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets. Ajla has had a great French Open whilst Aga has been grinding out results. 

So although on paper it is shock result the way that Ajla has been playing in this tournament makes it less surprising. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Dmitry Tursunov in four sets. This was a tough match for Roger but he was able to use his experience to win the match. 

Novak Djokovic beat Marian Cilic in four sets and this was the first tough match that Novak had to dig deep and win the match.  

French Open - day four

Day four of the French Open had some big surprises, in the women's draw Anna Schmiedlova beat Venus Williams in three sets. 

Venus did well in the first set but then went off the rails and the unforced errors increased and this got worse in the third set. 

Ana played a careful and patient game and and her confidence grew with each game and she started really going for her shots. 

It was sad to see Venus's game fall apart and it does make me wonder how long Venus can carry on playing knowing she doesn't really have the energy for three sets. 

To add to the drama Garbine Muguruza beat Serena Williams in straight sets. Garbine played well and did not really allow Serena to get into the match. 

Serena by her own standards had a poor match, her serve was off and she was barely moving her feet. She may have been carrying an injury that is only explanation for her shocking performance. 

Maria Sharapova beat Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets and she played reasonably well after a poor start and had complete control of the second set and the match. 

Taylor Townsend beat Alize Cornet in three sets and Taylor was given a wild card to enter this tournament and has made incredible progress and it will be interesting to see how far she will go in this tournament. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic beat Jeremy Chardy in straight sets and Novak looked calm and confident and had complete control over the game and match. 

Roger Federer beat Diego Schwartzman in straight sets and Roger played well and did enough to win this match comfortable.