Toray Pan Pacific - day three

Day three at the Toray Pacfic Open and Venus Williams had a great three set win against the up and coming Simona Halep. 

Venus served well and kept her unforced errors down and most importantly did not run out of energy. 

It's the first time in over a year that Venus has won a match in three sets. Next she faces the nineteen year old Eugenie Bouchard. 

This will be another tough match for Venus hopefully she will serve well and keep those unforced errors down.

In the second  quarter final match Angela Kerber faces Agnieszka Radwanska. Agnieszka should win, but they have such contrasting styles that it should make it a good match. 

In the third quarter finals match Caroline Wozniacki faces Lucie Safarova. Caroline on paper should win this match being the top ten player but anything can happen. 

The fourth quarter finals is yet to be decided to the rain delay. 

Toray Pan Pacific Open - day two

Day two at the Toray Pan Pacific Open definitely had its element of surprise. 

Eugenie Bouchard beat Sloane Stephens in three sets. This was a surprise as Sloane is just two hundred ranking points from being in the top ten. 

So a good run in this  tournament would definitely have brought her closer but it was not meant to be.

The major surprise of the day was Venus Williams beating Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. 

Victoria did not seem herself as she was not grunting or making a real effort to chase the balls. 

But at the same time Venus has this long term debilitating  illness. So to me they came across as evenly matched.

 Venus served incredibly well and kept the  points short and her return game was on fire ! It was a real pleasure to watch two women  really competing at the highest level.

 Venus now plays Simona Halep and I hope she will carry the same desire and intensity into her that match. 

Toray Pan Pacific Open- day one

The Toray Open started yesterday and Venus Williams beat Mona Barthel in straight sets. 

I was surprised by the ease  in which Venus beat Mona. However in the next second round she faces world number two Victoria Azarenka and that will be a lot tougher. 

Laura Robson lost in straight sets to Ayumi Morita. I think Laura is now going through a mini slump, hopefully she will get out of this mini slump soon. 

The young Canadian Eugenie Bouchard beat Monica Puig in straight set. Eugenie is already top thirty so a good run in this tournament could see climb further up the rankings.

Premiership round up

There were some truly gripping games in the premiership at the weekend. 

On Saturday Southampton beat Liverpool one nil and I was not too surprised as in the past Liverpool have found it difficult to beat Southampton.

But Liverpool have had a good start to the season and some people were just starting to seem as title contenders. So this result would have dampened the contending for title talk.

Chelsea also beat their West London rivals two nil. This result was not too surprising Fulham have been struggling to get wins. 

The Super Sunday matches lived up to there billing. Arsenal beat Stoke City three one and this was a good win.

My only real concern is in the back four and  especially central defence pairing of Koscielny and Mertesacker. Neither has pace and against better teams their lack of pace will become more apparent. 

However it was a very good win and to win with the set play goals was also nice.   As much as I love watching Arsenal score intricate goals, uits nice that we can score simple goals and bag the three points.

Tottenham scored a last minute goal to to beat the newly promoted Cardiff City one nil. I had expected Tottenham to win but I am really glad that Cardiff City made them fight for it.

Man City hammered Man United four goals to one. It was a score line that I was not expecting.

As I was watching the match I kept expecting that Man United would come back and at least draw the match. 

The only Man United player who never gave up was Wayne Rooney. He came across as angry and embarrassed by the score line and was desparate to make amends. 

Rooney did get the consolation goal for his hard work but that was about it. What I found strange was how passive David Moyes was throughout match. 

Sir Alex Ferguson would have been chewing his gum and pacing up and down the touch line.

After the final whistle Sir Alex would have been down the tunnel in a flash. David Moyes is no Sir Alex and I am sure United fans are praying that he does not turn their team into Everton mark two. 

I think Moyes test will come when they play Arsenal because one thing for Sir Alex would never have allowed Arsenal to beat them like that.

 So if Arsenal were to get a victory like that then  David Moyes 's days as United's manager would be numbered.

    

Premiership- Super Sunday

Today is Super Sunday and in the premiership and Arsenal are at home to Stoke City. It should be a good match but with half of our first team missing anything could happen.

Hopefully the likes of Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil will step up like they did against Marseille. So I am cautiously optimistic that we will win. 

Tottenham are away to Cardiff City this should be a very entertaining match as newly promoted Cardiff City try to match the super spending Tottenham. I do think Tottenham will win but Cardiff City could surprise us.

Man City play Man United at home and this should be a very good match. I think the slight edge goes to Man City as they are at home. But it is a Manchester darby so anything could happen!

 

Premiership games preview 21/09/13

There are some interesting games in the premiership taking place today.

Liverpool take on Southampton and on paper it would look like a win for Liverpool. However, Liverpool tend struggle with games against Southampton so it could either way.

Chelsea take on their West London rivals Fulham at home. Fulham have been struggling to win games, so I think Chelsea will win but Fulham could still cause an upset.

 

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.