Australian Open - Day Eleven

Day eleven at the Australian Open and it is ladies semi finals day. Li Na beat the young Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. 

This result was not a surprise as Eugenie did incredibly well to get to this stage and I am sure in a few years time she will be winning grand slams. 

Dominika Cibulkova beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets and this result was a surprise as Agnieszka is the higher ranked player. 

But at the same time Agnieszka has played a lot of three set matches and it was only matter of time before her energy levels dropped. 

So the women's final will be between Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova. 

In the men's draw Stanislas Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych in four sets and he is now through to the final where he will face  either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. 

Australian Open - Day Ten

Day ten at the Australian Open and Agnieszka Radwanska beat the Victoria Azarenka in three sets. 

It definitely was a surprise for me as I thought that as Victoria had been playing reasonably well and I had expected her to least get to the final. 

Agnieszka has done a lot better than I expected but she has played a lot of three set matches at this tournament so don't think she will have any energy left if she does make it to the final. 

Dominika Cibulkova hammered Simona Halep in straight sets. This result was not too much of a suprise as Dominika has a good all round game which is slightly better than Simone's game. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. Although Grigor pushed Rafa I would have been surprised if Grigor had won. 

Roger Federer beat Andy Murray in four sets. The first two sets where not competitive but Roger played incredibly well. However the third and fourth set where very different. 

In the third set Roger made more unforced errors which helped Andy to win the set.

 But in the fourth set Andy's lack of match fitness started to tell and Roger went on to win the set and the match. 

Australian Open - Day Nine

Day nine at the Australian Open and Ni La beat Flavia Pennetta in straight sets. This result was not a surprise as Ni La has been playing very well and did not really give Flavia the opportunity to really get into the match. 

Eugenie Bouchard beat Ana Ivanovic in three sets. Bearing in mind that Ana beat Serena Williams in the previous round. I would have thought Ana would have beat Eugenie. 

However Eugenie battled through to victory after losing the first set and she will now play Li Na for a place in the final. 

In the men's draw Tomas Berdych beat the number three seed David Ferrer in four sets. This was a surprise result for me as David has been playing well so I thought he was going to win the match. 

The shock result of the day was Stanislas Wawrinka beating Novak Djokovic in five sets.It was a pulsating match that had twists and turns.

 Stanislas just seem to play the bigger points better and had the marginal advantage of serving first in the fifth set. Novak made to very costly errors which cost him the game and the match. 

Australian Open - Day Eight

Day eight at the Australian Open and Dominika Cibulkova beat Maria Sharapova in three sets. 

This result was not a huge surprise for me as Maria has been struggling with her serve for a while now and against a player like Dominika it is understandable that her serve would break down. 

 

Victoria Azarenka beat a very poor Sloane Stephens in straight sets. Sloane was desparately disappointing and did not mount any kind of significant attack on Victoria's serve. 

Victoria now goes through to face Agnieszka Radwanska who beat Garbine Muguruza in straight sets. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in straight sets. Jo- Wilfred did not play badly just that Roger was able to win those big points when it mattered. 

Andy Murray beat the 'lucky loser' Stephane Robert in four sets and he will now play Roger Federer in the quarters for a place in the semi- finals.

Rafael Nadal beat Kei Nishikori in three marginally close sets to make it to the quarter finals. 

Kei had chances to win at a least set and he could not take them as Rafa was always able to raise his level and win the match. 

 

Premiership review - 18th/19th January 2014

The Premiership games where played over the weekend and Arsenal beat Fulham by two goals to nil. 

It was a tense match and the goals where scored quite late in the match by Santi Carzola and he is one of my favourite players. 

I strongly believe that he is one of  the players that holds the keys to Arsenal sucess this season. 

Man City beat bottom of the league Cardiff City by four goals to two. Man City are really playing free flowing football and are scoring goals at will. 

However there problem is that they don't have a great defence so they have to constantly score more goals than they will concede. 

Liverpool drew two all at home to Aston Villa and they will probably see that as two valuable points dropped. However they are still top four so they still have it all to play for. 

 

Tottenham beat Swansea by three goals to one to keep them top five. They still are in with a good chance of bagging a Champions League spot. 

 

Chelsea beat Man United by three goals to one and this loss has effectively ended Man United chances of winning the league. 

 

For Chelsea this was a great win and Samuel Eto scored a hat trick! Samuel might be older now but he is good player to have in your team and I think Jose Mourinho has finally started playing him more. 

So Arsenal are still top of the league but only by the narrowest of margins, so there is still all to play for. 

Australian Open - Day Seven

Day seven at the Australian Open and Ana Ivanovic beat the favourite and World Number One Serena Williams in three sets. 

It was certainly a shock for me and I was disappointed to see Serena tamely returning the balls and not really going for winners. Apparently she had a back injury  which explains the tameness in her game. 

However Ana served and returned the ball well and she could do very well at this tournament if she keeps playing with this level of consistency. 

Eugenie Bouchard beat Casey Dellacqua in three sets. Eugenie started off a little slow but by the third set the momentum she had all the momentum. Eugenie now plays Ana Ivanovic for a place in the semi- finals. 

Flavia Penetta beat Angelique Kerber in three sets it was a surprise result as Angelique has been playing well. 

Ni La beat Ekaterina Makarova in straight set and it was a very solid win for Ni La who now faces Flavia Penetta in the quarter finals. 

In the men's draw, Novak Djokovic beat Fabio Fognini in straight sets. It was a very comfortable match for Novak who was never really danger of losing the match. 

Australian Open - Day Six

Day six at the Australian Open and Victoria Azarenka hammered Yvonne Meusburger in straight sets. 

It was a very routine win for Victoria who played well but didn't have to over extend herself to win the match. Next she plays Sloane Stephen and this match could be a very good match. 

Maria Sharapova beat Alize Cornet in straight sets. But Maria was made to work considerably harder in the second set.

In the men's draw, Rafael Nadal beat Gael Monfils in straight sets. It was the kind of game where Rafael was in completely in control and never any worry about him losing.

Andy Murray beat Feliciano Lopez in straight sets it was a comfortable victory and nothing like the mini drama he had in previous match.