Dubai Open - Day One

Day one of the Dubai Open and Lucie Safarova beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets.

 Sloane is just coming back from injury but at the same time she is not  playing the kind of tennis that got her to the top fifteen.

I am also not sure how motivated Sloane is for these smaller tournaments or to even win a Grand Slam. Only time will tell if she is good enough to crack the top ten and win Grand Slams.

Venus Williams beat Elena Vesnina in straight sets and it was really a good win for Venus against a player she has never beaten. 

For me that it was the best I have seen Venus play in about three years. She was putting winners away and looked energetic. 

But I was surprised by Elena's performance as she looked like she was low in confidence and never really looked like she was going to beat Venus. 

Midland, USA - Final review

For those of you who regularly follow my blog you will know that Britain's Heather Watson is one my favourite players. 

Last year was a very tough year for Heather and she went from being top fifty to being top one hundred and fifty. This was primarily due to the bout of glandular fever she suffered early 2013. 

This affected her confidence and she  kept getting knocked out in the first round of tournaments. This carried on for most of 2013. 

However in the Australian Open Heather  got knocked out in the first round but only after winning three tough qualifying matches. 

Heather did well in her Fed Cup matches and won all her singles matches. So her confidence was slowly coming back. 

Once Heather entered this  ITF Midland  tournament although I was rooting for her. I was waiting for her to at least reach the semi finals before I blogged.

But fortunately Heather did even better than I expected she reached the final and  beat Ksenia Pervak in straight sets.

Then about an hour later she played doubles with Anna Tatishvili and managed to win in three sets beating Maria Sanchez, Sharon Fichman. 

Both wins have improved Heather's singles and doubles ranking and the confidence and her fitness levels have returned which is great for Heather and for UK tennis. 

FA Cup review - 15/16 February 2014

The FA Cup fifth round matches took place over the weekend and Man City beat Chelsea by two goals to nil. 

This was a good win for Man City and keeps them on track to win four trophies. For Man City this win against Chelsea would have worried their domestic rivals about the ease in which they beat Chelsea. 

For Chelsea this would have been very disappointing. The fact they were unable to score any goals was very strange. 

However it means that they now focus on the titles they are chasing so it could end up being a blessing in the sky. 

On Sunday Arsenal beat Liverpool by two goals to one. This result comes after Liverpool beat Arsenal by five goals to one in the premiership last week. 

Arsenal played well and it was a surprise line up which included  Lukas Fabianski, Yaya Sanogo and the returning Mathieu Flamini. 

For large parts of the game Arsenal where in complete control but Liverpool played well and where robbed of a penalty which might have least given them a draw. 

Arsene Wenger's  gamble paid off as he rested at least four first team players. Which gave an opportunity for players like Yaya Sanago to come on and help to secure the win. 

For Liverpool this would have been a tough loss so soon after beating Arsenal so comprehensively last weekend. It also

means that they can focus on winning the premiership or at the very least a top four finish. 

Premiership review - 12 February 2014

In Wednesday's  premiership games Arsenal drew nil nil with Manchester United. It was a quite drab grame with both teams not really having killer instincts. 

For Manchester United I'm sure they where relieved that they did not concede or lose the match as they looked like a team who lacked in confidence. 

For Arsenal they would be disappointed but relieved they did not lose the match. Arsenal are seriously lacking a player with the kind of pace that Theo Walcott has. 

 This even more apparent when it is notable that Olivier Giroud does not have this kind of pace. 

So Arsenal are at the stage of season where the games will come thick and fast. They need to be able to respond or else it will be another trophy less season. 

Elsewhere Tottenham beat Newcastle United by four goals to nil and this again has helped them to shore up their fifth place. 

 

Liverpool beat Fulham by three goals to two in a nailbiliting but pulsating match. The third goal was scored by their skipper Steven Gerard. Steven is probably key to how successful Liverpool will be this season. 

Premiership review -11th February 2014

In yesterday's premiership games Chelsea drew one all to West Bromwich Albion.

This was definitely a surprise result as Chelsea had the opportunity to go four points clear.

For West Brom this was another good draw against a top team. The fact they scored in last minute must made getting draw the even sweeter. 

For Chelsea this draw would have been bitterly disappointing as it gives there three rivals to catch up or overtake them. 

So Arsenal, Manchester City or Liverpool have a real chance to capitalize on Chelsea's draw. 

Fed Cup Great Britain v Austria 9th February 2014

In the ninth place play off Tara Moore beat Tamira Paszek in straight sets. This was a good win for Tara as it was a first her first ever Fed Cup game and she beat a former top thirty player. 

Then Heather Watson beat Yvonne Meusberger in straight sets and this win rounded off a good week for Heather. As she was able to record this as a fourth straight singles win. 

So the GB's campaign ended on a positive note but there is a lot of work to be done before GB can return to the elite World Group.

Fed Cup Great Britain v Latvia 5th February 2014

The first day of the Fed Cup and Heather Watson beat Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets. 

This was a good but expected win for Heather as she has a higher ranking than Jelena. 

Johanna Konta beat Diana Marcinkevica in three sets. It was an enthralling match and at one point Johanna was several match points down but managed to come back and win. 

In the doubles match Diana Marcinkevica  and Jelena Ostapenko then beat Heather Watson and Jocelyn Rae in a close three set match. 

I had not heard of Jocelyn Rae before this Fed Cup so it looked like a strange pairing to me. But I was pleased that both Heather and Johanna got wins. This meant that GB won the tie 2 1.