Indian Wells - WTA Final

The final at Indian Wells and Flavia Pennetta beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets. 

Aga appeared to have both a knee and ankle injury but that should not take anything away from Flavia's win. 

Flavia is one of a growing number of players over the age of thirty that have been winning titles. 

Admittedly this was one title that once Aga reached the final and injury free she probably would have won it so Flavia's win came as a surprise to me. 

Although Aga was injured I still think she will struggle to win tier ones and Grand Slam titles. 

She does not have the power of a Serena, Maria or Victoria and prefers to go for placement instead of winners. 

It was a great win for Flavia and I am sure she is hoping this win will give her confidence to improve her win tally in future tier one's and Grand Slams tournaments. 

Indian Wells - Day eight and nine

Day eight at Indian Wells and Agnieszka Radwanska beat Jelena Jankovic in three  sets. 

Aga's game seems to be really coming together and now she has made it to the semi finals she has every chance of winning it. 

Day nine and Ni La beat Dominika Cibulkova in three sets and Dominika played well but in the third set Ni La was able to win the big points and the game. 

Flavia Pennetta beat Sloane Stephens in three sets. Sloane did not look 100% fit and was making some really basic errors. 

Flavia was very consistent and could have won the match in two sets but I guess her persistence and patience paid off in the end. 

Champions League - Review 11th/12th March 2014

Champions league returned this week and Arsenal drew one all on the night but lost the tie by three goals to one. 

Arsenal played reasonably well but to be fair it was always going to be an uphill task to beat Bayern Munich let alone with at least three first team players missing. 

All it means is that Arsenal now focus on hopefully winning the FA Cup and the Premiership and with a more realistic chance of winning the FA Cup. 

Elsewhere Barcelona beat Manchester City by two goals to one on the night but by four goals to one overall. 

Manchester City where a little bit unlucky to go out of the competition but it means they can focus all their energies on trying to win the Premiership.

Indian Wells - Day seven

Day seven at Indian Wells and Sloane Stephens beat Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets to make it to the quarter finals. 

Sloane is having a great tournament and has had some great wins. Now we are the business of the tournament where she has a every realistic chance of winning the tournament.

Simona Halep beat Eugenie Bouchard in three sets and this match would have been a great learning curve for Eugenie. 

It would give a better idea of where and how she needs to improve her game to become a top ten player. 

Also good win for the Australian finalist Dominika Cibulkova who beat Petra Kivitova in three sets. 

Dominkia has good tournament and I would not be surprised if she makes to the final. 

Indian Wells - Day six

Day six at Indian Wells and Sloane Stephens beat Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. This was very good win for Sloane against player like Ana who has been in good form 

It was good for Sloane as she is coming back from injury and has also been falling down the rankings. So a good run at this tournament could see her back in the top fifteen.

The shock of the day was the qualifier Camilia Giorgi beat the defending champion Maria Sharapova in three sets.

It was a very close match but somehow Camilia was able to find that next gear win the third set and the match. 

This would have been a tough loss for Maria as she had a lot of ranking points to defend. 

Maria probably hoping that this loss is a minor set back and she can regain the points and her form in forthcoming tournaments.

Indian Wells - Day Five

Day five at Indian Wells and Aga Radwanska beat Annika Beck in straight sets. This was a very good win for Aga who looked largely unimpressive in the previous round. 

Lauren Davis followed up her impressive win against Victoria Azarenka with a straights sets win over Vavara Lepchenko. 

But the big upset of the day was Eugenie Bouchard beating the ninth seed Sara Errani in straight sets. 

This was a very good win Eugenie and she is marching closer to being a top twenty player and I am sure by the end of the year she will be top ten.

Indian Wells - Day four

Day four at Indian Wells and Maria Sharapova  beat Julia Goerges in straight sets and this was a good win for the defending champion who also has lots of points to defend. 

 

Sloane Stephens also had a straights win against Ajla Tomljanovic and this was a good win for Sloane. 

She is just coming back from injury and has also slipped in the rankings so she needs to perform well to at least stay top twenty. 

 

Ni La also got a good straight sets win against Jie Zheng and Ni La has just won the Australian Open and is also coming back from injury. 

Winning this tournament would definitely help to cement her second place ranking.