Miami Open - Day eight

Day eight at the Miami Open and Maria Sharapova beat Petra Kivitova in straight sets. 

This was a very good win for Maria and the first set was very competitive. But Maria was able to win the second set very comfortably and win the match. 

Serena Williams beat Angelique Kerber in straight sets. Serena was incredibly dominant and did not really give Angelique any opportunity to get into the match. 

The key to Serena 's dominance was her serve and she served at least eight aces and many serves she hit Angelique was unable to return it. 

Serena now plays Maria in the semi-finals and Maria has not beaten Serena for ten years so it should be a good match. 

Miami Open - Day seven

Day seven at the Miami Open and Maria Sharapova beat Kirsten Flipkens in three sets. 

This match should have been a little more comfortable for Maria than it was. It was only in the third set that Maria began to look a little more convincing and won the set and the match.

Dominika Cibulkova beat Venus Williams in three sets. Dominika has had a great start to 2014 and was a finalist at the Australian Open. Therefore she was the favourite to win the tie going into this match. 

Venus made a real match of it and fought tooth and nail for every point and in the end she was probably beaten by her own unforced errors. 

Serena Williams had a much more comfortable match and she beat Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets. 

The first set was competitive but in the second set Serena was able to get into grove and win the set and the match. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Elina Svitolina in three sets and in this match Aga struggled. Both the first and second set where very close.

 

 It was only in the third set that Aga was able to pull away and win the set and the match. 

Miami Open - Day six

TDay six at the Miami Open and Venus Williams beat Casey Dellacqua in three sets. 

This was a very good win for Venus and commentators have appointed out this was the kind of match that Venus would have lost this time last year.

 So Venus has made vast improvement this year and I  am hoping that she will be back in the top twenty. 

Caroline Wozniacki hammered Sloane Stephens in three sets. This was very bad result for Sloane and surprising that as I was expecting her to do a lot better. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Elena Vesnins in straight sets. This was a good win for Aga and hopefully she has put her previous injury problems behind her.

Miami Open - Day five

Day five in the Miami Open and Serena Willliams beat Caroline Garcia in a titanic three set victory. 

Serena had to dig really deep to put away twent year old Caroline. In the end I think Serena's experience at this stage is what probably helped her to close our the match and win.

Coco Vanderweghe beat Samantha Stosur in anther titanic three set match. This was a surprised as I thought Samantha was going to win this match. 

Coco played well at the key points and was able to win the games and the match.

Miami Open - Day four

Day four at the Miami Open and Venus Williams beat Anna Schmiedlova in straight sets. This was a very good second round victory as she continues to gain momentum. 

Elsewhere Agnieszka Radwanska beat  Romina Oprandi in straights to move the third round. This should mean that the injury that hampered her in the final of the Indian Wells is behind her.

Sloane Stephens beat Zarina Dyas in straight sets and this was quite a routine win for Sloane but tougher opponents await her. 

Caroline Wozniacki beat Monica Puig in three sets and a good run in this tournament and Caroline will be back in the top ten.

Premiership review - 22nd/23rd March 2014

In the weekend's premiership games Chelsea beat Arsenal by six goals to nil. This was one of the most humiliating losses I have watched. 

What surprised me the most was Arsenal's inability to at least score a consolation goal. 

 

The scoreline was not helped by Arsenal going down to ten men and the referee send off the wrong player. 

However Arsenal where already a couple goals down when the sending of Kieran Gibbs took place. 

On a positive note, however bad the scoreline was Arsenal still have a lot to play for. So the team needs to regroup as the games will be coming thick and fast. 

Elsewhere Liverpool beat Cardiff City by six goals to three and they came back from being two nil down. 

This win helped Liverpool to consolidate their second place and possibly win the premiership. 

Man City had even more compelling win they beat Fulham by five goals to nil. This win have also increased Man City chances winning the premiership. 

The fight for the European Cup intensified over the weekend as Everton, Manchester United and Tottenham Spurs all had good wins, so there is everything to play for. 

WTA Miami Open - Day three

Day three at the Miami Open and Serena Williams beat Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets. However the first was very competitive and could have gone either way. 

But Serena asserted her authority in the second and it was really a one way traffic. It was a good test for Serena to have and will hopefully have prepared her for further tough matches.

 

Elsewhere Sabine Lisicki just about beat Nadia Petrova in three sets. Sabine needs to really pull together a good run and maybe a realistic chance to at least make  the final.

Maria Sharapova beat Kurumi Nara in straight sets and this wasa good first round match for Maria. As she knows that there will be much tougher matches to come.