Friday, 9 May 2014

Mutua Madrid Open - Day seven

Day seven and quarter finals day at the Madrid Open and Serena Williams pulled out and this means that Petra Kivitova went straight through to the semi-finals. 

Serena's has been struggling with a thigh injury and was quite heavily strapped in her previous matches. So it did not come has too much of a suprise that she was unable to continue.

Agnieszka Radwanka beat Caroline Garcia in three sets and it was a real tough match for Aga who won this match  by the smallest of margins. 

Maria Sharapova beat Ni La in three sets and it was a match of high quality tennis that could have gone either way. However Maria was able to dig deep and win the third set and the match. 

Mutua Madrid Open - Day six

Day six at the Madrid Open and Caroline Garcia beat Sara Errani in three sets and this was a good win for Caroline who has had a stelar year so far. 

If Caroline carries on recording wins like these she will be in the top twenty before the end of the year. 

Simona Halep beat Sabine Lisicki in three sets and although Simona is the higher ranked player I thought it was a match that Sabine was going to win. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Roberta Vinci in straight sets and this was good win for Aga who is hoping to win her first WTA title of the year. 

Serena Willliams beat Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets and it was a good win for Serena against Carla who has a good record on the clay. 

Ni La beat Sloane Stephens in three sets and it was always going to be a tough match for Sloane.

Sloane played a lot better than I imagined  especially as she has been really struggling recently.  

Elsewhere both Maria Sharapova and Petra Kivitova recorded wins to move to the quarter finals.  

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Mutua Madrid Open - Day Five

Day five at the Madrid Open and Agnieszka Radwanska beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets. 

This was a a very good win for Aga as it's the first time beaten Svetlana in about six years so she needed this win. 

Serena Williams beat Shuai Peng in straight sets and Serena was in imperious form and served eleven aces.

This was a good second round for Serena as the later rounds she will play tougher and more experienced clay court players. 

Sabine Lisciki beat Irina Camelia Begu in straight sets and this was the kind of solid win that Sabine needed. 

 So far Sabine has spent most part of the early season injured so this is the tournament that she could pick up some valuable points.  

Mutua Madrid Open - Day four

Day four at the Madrid Open and Maria Sharapova beat Christina Mchale in three tough sets. 

At one point Maria was four games to one down in the third set and managed to come back and win it. 

If Maria is to win this title she is going have to play a lot better or else I don't see her getting past the semi-finals. 

Ni La beat Jie Zheng in straight sets and she had little trouble getting past her Chinese compatriot and is getting better and more tactical with each round. 

Sloane Stephens beat Petra Cetkovska in three tough set and Sloane has had some very tough losses and seem to suffering from a loss of form and confidence so badly needed this win. 

WTA Mutual Madrid Open - Day three

Day three of the Madrid Open and Agnieszka Radwanka beat Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. 

This was a good win for Aga against Eugenie a player I see winning a Grand Slam in the not too distant future. 

Ni La beat Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets and this was a good solid win for Ni La who hoping to at least make it to the final. 

The surprise is of the day was Sam Stosur beating Dominika Cibulkova in straight  sets. Dominika had a fairly good hard court season so was expecting her to do reasonably well, maybe she has not adjusted to the clay yet. 

Premiership review - 3rd/4th/5th May 2014

In the weekend premiership games Manchester City beat Everton by three goals to two. 

It was a very competitive match but Manchester City seems to have that extra gear to score more goals and get the important win.

Sunderland  beat Manchester United by one goal to nil. This was shock result as I did not expect Sunderland to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Arsenal beat West Bromwich Albion beat one goal to nil and it was a good win. Arsenal players are showing that they are trying to end the season on the high and preparing themselves for the FA Cup final. 

Chelsea drew nil nil with Norwich at home and this was a shock result as well.  If Chelsea had won they would have gone top. This draw may have cost them possibility of winning the league. 

Liverpool drew three all with Crystal Palace and this after Liverpool went three nil up and somehow managed to throw away three goal lead.

A Liverpool win would have have meant that they would have won the title. Now they have to hope that Man City trip up and give the advantage back to them. 

So this means the last couple of games for this season should be exciting as the destination of this year trophy is still undecided. 

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Premiership review - 26th/27th/28th April 2014

In the weekend's premiership games Manchester United with Ryan Giggs as Manager beat Norwich City by four goals to nil. 

This was the kind of win the Man United needed as they move forward and plan for next season and the reality of not playing any European games sinks in. 

Manchester City beat Crystal Palace by two goals to nil and this win kept Manchester City in the title race. 

The shock of the weekend was Chelsea beating Liverpool by two goals to nil. Some sports pundits had been predicting that Liverpool where going to win the title by beating Chelsea. 

However Chelsea managed to put Liverpool potential title win on hold by beating them at Anfield. 

Chelsea win at Liverpool means that the title race is still open and it could be decided on the final day. 

In last nights evening game, Arsenal beat Newcastle by three goals to nil. This was a good win for Arsenal who still need to secure fourth place to ensure they can play in next season Champions League.

Arsenal played reasonably well in most parts but where helped by the fact that Newcastle played badly. 

Normally Arsenal/Newcastle games are very competitive and there are normally lots of goals. 

It was a bit of a surprise on how badly Newcastle played but relieved that Arsenal secured all three points.