The Bank of West Classic - Stanford - Day four

Day four of the Bank of West Classic and Venus Williams beat Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. This was a good solid win for Venus beating Victoria who is good player. 

This win will also help Venus to continue to rise back up the rankings and she should now be on the cusp of being a top twenty player again. 

I hoping she will become a top ten player by the US Open and then be eligible to play in the end of year tournament taking place in Singapore. 

Ana Ivanovic beat Carol Zhao in straight sets and this was another good win for Ana who faces tougher opposition when she plays Serena Williams in the next round. 

Angelique Kerber beat Coco Vanderweghe in three sets and this was a topsy turvy match in which Coco bagled Angelique in the second set but somehow managed to lose the third set. 

Bank of West Classic - Stanford - Day three

Day three at The Bank of West Classic and Andrea Petkovic beat Naomi Osaka in straight sets. As Naomi best Samantha Stosur in the first round I was expecting this match to be a little more competive. 

But it was not meant to be, Naomi is only sixteen years old and will hopefully have many more years on the tour to get the big wins. 

Sachia Vickery beat Monica Puig in three sets and this was a big win for Sachia who had to play three tough qualifiers to make it to the main draw. 

Sachia is still only a teenager so is gaining valuable experience with every round. 

The shock of the day was Vavara Lepchenko beating Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets. Before this match Vavara had only recorded one win against Agnieszka in there six meetings.

This was a bad loss for Agnieszka who has had a bad year and I don't think the year will get any better for her unless she changes her game strategy and plays a more attacking game. 

Serena Williams beat Karolina Pliskova in straight sets and this was Serena first match back since Wimbledon and it was a good solid win. 

I hoping that she can retain the title she won last year and this would be excellent preparation for the defence of her US Open title.  

Citi Open - Washington - Day four

Day three of the Citi Open and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets. To be honest after Kirsten tough first round match with Heather Watson I wondered how much she would have left in the tank to compete in this competition. 

So I was not overly suprised that Kirsten lost in straight sets plus Svetlana is a Grand Slam winner and can beat anyone on a good day. 

Ekaterina Makarova beat Lauren Davis in straight sets and this was a good win for her as she is seeded second is somewhat favourite to in the title. 

WTA - Bank of West Classic - Stanford - Day two

Day two of the Stanford Open and Venus Williams beat Paula Kania in straight sets. This was a good solid win for Venus who has put the Wimbledon disappointment behind her. 

Venus now plays Victoria Azarenka in the second round and if she can get past Vika then I can see her at least making to the semi-finals and beyond. 

Ana Ivanovic beat Sabine Lisicki in straight and It was a very competitive first set. Which Sabine set the World Record for the fastest serve. 

However the second set was a not very eventful and Ana won the set comfortably and the match.

WTA - Citi Open - Washington

Day two of the Citi Open and Taylor Townsend beat Julia Georges in three sets. This was a fantastic win for Taylor who is certainly inform and at this rate she will be top one hundred before the end of the year. 

Kiki Mladenovic beat Lucie Safarova in three sets and Kiki is also inform and has been have a reasonable summer and seems have put the Wimbledon disappointment behind her. 

Kirsten Flipkens beat Heather Watson in three sets and I was disappointed that Heather didn't win this match. It was a match I feel she should have won. 

At this stage in Heather's career the reality is she needs to be getting wins like this or before she knows it she will go from a potential Grand Slam winner to a journey women. 

I hope she can get some decent wins before the US Open starts as this the time when she can pick up some points and at least make into the top fifty. 

World Cup - A review of the beautiful game.

The World Cup is over now and  for the winners Germany it is probably just sinking in what they have achieved. 

I thought the the some of the group games where fantastic and teams played without fear. 

One of the group games  I enjoyed watching was when France beat Switzerland by five goals to two and the French played amazing free flowing footballs. 

The game that I found most exciting was the Ghana versus Germany match and this match could have gone either way but ended up in the draw. 

However the match that almost put me sleep was Nigeria versus Iran was an incredibly boring match with both teams trying hard not to score....

So I thought the knock out games where going to be just as good and sadly it was not the case. The free flowing football had been replaced with edgy and defensive football. 

The stand out game of the knock out stages was Germany beating the host Brazil by seven goals to one. It was a little embarrassing to watch and this was compounded by the crying fans in the stadium. 

So the two most efficient and consistent teams of the tournament Germany and Argentina who made it to the final. 

However it was a little bit of a damp squib with little or no entertainment but the German team where the worthy winners. 

Argentina v Germany - Final review

The final took place yesterday and Germany beat Argentina by a goal to nil in extra time. 

It was a pretty dull match with both teams being very careful but somehow you got the feeling that this was more of an advantage for Germany.

Argentina's Lionel Messi failed to shine and Argentina did not have a single shot on target in the whole match. 

Germany had few chances but where unable to convert them into goals and it took the sub Mario Gotze to come on and break the deadlock late into the second half of extra time. 

For me it was more defending that lead to the goal but the BBC pundits where waxing lyrical about it being an amazing goal. 

Yes it was a well taken goal but I don't think it would even be in my top five goals. 

So Germany won the World Cup and it was well deserved but  I don't like their style of football. 

Which has very little to do with being entertaining and is more about being clinical and efficient. 

But at they end of the day they won the World Cup so they must be doing something right.