Australian Open - Day three

Day three at the Australian Open Maria Sharapova beat Alexandra Panova in three sets. It was really hard fought win for Maria to get this result.

It was a surprise Maria struggled because on paper this should have been a comfortable win. Maria is nice part of draw and should really make to the final. 

Simona Halep beat Jamila Gajdosova in straight sets and this was a comfortable win for Simona. Simona has also in the nice part of the draw so she should make to at least the semi finals. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Tim Smyczek in five sets and it was tough old match for Rafa who eventually came through it to make the third. 

Rafa is coming back from injury so I guess he still a little rusty so I guess he trying to slowly build momentum. 

In the men's match Roger Federer beat Simone Bolelli in four sets and it was a tough old match for Roger who eventually came through it. 

This is the kind of player that Roger used to beat in his sleep so it was little surprising that he took Roger to four sets. 

I  think it will be a big ask to expect Roger to win this title as he would have to beat at least three top ten players and so it would be a big ask to expect him to win. 

Australian Open - Day Two

Day two of the Australia Open and Tsvetana Pironkova  beat Heather Watson in straight sets. This would have been bitterly disappointing for Heather after winning Hobart at the weekend she was expecting to do well. 

This was sadly not meant to be and Heather looked like she had zero energy or the strength to chase the balls. In her press conference she blamed her loss on "women problems". Hopefully Heather will find a better way to manage these "women problems" or her career will be very short. 

Venus Williams had a good straight sets win and was particularly impressive on serve and Venus never looked like she was going to lose the match. This in stark contrast to last year were she would have scrapped into the second round. 

Serena Williams had a very good straight sets win and in this match Serena showed her grit and ability that were missing at the Hopman Cup. This is really Serena title to lose and it all depends on how motivated she is for 19th title. 

Agnieszka Radwanska had a good straight sets win against Kumi Nara and Agnieszka's ability to chase down those loss balls helped to win her this match. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic had a reasonably comfortable first round win and against Aliz Bedene. 

Stanislas Wawrinka also won his first match reasonably comfortably and as defending champion there would presume to retain the title and losing early would be a disaster for his ranking.

Gael Monfils had a thrilling five set match and came through it make the second round. He was playing against a player that I had never heard off and his name was Lucas Pouille. 

Gael did well to come back and I am hoping the energy he spent on winning this match does not affect him too much in the next round. 

Premier league - 31st January & 1st February 2015

In this weekend Premiership results Manchester United beat Leicester City by three goals to one and this a much needed win for United who probably still think they can win the title so with that in mind they cannot afford to drop points. 

Tottenham had good win against West Brom as they beat them by three goals to  nil. This win helped Tottenham to keep in touch with the top five. 

Chelsea and Manchester City drew one all and this was a fantastic result for the chasing pack. if Chelsea had one maybe they would have one hand on the trophy. 

If Manchester City had won that would have helped them to pull clear from the chasing pack so the result was good for the teams vying for title. 

Arsenal beat Aston Villa by five goals to nil and this the best win that Arsenal have had in a while. They got this win without Arsenal top goal scorer Sanchez was not selected to play. 

It just goes to show that Arsenal can results when needed now just have to be string together a couple more results. 

Australian Open 2015 - Day one

Day one of the Australian Open and it is the first Grand Slam of the calendar year and some of the players are still not ready to play. 

There were lots of surprises in the women's draw and the first high profile seed to go out was Ana Ivanovic who lost three sets to Lucie Hradecka   

Next Angelique Kerber lost in three sets to Irina Begu the first day shock kept coming and it ended with eight female seeds going out in one day. 

However there were wins for Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova. 

In the men's draw the main title contenders all made it successfully to the second round and these were Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. 

There were few shock losses in the men's draw and I think the women's draw has changed a lot in the last five years and now its not too much of a surprise for a top ten seed to go out as these days women are much closer in ability. 

Hobart final - Australia

In the Hobart final Heather Watson beat Madison Brengle in straight sets to win her second WTA title. Heather is the first Britain in thirty years to win two WTA titles. 

Heather did not drop a set the whole tournament and beat three seeded players on the way the final. 

The first set was a little topsy turvy but in the second set Heather did not drop her serve and was more comfortable. 

This win gives Heather the perfect start to 2015 and it also means she will be more optimistic going into the Australian Open which starts tomorrow. 

WTA New Zealand - Final

Tennis season is back and of the first tournaments to start was the ASB tournament in New Zealand. 

In the Final Venus Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in three sets. It was a reasonably good match and I was surprised that Venus was able to win. 

Venus is now thirty four years old and still has the fatigue illness. However what impressed me the most was that her confidence never dropped even after losing the first set. 

 So it was a good and largely unexpected win from Venus. I am hoping will be able to build on this win but it largely depends on how well she is able to manage her illness. 

Premiership - 1st January 2015

I haven't blogged in a while mainly because I wanted to get some well earned rest from blogging as well holding down a job. 

My lack of blogging was not particularly helped by watching Arsenal mess things up time and time again. 

New year but same old Arsenal as soon as I saw the team line up I knew it was going to be a tough match to win against a Southampton team that have had an amazing start. 

So I was not too surprised when Southampton beat Arsenal by two goals to nil. Arsenal defence is probably the worst I have ever seen. 

They are not comfortable in the air and when the other team is running at them the defence backs off. 

So it was another terrible loss for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger has no plans to strengthen the defence in the transfer window so it could be a really tough next five months for the team. 

Elsewhere Manchester United drew one  all with Stoke City this was a surprising result as Man United have being doing well and if they had won this match it would have helped to consolidate their third position and even challenge for the top two positions. 

Manchester City just about beat Sunderland by three goals two to help them retain the title they won last year. 

I don't think Manchester City are playing well but they are doing enough to win their games and get those valuable points. 

The shock of the day was Tottenham beating Chelsa by five goals to three. This loss would have really have hurt Chelsea because many including myself had gifted them title and I did not see them losing a match. 

So this loss to Tottenham has definitely made the race to the title a little more interesting as Manchester City and Chelsea are now only separated by goal difference.