Wimbledon 2015 quarter finals

In yesterday quarter finals match Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka in three sets and it was a pretty competitive match but I never really sensed that Serena was going to lose.  

Serena served well as she has done for most of this tournament and Vika played well and is now back to full fitness which help get her ranking up. 

Maria Sharapova beat Coco Vandeweghe in three sets and Maria really struggled with her serve against a player it should have been a straight forward match. 

Garbine Muguruza beat Timea Bacsinszky in three sets and this was good win for Garbine who is in her Wimbledon semi-final. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Madison Keys in three sets and Aga did will to beat Madison is learning and developing her game all the time. 

In the men's draw Andy Murray beat Vasek Pospisil in straight sets and this was a good routine win for Andy who is back in a Wimbledon semi final. 

Novak Djokovic beat Marin Cilic in straight sets and this was a good win for Novak. 

The shock of the quarter finals draw was Richard Gasquet beating Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets and this was big win for Richard as Stanislas has just won French Open. 

Roger Federer beat Gilles Simon in straight sets and this was nice routine win for Roger who has not be tested in this tournament. 

So the quarter final matches were good but I am expecting to see more exciting matches in the semi finals. 

Wimbledon 2015 4th round

Fourth round matches took place on Monday Serena Williams beat Venus Williams in straight sets.

 It was a great match of high quality however it evident Venus illness affected her energy levels so she was not able to play at the same level. 

So Serena progressed to the quarters final which is probably about right and hopefully this will inspire to keep her form and win the title on Saturday. 

Maria Sharapova beat Zarina Diyas in straight sets and this was not much of a challenge for Maria and it was a routine wins for her. 

Garbine Murguruza beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets and even though Caroline is high ranked player I was not surprised because Garbine it's the ball well and has a good serve. 

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Jelena Jankovic in three sets and it was good win for Aga considering has had a poor year. 

In the men's draw Andy Murray beat Ivo Karlovic in four sets and it was good win for Andy who dropped a set but was able  come win the match. 

Roger Federer beat Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets and in this tournament Roger has had little challenge playing players that I have never heard of. 

So the fourth round matches were good now hopefully the quarter final matches will be better. 

Wimbledon first week 2015

I cannot I haven't been blogging about Wimbledon.. I guess I have just been a little to busy with my day job:) but trust me I didn't miss a beat!

This week had it's highs and lows and the main high for me was how well Heather Watson did not only to make to the third round but to push Serena Williams to a third set and at point it looked she was going to win but it was not meant to be. 

Which in reality is not such a bad thing I am one of Heather biggest fan but being known as a "Serena slayer" would put untold pressure on her and her career and I know she wanted to win and is disappointed. 

But the match proved to the world that Heather has got the talent to play with the world best. 

For Serena it was a real relief that she managed to pull of the win and probably underestimating Heather was her biggest mistake. 

The low of the first week was Rafael Nadal going out. However watching his match he didn't seem like he was back to his best and seemed to lacking belief in his shots. But I am confident that he will soon rediscover his form. 

So it was a good first week with some real first class tennis and let's hope the second week will be as good. 

Wimbledon 2015 - Day one

Day one at Wimbledon and in the women's draw Serena Williams won her match in straight sets and Serena really found her range in in the second set and went on to get a comfortable victory. 

Venus Williams doubled bagled Madison Brengle and it has been a while since Venus has doubled bagled anyone.

Maria Sharapova beat Johanna Konta and it was expected victory for Maria but it's sad that Johanna had to exit the tournament so early. 

The surprise of the day was Carla Suarez Navarro getting knocked out in three sets.  She is now a top ten player so I was expecting to do reasonably well. 

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic got a straight sets win against.., and it was good first win for Novak who is hoping to make it to the final and win it.

Stanislas Wawrinka won in straight sets and he is through to the second and as the winner of the French Open he is looking to get is third grand slam.

Day one is only had one real surprise but all the players who have real potential of winning the tournament made it to the second round. 

Wimbledon 2015 preview

Ok to my shame I didn't complete the review of the French Open.. However it was truly wonderful to see Serena Williams win her 20th grand slam and it was nice to see Stanislas Wawrinka get is  2nd Grand Slam. 

But I am sure that Wimbledon challenge will be very different for both of these champions. 

The women's draw looks quite competitive this year but I cautiously optimistic that Serena will get the 6th Wimbledon title and her 21st Grand Slam. 

However it's not going to be easy and she will probably need to beat Maria Sharapova in the semis to even make it to the final. 

Last year winner Petra Kivitova is a contender to retain her title she has a very good grass court game and as there normally isn't many rallies on the grass it suits her game perfectly.

From a British prespective both Heather Watson and Johanna Konta have very tough draws and it will not be easy for either to progress to the second round. 

Heather faces Caroline Garcia and who has some powerful ground strokes and for Heather to win she will need to be aggressive and her serve has to be on point. 

Johanna faces Maria Sharapova and the chances of her winning are even more remote. Maybe if the crowd get behind her that might help to get one set! 

 

The men's draw is much more open and realistically either Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka or Rafael Nadal can win the title. 

Rafa is my personal favourite but he has been having a torrid time of lately so is chance of winning the title do not look great. 

Andy Murray is home favourite and a former winner and he knows how to win so I would rule him out of at least getting to the final. 

Novak Djokovic is current champion and I would not bet against him making it to the final as the three time winner he can do it again. 

Stanislas Wawrinka will be feeling very confident so I would not rule him out of getting to at least the finals. 

Roger Federer is a Wimbledon favourite and has won at least six times but he is older now and he cannot win matches like he used and he is unlikely to win a tough five set matches like he used to and but as a former champion I cannot totally rule him out. 

So it should be a another great Wimbledon and hopefully a record breaking Wimbledon for Serena Williams. 

French Open - First week review

So it's been an eventful first week at the French Open and in the ladies draw Eugene Bouchard and Simona Halep have both been beaten. 

To be fair neither of them was a major surprise and I personally don't think either of them are top ten and they will both be lucky to still be in the top ten by the US Open. 

Heather Watson made to the second round before she was beaten by Sloane Stephens. By all accounts Heather was a bit of a disappointment and her serve and game was way off. 

I hoping she will turn this around for the grass court season and get back to being healthy and competitive on the court. 

Another surprise exit first round exit was Venus Williams and with her health problems and advancing age it was always going to be challenge.

 However Venus still believes she has a chance of winning and her best results have come in both the grass court and hard court season so we just have to wait to see. 

Venus's sister Serena Williams has had an up and down week. She has struggled both her second and third round matches, however would not bet against her reaching at least the final. 

The men's has been less eventful with all the favourites still in there. I am hoping Rafa Nadal can really turn his season around by winning this title. 

Andy Murray has been having a good clay court season so I would not bet against him making to to the final. 

Novak Djokovic has been really consistent so I would not bet against him making it to the final either. 

Then there is Roger Federer who has sailed through the first three rounds but I suspect when he comes up a better player it will be a real challenge for him to beat a better player in five sets. 

So both the men's and women's draw is looking exciting we should know by this time next week who the champions are. 

Premiership - 24th May

The last day of this season premership and to be honest once Chelsea won the league I lost the motivation to blog about it. 

But the last day of the season was highly entertaining and Arsenal beat West Bromwich Albion by four goals to one.

In my previous blog I moaned about Arsene Wenger not playing Theo Walcott and for some reason only Wenger will understand he decides to play Theo upfront and Theo scores a hat trick !  

It was a great win from and hopefully it will set up nicely for the FA Cup final against Aston Villa. 

Arsenal good day is in stark contrast to Liverpool's bad day. Liverpool where beaten by six goal to one and it had be on of their most humiliating defeats. 

This time last year Liverpool where challenging for the title and at the time I thought it was a big fluke. I was not impressed with Brendan Rogers but some how last year he seemed to wonders. 

This year his luck has run Liverpool are getting the kind of results I expected them to get last year. What's worse is they now stated they are not to going sack Brendan Rogers. 

So the final day was a little more interesting than I imagined it to be and yes Chelsea won the league but Arsenal got a good creditable win.