US Open- day two

Day two of the US Open was pretty eventful. Heather Watson lost in three sets to Simona Halep and in the second set Heather could have won the match instead she made too many unforced errors and costly double faults. Which ultimately cost Heather the match.

The 11th seed and former US champion Sam Stosur lost in three sets to Victoria Duval and Victoria is a seventeen year old  Haitian American ranked 296 in the world. So it was a real shock that she was able to beat a former US Open champion. 

She now faces Daniela Hantuchova in the third round it will be interesting to see if can continue and make it to the fourth round.

US Open -Day One

The US Open has started and both the men's and the women's draw had some interesting games. 

Men's draw

Rafael Nadal beat Ryan Harrison in straight sets and this hopefully means that the injuries that have plagued his career are behind him. 

In a surprising result the British qualifier Dan Evans beat Kei Nishikori in straight sets to make it to the second round. This is really good for British tennis and I think that Andy Murray's success has given the other GB tennis players the belief that they can make it at the highest level.

Women's draw

I'm really happy that Venus Williams was able to beat Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets. 

But the problem is Venus hasn't got the energy she once had so as much as I want her to do well, it will be a real challenge for Venus to keep her energy levels up.

Serena Williams beat Francesca Schiavone in straight sets and only dropped one game and hopefully she will keep this level up and stay focused and motivated.

Britain's Laura Robson beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino in straight sets. Laura has not played any tennis for about three weeks so it will be interesting to see if she can go further than she did last year. 

US Open has started well and I am hoping that the players I regularly discuss on my blog will continue to do well.

Cincinnati-final

The Cincinnati final took  place yesterday  between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.

The first set went to Serena and Serena played the set really well and with few unforced errors. However the second went to Victoria as Serena  stopped grunting and became very passive .

The third set was a little closer and Serena had many opportunities to win the match but was unable to take them. The match went to a third set tie break and Victoria won the tie break and the match.

It was sad to see Serena lose but I am confident she will motivated to win the US open. 

Victoria did well to beat Serena on the hard court and I am sure she will go into the US Open with renewed confidence. 

Overall it was a great match of the highest quality and credit to the women's game.

Western & Southern Open Cincinnati- 2nd round

The second round matches of Western & Southern Open are taking place today and so far Serena Williams beat Eugenie Bouchard in three sets. Eugenie played quite well and I now understand why tennis world talks about her as a future number one.

Although Serena's serve kept letting her down and some of her shot selection were woeful. Serena managed to grind out the result without really having to go into top gear but I remain worried about her serve and if she is to retain her US Open title her serve needs to be firing on all cylinders.

Venus Williams lost in three sets to Elena Vesnina and to be fair it is a mild improvement for Venus as she had won her previous first round match and she managed to take Elena to three sets. I really do not understand why Venus will not retire she has nothing to prove anybody and medically it will very difficult for to win a grand slam. I really hope Venus can prove me wrong and win a another grand slam but at the moment it would be difficult for her to win 7 consecutive matches.

Sloane Stephens also beat Maria Sharapova in three sets and this result was a real surprise as Sloane has  not being playing well so I thought it was going to be a routine win for Maria. What Sloane now needs is a little consistency in her game and hopefully she will win her next match.

I was surprised that Jelena Jankovic beat Sabine Lisicki in the first round and I guess Sabine also needs to find some consistency as right now it seems to me that she saves all her best tennis for Wimbledon and this is why she is ranked 18.

In the third round Serena plays Mona Barthel and she will need to up her game to beat Mona and Marion Bartoli plays Simona Halep. I think if Serena ups her game she should win in straight sets and I also think Marion will have a possible straight sets victory over Simona.

IAAF World Championships-Russia

I am very much enjoying watching the world championships in Russia it's definitely great to watch the very best in the world compete at the highest level. From a British perspective two gold medals with about four days to go is not too bad. Both Mo Farah and Christine Ohuruogu are inspirational sports people and neither of them really get enough credit for what they are achieving.

I remember watching both Christine and Mo at an athletics meet at Crystal Palace about eight years ago and at that time both where in there early twenties and both where good but not winning medals. So it is so nice to watch them eight years down  the line not only winning medals but setting British records.

I am quietly confident that team GB could win at least two more gold medals hopefully Mo in his 5000 metre race and the women's 4x 400 metre relay race. Other than Christine and Mo it is pretty difficult to identify who in  the team can realistically when gold medals.

The US team have had an interesting championships so far they are not winning as many gold medals in sprints as they used to and now seem to be wining medals at the longer distance which I am still getting used to. The US team were always the team to aspire to however these days with the one or two them being caught for cheating the team does seem little different these days and not as unbeatable as they used to be.

The Jamaican team have been dominating the sprints for the last five years, however there team this year does seem little smaller in this championships. Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce are both amazing athletes and between them they both ran such amazing races and both are truly inspirational.

African countries are doing reasonably well the Ethiopian's and Kenyan's still dominating the long distances. What I have found very interesting is that countries like Ivory Coast who don't normally even send a team have now won a silver medal in the women's 100 metres. The Ivorian's are truly becoming a sporting nation not just in football now they are spending money in athletics and now they have a medal I am sure it will encourage their sporting authorities to invest even more.

It is also good to see that Nigeria have also won a  silver medal in the long jump and they have sent fifteen athletes to Russia so one silver medal is very good. Ghana used to be quite good at athletics and even recently started winning medals, however the wheels have slowly come off and the first sign of this was at the London 2012 games where Ghana sent a handful athletes and came back with no medals. This championships Ghana as sent one female athlete to compete in the 200 metres and her chances of even getting to the semi-finals is slim if not remote.

Russian team are the home team and it looked to me like their championships started yesterday. As more people turned up to watch Elena Isinbayeva win the gold medal in the pole vault. At first I thought it was the local ticket prices but yesterday the stands were fuller.

So maybe the Russian fans are only prepared to spend money to watch their own and if that is true then it is sad. Its an honour to host an international event like this and half empty stands is not good for Russia nor the competing athletes. As there are few more days to go I hope this will mean that more Russians will no go and watch this competition.

Canadian Open Final

The Canadian Open final took place yesterday and Serena Williams beat Sorana Cirstea in straight sets.

Serena used all her big weapons i.e.  her serve and some powerful groundstrokes. Sorana did her best but just did not have the game that could trouble Serena.

Sorana seemed quite tearful at the end and understandably it is never nice to lose. But I am sure if someone before the tournament had told her that she would be in a tier 1 final. 

I doubt she would have believed it herself so she should take the positives out of this match and aim to achieve at the highest level.

For Serena this is great preparation to help her retain her US Open title. My  only concern was that it took a little while for the serve to really start firing. Other than that she played really well and was a worthy winner.

Canadian Open Semi-Finals

The finals two spots have been decided!!! Sorana Cirstea beat Na Li to reach the final. Sorana has had an amazing tournament beating at least two grand slam champions to reach the final. Where she will face the current Canadian Open champion Serena Williams.

Serena beat Aga Radwanska in straight sets to reach the final. I am not Aga's biggest fan but my respect for her has certainly increased after this match. 

Though she still made only nine winners in the whole match she really gave it her all. Serena made forty one winners and about forty seven unforced areas so this alone should indicate the type of match it was. 

Serena had to work had to secure her place in the semi-finals but her serve let her down. At the end of the first set she had an injury time out as she needed to take pills because she was having stomach issues.

Predictions !!!!

I think that Serena will be pushed hard by Sorana but Serena's experience will see her through...