Roland Garros - Round two

Hi everyone,

The match between Venus Williams and Radwanska turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax. The Pole broke immediately in the opening game and Venus just couldn't recover from that point on. She had a breakpoint at 1-3 but due to her many unforced errors, she never really could grid her teeth in the first set: 2-6. In no time Radwanska led 4-0 in the second set, her only tactic keeping the ball in the court to wait for the Williams-fault. The number three did win some amazing points when it seemed she had no chance at all. It was at 5-2 the Pole began having nerves and handed over the break to Venus. She countered right away, winning the match: 6-2, 6-3. Exit second Williams, is this the end of an era?

To sum things up for the other seeded players: Stosur, Cibulkova and Kuznetsova are all through without many difficulty on the first day of the second round. Ivanovic won 6-2, 6-2 against Peer and Stephens won the American duel against Mattek-Sans: 6-1, 6-1. We get to see Azarenka's smiling face again, she won also in a solid: 6-1, 6-1.

Na Li, Goerges, Kerber and Kanepi joined them to the third round a day later. Schiavone had some trouble against Pironkova and had to fight back from a set down: 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Not so much problems for Kvitova, who outplayed the younger Radwanska: 6-1, 6-3.

 But we did lose some top players in the second round. Cetkovska seeded 24th is out, Zheng lost against Wozniak (she's seeded 31st) and we also had to say goodbye to Safarova (seed 20). The biggest upset was delivered by Martic, she defeated Bartoli: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Razzano may have beaten Serena but with Bartoli out, the French hope is also swept off the gravel.

Also Kirilenko is out and Jankovic lost to Lepchenko: (4)6-7, 6-4, 4-6. And for all the new-found fans of Razzano, she lost to the Dutch Rus: 3-6, (3)6-7.

But cheer up, there are some wonderful matches coming up in the third round! Faith definitely brought us these: Kanepi vs. Wozniacki, Petrova vs. Stosur, the older Radwanska sister against Kuznetsova and Kerber vs. Pennetta.

Stay posted!

Roland Garros - Round one

Hi everyone,

It's been fun in the first round of the French Open!

To kick off: a MAJOR, MAJOR upset! French woman Razzano beat Serena Williams, yes you read it right!

The first set went 6-4 to Williams, like expected. It wasn't until Razzano took the second set tiebreak 7-6(5) and led in the third set with 5-0 that I started watching the match. Seriously, it couldn't get much more drama! Razzano was cracking under the pressure, in obvious agony because of leg cramps. The chair umpire even called twice a nuisance when she couldn't hold back a shriek, which gave Serena two breakpoints! The French crowd was going mad, yelling at the umpire and impossible to get them quiet unless Razzano had a matchpoint. It was 5-3 at this point, and that epic game took almost 15 minutes! It wasn't just close... it was nerve wrecking, breaking out in tears, nail-biting, hair pulling, 14 times 2 points away from victory and finally the eight matchball did the trick after three hours of play!
I'm guessing she'll be the national hero from today on. Razzano did have her share of sadness, losing her fiance and former coach a little over three years ago (she even played 8 days later in the French open in memory of her coach!). Wish they could see her now!

Oh my, and how Azarenka flirted with a not-so-good history statistic at day 2! Never before at the French Open did the number one gone out of the first round but her fairly unknown first round opponent Brianti got the Belarusian in quite some trouble for a while!

Azarenka's game was littered with unforced errors by sending the ball anywhere but inside the lines. She even got 2-4 behind when she double faulted on a break point. Eventually the first set led to a tiebreak where the brilliant Brianti held her cool and won it 7-6(6).
The second set wasn't any better on the side of Azarenka while Brianti even got a point for a 5-0 lead. The number one switched up a few gears and pulled the two following sets in her favor: 6-4, 6-2. This 2h 15 minutes match has surely been a psychically and especially mentally tiring test for Azarenka. I'm curious how she will have recovered in the second round, it definitely needs to improve a lot!

Many other top players didn't have such troubles. Stosur downed Baltacha with 6-4, 6-0. Na Li got rid of Cirstea quite easily 6-2, 6-1. Radwanska crushed her opponent Jovanovski 6-1, 6-0. Also Bartoli advances with 6-3, 6-3 against Pliskova. Sharapova even produced a double bagel in less than one hour! Also Kvitova and Schiavone relatively easy through.

I'm gonna let the pictures tell the rest:

Venus and Jankovic did have to break a sweat when facing a set down, but they overcame and won it in the end.

Unfortunately Wickmayer couldn't force a victory against Pironkova and lost: 6-3, 0-6, 6-3.

Some seeded players didn't have their luck and got send home already. Barthel lost to American Davis: 1-6, 1-6. Niculescu is also out and Lisicki couldn't cope with Bethanie Mattek-Sands: 4-6, 3-6.

With Serena out and Azarenka struggling, this could be a free for all French Open title! Be sure, not to miss the Venus - Radwanska match and the rest of the second round in the next post!

Draw analyse: Roland Garros

Hi everyone,

So this is where everybody has been waiting for! In which quarter did the Williams sisters end up? Is a favorite for the title getting some difficult obstacles? Have the draw-gods been fair this year? Here's my analysis!

It's small pickings in the upper quarter but of course Stosur managed to get Azarenka in the quarter final! The number one may be slacking a little bit but I'm not too confident about this little set-up. Other contenders who might produce a major upset: Safarova, Cibulkova, Lisicki and Makarova.

So my guess here is an Azarenka - Stosur quarter final and hopefully it'll be a fierce battle (which the Aussie definitely should win in my opinion!)

The upper-middle draw (if you can follow that!) bids way more excitement! Heck, there could be a Radwanska - Venus Williams mash-up in the second round! It's 2-5 in the head-to-head but the Pole did win the last encounter 6-4, 6-1 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Moreover Radwanska seems to be on fire, winning the Brussels Open just today: 7-5, 6-0 against Simona Halep. If I had the money, I would be betting on Radwanska.

Other interesting matches in this quarter:

- Kerber vs. Pennetta (third round)

- Kuznetsova vs. Radwanska (third round)

- Kerber vs. Bartoli (fourth round)

- Radwanska vs. Ivanovic (fourth round)

It's such a difficult draw and that for the number three nonetheless! We'll see how it plays out, I'm rooting for Radwanska (I really want her to reach a semifinal!) and Kerber (she actually reached a semifinal Grand Slam already at the US Open last year but she did lose in the first round in 2011 at Roland Garros). This would also be a interesting quarter final, the two are tied 2-2 in the head-to-heads.

The down-middle draw is also fludded with great seeded players! Seriously, sit back and enjoy the following matches:

- Pironkova vs. Yanina Wickmayer (first round)

- Wickmayer vs. Schiavone (second round)

- Na Li vs. Barthel (third round)

- Jankovic vs. Schiavone (third round)

- Zvonareva vs. Na Li (fourth round)

- Kvitova vs. Schiavone (fourth round)

It's hard picking two quarterfinalists here but I'll give it a try: Na Li - Kvitova, although I'm keeping a watchful eye on Schiavone!

Funny picture of Kvitova (it's like she's flying and somebody is stealing her piece of pie at the same time!) Much better then Schiavone's pink outfit!

Last but not least the down quarter. And if you have been paying attention this means Serena, Wozniacki and Sharapova are in this draw!

I would kill for a Sharapova - Serena Williams quarterfinal but there are more nail-biting set-ups to enjoy:

- Serena vs. Goerges (third round)

- Wozniacki vs. Kanepi (third round)

- Serena vs. Kanepi or Wozniacki (fourth round), really can't decide! Kanepi is been playing well and Wozniacki seems to have a soft spot for her but they never battled on clay before.

Let the gravel-games begin!

Preview: Roland Garros

Hi everyone,

Finally the one Grand Slam's coming that's in the same time zone as me: Roland Garros!

There's a lot to discuss, so let's get started!

It's cooking outside in Belgium (where the Brussels Open is being played for the moment) and Paris with temperatures up to 30 degrees (86 Fahrenheit). It's not only affecting my mood to study for exams, but it will certainly target the players who can't stand the heat that good. But luckily for Azarenka, the temperature will drop slightly to an agreeable 20-25 degrees (77 Fahrenfeit) over the following two weeks.

Speaking of the Brussels Open, the top players there (Bartoli, Peng, Pavly and Jankovic) got all send to Paris already. Only Radwanska and Kanepi have proven they're ready for the gravel of Roland Garros when they had to play each other in the semifinal. Kanepi had all the chances in the world: leading 5-1 in the first set and having many breakpoints against the Radwanska serve. She eventually lost (8)6-7, 3-6.

What did I learn from this match?
1) Radwanska certainly has the mental strength for Roland Garros, hopefully she'll finally get that semifinal spot in a grandslam (she never got further then a quarterfinal ... yet)
2) Eurosport commentators are too funny! They constantly compared the match to silly things, like hurrying to catch a plane (after Kanepi lost 4 consecutive games after her 5-1 lead). Or Radwanska's second serve being a big yellow mellon with the words: hit me! written on them. My personal favorite was: 'If this was a real battle, Radwanska would shoot little rocks at the Estonian with a slingshot while Kanepi would come after her with an axe!'
3) I'm starting to love watching Radwanska's matches, just to drool all over her coach
4) Your humble servant looked up who's the second best Estonian player in the WTA rankings and that would be on spot 418: Anett Kontaveit, just aged 16. For who is interested, she looks like this:

Same story by the way in Strasbourg where seeded players Lisicki, Barthel and Kirilenko got defeated in the first round. I'm glad Schiavone stepped up here, I'd like to see some more Italian greatness on the French clay.

That takes us to last year's Roland Gaross. Na Li won against Schiavone: 6-4, 7-6(0). So they have a lot of points to defend here. Also no Williams sisters last year and now they're both present, should be fun!

Don't miss the next post: draw analyse!

Update: Quarter, Semi's & Final - Madrid

Hi everyone,

The last three rounds at Rome featured a lot of walk-overs and forfaits!

First Pennetta succumbed to a wrist injury after trailing 0-4 against Serena Williams. Later on, the American had to forfeit herself in the semifinal due to back problems. This meant Na Li got a walk-over final spot after winning 6-1, 7-6(4) against Cibulkova in the quarter final the day before.

Sharapova was too good against Venus Williams. The Russian needed one break in the first set: 6-4 and after breaking in the second set at 4-3, Williams called it quits and let the match slip: 6-3.

I forsaw an exciting match between the two lefties Kerber and Kvitova and that's exactly what we got! The momentum swung side to side with breaks flying around. Eventually the first set went to a tiebreak where Kerber stayed more focused: 7-6(2). In the second set, Kvitova seemed to find her groove again and smashed her way to 6-1 although Kerber defended great, running practically to every corner of the court. At this point I didn't know what I would see in the third set but after a quick intervention of her coach, Kerber steamrolled to a 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-1 victory.

But Kerber was clearly still tired of knocking out the number four out of Rome; she didn't look as sharp and focused in her semifinal against Sharapova. The unforced errors got way out of hand and Sharapova managed to win it: 6-3, 6-4.

Next up was the final between Sharapova and Na Li and wow, it truly was amazing! This could get the award for the most comeback-spirit of the year.
First Na Li seemed to win the match fairly easy when leading: 6-4, 4-0. I don't know exactly how, but Sharapova battled back and won the six following games to conclude the second set 6-4 in her favor. Then it looked like Sharapova overpowered the Chinese when leading a double break at 4-1. However Na Li wasn't done yet, she levelled the match again at 5-5. At this point, the rain started to play up and even though Kader Nouni (that French umpire with the incredible voice!) wanted to suspend play, Na Li and Sharapova insisted on continuing. Eventually the clay became too slippery and the players stopped at 6-6 (while I was pulling my hair out in the mean time).
It took hours before the rain settled and the two could get on with their final set tiebreak. I feared for Sharapova, who doesn't have the best start at times. Completely mirroring the entire match, the tiebreak went to 5-5. I was starting to wonder if this match would ever get a victor and then Sharapova scored the next two points to end it: 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). I must say it's yet another great achievement of the Russian; she hasn't lost a three setter this year so far!

Keep posted for the Brussels Open and Roland Garros!