Time for THE event of the year: the WTA Championships in Istanbul!
This tournament is played a little bit different from others. You see, the eight players are first divided into two groups, the red and white one, and take on each other before battling it out old school with a semifinal and final. In that semifinal, the number two of the groups take on the winner of the other.
In the white group Sharapova, Radwanska, Kvitova and Errani are drawn and the red group consists of Azarenka, Williams, Kerber and Na Li.
Day 1:
First up was Radwanska vs. Kvitova. It was time to see how last year's champion was ready for the number four!
Kvitova started off with too many unforced errors and faced a 0-3 deficit. With her strong serve and forehand she knocked herself to level at 3-3. But Radwanska wasn't impressed and finished the first set: 6-3. The second set saw a lot of breaks back and forth until Kvitova got stuck at 2 games: 6-2 for Radwanska.
Next Kerber vs. Williams with a very similar result as the previous match. Serena rushed towards a 3-0 lead, only to find herself at 3-3 after some surprising faults. Kerber didn't take the opportunities that followed and whilst Serena was struggling with her serve, the win came quite easily: 6-4, 6-1.
Last match of the day was Sharapova vs. Errani. They both took the time to get into the match, playing just four games in half an hour, leveling at 2-2. But then Sharapova overclassed the Italian: 6-3, 6-2.
Day 2
The second day was amazing! Three very long and right-at-the-edge-of-your-seat play!
Serena took on Na Li first. The Chinese started very strong, leading 4-1 with Serena still not serving like usually. Williams battled back to 4-4 and served then twice for the set but couldn't finish it off. In the tiebreak 5 points in a row secured the 7-2 win for Serena. A quite emotional Williams upped her game and served out the match, this time succesfully, 6-3. No surprise, Serena is quite sure of reaching the semifinals already!
The Azarenka - Kerber match developped like a real thriller! That first set really deserved a tiebreak with both players making beautiful points. Azarenka looked to win that with a 6-2 lead but Kerber took it 13-11, the crowd went ballistic! The number one was immediately frustrated in the second set when facing a 0-2 deficit. A long game at 4-4 in the second set seemed to decide it all when Kerber won it and had 2 matchpoints at Azarenka's serve in the next game. I was totally in zombie mode watching my tv! The Belarussian battled back and this time didn't miss her 6-2 lead: 7-6(2). Azarenka then held a break to finish: 6-4.
The Turkish people weren't done watching with another tennis rollercoaster Radwanska vs. Sharapova. I actually didn't think Radwanska would dig as deep as she did. She took the first set: 7-5 and held the pressure on the Russian. Sharapova needed to break Radwanska twice to win the second set with the same score. And then a funny moment occured! At a very important game when Sharapova desperately tried to hold her serve, she screamed: 'RUN! RUN!' after smashing a ball down the line. Radwanska's dropshots definitely frustrated Sharapova! Another decisive break happened at 5-5 and the Russian won: 7-5. It was half past two before the die heart tennis fans could head home and the tennis players could crawl into bed.
- Click to watch -
Day 3
Kerber and Azarenka both lost their matches in day three, obviously from the effort of the day before. Serena proved herself too strong against Azarenka: 6-4, 6-4 and moreover stated she is the onofficial number one. Kerber couldn't hold off Na Li: 4-6, 3-6. Both matches were very similar, with Serena and Na Li always keeping a break up and their opponents running out of energy to battle back.
And seriously, she's 31 and she can do that! I'm twenty and I would end up in the hospital if I even tried that!
In the other group Errani was up against Stosur. In the first set the Aussie alternate made too many mistakes and handed it to Errani on a platter: 3-6. Stosur's game payed off in the second set with a 6-2 win. It all looked okay for Stosur but then suddenly the 6-0 score appeared on the board for Errani, Sammy just developped: bad, good, worse in sets...
Day 4
In the very last day of the Round Robin matches, still a lot of stuff had to be decided. In the red group, Azarenka still had to earn her semifinal spot against Na Li. The Chinese had all the intentions of going to the semifinal herself and find herself serving for the first set at 5-4 but Azarenka battled back to force a tiebreak and a: 7-6(4) win. Then she was launched and quickly played her way to a 5-1 lead. She needed some games to finish it off: 7-6(4), 6-3.
In the white group Sharapova defeated Stosur quite easily: 6-0, 6-3. But Sharapova's spot in the semifinal was already evident so everybody was looking forward to the Radwanska - Errani set-up. The Pole always seemed a step behind in the first set and although she hit a lucky bastard shot on setpoint in the tiebreak, Errani took it: 7-6(6). The Italian looked strong and forced breaks on the Radwanska serve. But her opponent bended the score in her favor, from 0-2 to 3-2 and 4-5 to 7-5. In the third set Radwanska wasn't in so much trouble anymore and finished: 6-4 in three hour 29 minutes! The longest match on the Masters yet! We'll see how that translates in her semifinal.
Keep posted on the semifinals: Azarenka - Sharapova (classic show down of the last year!) and Radwanska - Serena (this year's replica of the Wimbledon final).
No comments:
Post a Comment