Qatar – It is certainly Wozniacki consistency that allows her to win so many matches against players that have a better game, but I have to give her credit to be able to crush players like Pennetta and Bartoli like she did leaving them only 2 little games. However, don’t tell me that these 2 women played at their best. But still, the Dane is there at number one increasing the gap between her and the other players.
So, she made a final in Qatar, Zvonareva -who had 2 scares during that tournament against Hantuchova and then Jankovic - had enough consistency to defeat her in 2 sets. See? That’s easy!!!
There is so little missing for Jankovic to be back at her best form, coming this close to win against Zvonerava. I’d say, her smile that annoyed her opponents once, is no where to be seen. But 2 semi in 2 weeks, I’d say, JJ, you can start smiling again.
Hantuchova seems on a run too, with another quart, and Shuai Peng keeps playing good tennis defeating seed#3 Schiavone: she did also a quart here. ZAKOPALOVA too defeated Li on her there..
Acapulco – In Acapulco , Gisela Dulko won her second title there : her first was in 2008.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Dubai, Memphis and Bogota
A lot action in tennis last week with 3 tournaments going on: one Premier event and 2 International tournaments.
Dubai is one big Premier event and was reuniting a bunch of great players and it was a really tough draw for some girls. Wozniacki might have lost in the first round when she had a very fierce Chakvetadze in front of her, until the poor girl fainted on court: what a scare she all gave us! She had to retire and Wozniacki event thought concerned for her friend was probably relief.
BUT, she made it all the way to the final and won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships defeating easily Kuznetsova who made a way too much unforced errors. However, the Russian did have a good tournament. We had a glimpse of the true Champion at times, but she always has problem to close her match: it took her 7 match point against Schiavone in a rematch of this famous Australian Open fourth round battle.
Let’s mention the semi finalists: Jelena Jankovic won 3 matches in a row, something that didn’t happen for a long time, defeating, and I was very surprised, Kaia Kanepi and Samanta Stosur. Kanepi is a great victory, she earned it, but Sam served for 50% so Jankovic is not crazy, she took advantage of it. Even if you are Samantha Stosur, you can’t win a match serving at 50%, especially if it’s your weapon of choice.
Pennetta, oh, she played with my nerves: in a third round match, she let go of a 5-1 lead in the second set to eventually lost it (after winning the first) 7-5. It even seemed like she was going to loss, but she refocused and finally managed to win. The result against Kleybanova also impressed me as she made it looks so easy, especially that the Russian had sent to the locker room fellow Russian Zvonerava in an earlier round.
Oh right, Wozniacki is back to number one in the world and If you thought former number Ana Ivanovic was back, think again! The only thing she is back to is bad ball toss and childlike behavior.
Elsewhere in Memphis, the Canadian Rebecca Marino had to retire in finale with abdominal strain handing out the trophy to Rybarikova. She was in tears on the court, knowing that in good shape, she could have win this. BUt there is no shame in that, the Canadian can be proud of her run. Hopefully, she will be back soon.
In Bogota, Lourdes DOMINGUEZ LINO won XIX Copa BBVA Colsanitas championship defeating Johansson. The top 2 seeds, Julia Goerges and Polona Hercog lost in earlier round.
Dubai is one big Premier event and was reuniting a bunch of great players and it was a really tough draw for some girls. Wozniacki might have lost in the first round when she had a very fierce Chakvetadze in front of her, until the poor girl fainted on court: what a scare she all gave us! She had to retire and Wozniacki event thought concerned for her friend was probably relief.
BUT, she made it all the way to the final and won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships defeating easily Kuznetsova who made a way too much unforced errors. However, the Russian did have a good tournament. We had a glimpse of the true Champion at times, but she always has problem to close her match: it took her 7 match point against Schiavone in a rematch of this famous Australian Open fourth round battle.
Let’s mention the semi finalists: Jelena Jankovic won 3 matches in a row, something that didn’t happen for a long time, defeating, and I was very surprised, Kaia Kanepi and Samanta Stosur. Kanepi is a great victory, she earned it, but Sam served for 50% so Jankovic is not crazy, she took advantage of it. Even if you are Samantha Stosur, you can’t win a match serving at 50%, especially if it’s your weapon of choice.
Pennetta, oh, she played with my nerves: in a third round match, she let go of a 5-1 lead in the second set to eventually lost it (after winning the first) 7-5. It even seemed like she was going to loss, but she refocused and finally managed to win. The result against Kleybanova also impressed me as she made it looks so easy, especially that the Russian had sent to the locker room fellow Russian Zvonerava in an earlier round.
Oh right, Wozniacki is back to number one in the world and If you thought former number Ana Ivanovic was back, think again! The only thing she is back to is bad ball toss and childlike behavior.
Elsewhere in Memphis, the Canadian Rebecca Marino had to retire in finale with abdominal strain handing out the trophy to Rybarikova. She was in tears on the court, knowing that in good shape, she could have win this. BUt there is no shame in that, the Canadian can be proud of her run. Hopefully, she will be back soon.
In Bogota, Lourdes DOMINGUEZ LINO won XIX Copa BBVA Colsanitas championship defeating Johansson. The top 2 seeds, Julia Goerges and Polona Hercog lost in earlier round.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Paris & Pattaya City
Paris - Kim Clijsters needed to make it to the semi to be number one, and she did but, she didn’t win the championship: an impressive Petra Kvitova stopped her. Compare to other contestants, Kvitova kept her focus, didn’t become nervous and did stick to her match’s plan.
Well, I associated this to the fact that the girl didn’t seem to realize the moment: interviewed, she didn’t know what to say. My first explanation went to her possible lack of English but still, the lack of expression just tell me that she won’t ever be my favorite player. Come Girl, show some emotions, you just beat Kim Clijster, the number one in the world to top it all!
On the good performances to mention: 2 nice wins of Dokic (against Safarova and Petrova) who kinda seft-destroyed against Kim. Kaia Kanepi who is going to be really dangerous for the top seeds this season, and, the colorful Mattek-Sands seized her chance when Maria Sharapova had to withdraw and recorded yet another good result with a semi, after a final in Hobart earlier this season. For the record, I don’t like her, but well, she did good, so worth mentioning.
Pattaya City – Vera Zvonerava was there to defend her title, and couldn’t: she lost in semi to the eventual champion Hantuchova, who suddenly remembered, once again, how to play tennis: Hang on guys, she will forget it again soon enough. In final, She crushed the little Sara Errani, who still can be proud of her result.
Shuai Peng made it to the quart and Roberta Vinci managed well a semi as she defeated Ivanovic on her way there. But nowadays, there is nothing surprising about it.
Well, I associated this to the fact that the girl didn’t seem to realize the moment: interviewed, she didn’t know what to say. My first explanation went to her possible lack of English but still, the lack of expression just tell me that she won’t ever be my favorite player. Come Girl, show some emotions, you just beat Kim Clijster, the number one in the world to top it all!
On the good performances to mention: 2 nice wins of Dokic (against Safarova and Petrova) who kinda seft-destroyed against Kim. Kaia Kanepi who is going to be really dangerous for the top seeds this season, and, the colorful Mattek-Sands seized her chance when Maria Sharapova had to withdraw and recorded yet another good result with a semi, after a final in Hobart earlier this season. For the record, I don’t like her, but well, she did good, so worth mentioning.
Pattaya City – Vera Zvonerava was there to defend her title, and couldn’t: she lost in semi to the eventual champion Hantuchova, who suddenly remembered, once again, how to play tennis: Hang on guys, she will forget it again soon enough. In final, She crushed the little Sara Errani, who still can be proud of her result.
Shuai Peng made it to the quart and Roberta Vinci managed well a semi as she defeated Ivanovic on her way there. But nowadays, there is nothing surprising about it.
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Fed Cup
World Group I
The defending champions had a lot to do on this first round as they were going against Australia led by Samantha Stotur and Jarmilia Growth. The latest, gave a little scare to the Italians by beaten Francesca Schiavone in the first match but after that, no one could compete with them, Flavia Pennetta being a fierce competitor, she is twice more efficient when she plays for her country.
Belgium also won 4-1 against poor USA but when you got Clijsters and Wickmayer in your team, there is a pretty good chance that you are going to be badly defeated.
France took an impressive 2-0 early lead over Russia but it quickly vanished as the Russians came back to win 3-2, thanks to the great job of Pavlyuchenkova and Kuznetsova.
Czech Republic quickly settled things winning the 3 first match, Kvitova hammering and Hantuchova and Cibulkova. Safarova had given the momentum winning her match.
World Group II
It might have been a great chance for Canada to advance further since Ivanovic and Jankovic weren’t playing but Jovanovski took care of thing for the Serbian team as she is responsible of the 3 wins recorded on 5 matches. Katherina Bonderenko is also a hero as she is also responsible for the 3 victories of Ukraine over Sweden. Spain is also a tough country as all the players are very fierce when playing in the FedCup, wining 4-1 against Estona and Germany also had the best 4-1 against Slovenia.
The defending champions had a lot to do on this first round as they were going against Australia led by Samantha Stotur and Jarmilia Growth. The latest, gave a little scare to the Italians by beaten Francesca Schiavone in the first match but after that, no one could compete with them, Flavia Pennetta being a fierce competitor, she is twice more efficient when she plays for her country.
Belgium also won 4-1 against poor USA but when you got Clijsters and Wickmayer in your team, there is a pretty good chance that you are going to be badly defeated.
France took an impressive 2-0 early lead over Russia but it quickly vanished as the Russians came back to win 3-2, thanks to the great job of Pavlyuchenkova and Kuznetsova.
Czech Republic quickly settled things winning the 3 first match, Kvitova hammering and Hantuchova and Cibulkova. Safarova had given the momentum winning her match.
World Group II
It might have been a great chance for Canada to advance further since Ivanovic and Jankovic weren’t playing but Jovanovski took care of thing for the Serbian team as she is responsible of the 3 wins recorded on 5 matches. Katherina Bonderenko is also a hero as she is also responsible for the 3 victories of Ukraine over Sweden. Spain is also a tough country as all the players are very fierce when playing in the FedCup, wining 4-1 against Estona and Germany also had the best 4-1 against Slovenia.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Australian Open
Oh.My.God. Who cares about tennis when Cheryl Bernard is playing? Well, I don’t but it did help me in the second weeks as the provincials weren’t on tv, all we have was the livescore so, long live to tennis who help me control my nerves. But have you watch the skins? Men, you should have, the girls gave the boys a scare.
By the way, my girls lost in Semi in the Provincials, gee, I wanted them so much to win. Everything happens for a reason, it sucks big time because of what was at stake, but I believe Cheryl will come around, like she always has. GO team Bernard GO. Visit my Cheryl Bernard page if you want more details.
Ok, right, tennis *focus val*: I won’t remember the final much between Clijsters and Li, but I will always remember the third set of THE fourth round match between Francesca Shiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova, in which the Italian prevailed 6-4, 1-6, 16-14. The longest match of the women tennis history, four hours forty four minutes and there was no small rallies, there were long and tough points. The 2 women left their heart and soul on the court that day, and I didn’t wanted any of them to lose. :(
I just hope now, that Svetlana will pull herself together, because she had played great tennis on that tournament, beating Justine Henin in 2 sets. That is surely disappointing to lose a match like that but she is so close to be the champion she could be. She is probably one of the most talented girl out there, she just need to believe.
So yeah, in Sydney, Kim was worried about her first round match so much that she had to prove that she worked on it: she didn’t leave any game to Safina, 6-0, 6-0 and she didn’t loss any set during the tournament until the final, despite the fact that she lost her focus more then once, just to tell you that the girl has something more than there other.
For those who hope for a return of Ivanovic, you’ll have to hope longer: she lost in the first round. Sharapova played with fire until she burned herself, as she went on losing to Petkovic, the green dancer. Still, no surprise there. It’s not like we didn’t know that she was outdated.
Remember Jovanovski? Well, she made a 6-2 to Zvonerava, and then, she lost the court and the match. Since we are talking about the Russian, well, there is not much to say after that, she did her little things and managed to make it to the semi, but then she was no match for a Kim without mercy.
Samantha Stosur: please carry your brain on the court with you, you could be number one in the world if you knew all the things you could do. Well, she lost the scary Kvitova, it’s not like she lost to a school kid, but still, that was disappointing not just for me, but for all the Aussie who was hoping, with reasons, for a title. Oh Sam! Next year, perhaps?
And Kvitova was hard on my favorites has she defeated Flavia Pennetta. Not that I believe that Flavia could win the tournament, but she had a chance for a semi here. Well, the beautiful Italian and her double partner, Gisela Dulko won the double, so, that was comforting at the end.
Radwanska was surprising, she made a quart. All sort of thing happen to her this week: everybody who followed the tournament saw that time when her racket head went flying around, but what you may not know is that she was injured and hadn’t play for a long while. They were only 1% of chance that she could play this tournament so, congrats for this quart Aga.
Did a forget someone? Oh yeah, the Dane with many teeth. I swear, if Shiavone wouldn’t have been so tired of all those hours of tennis, she would have beat Wozniacki: her game is more elaborate and if she had her usual rhythm, that wouldn’t even have last 3 sets.
Anyone else? Oh, right, Jankovic *roll eyes* Dear Jelena, I know what is wrong with you, your coach knows it too, most of your fans knows what is wrong with you, if you’d just bother to ask, we’ll tell you. Oh right, they’ve told you, you just didn’t listen to. Your bad, you have so much talent. I believe in time, you will find it again, I just hope you won’t run out of it.
A word on the runner-up: I never really like the Chinese because she always beat the player I like, but that tells you one thing: she is one great player and has a very nice personality. 2 thumbs up for the Li Na: she knows that life offers opportunities and we have to seize them.
I was kinda of hoping that she will be able to pull the same trick she had in Sydney against Kim, and I thought she would for a moment: Kim seems flat and not that confidante but at the end of the second set, I don’t know, something happened, and Kim suddenly became the Champion and even thought Li’s fuel tank seem empty, I am not sure she could have done something to stop Kim to win this: they were no bunnies left in the hat.
Ok, make no mistake, the Australian open got a very nice Champion.
By the way, my girls lost in Semi in the Provincials, gee, I wanted them so much to win. Everything happens for a reason, it sucks big time because of what was at stake, but I believe Cheryl will come around, like she always has. GO team Bernard GO. Visit my Cheryl Bernard page if you want more details.
Ok, right, tennis *focus val*: I won’t remember the final much between Clijsters and Li, but I will always remember the third set of THE fourth round match between Francesca Shiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova, in which the Italian prevailed 6-4, 1-6, 16-14. The longest match of the women tennis history, four hours forty four minutes and there was no small rallies, there were long and tough points. The 2 women left their heart and soul on the court that day, and I didn’t wanted any of them to lose. :(
I just hope now, that Svetlana will pull herself together, because she had played great tennis on that tournament, beating Justine Henin in 2 sets. That is surely disappointing to lose a match like that but she is so close to be the champion she could be. She is probably one of the most talented girl out there, she just need to believe.
So yeah, in Sydney, Kim was worried about her first round match so much that she had to prove that she worked on it: she didn’t leave any game to Safina, 6-0, 6-0 and she didn’t loss any set during the tournament until the final, despite the fact that she lost her focus more then once, just to tell you that the girl has something more than there other.
For those who hope for a return of Ivanovic, you’ll have to hope longer: she lost in the first round. Sharapova played with fire until she burned herself, as she went on losing to Petkovic, the green dancer. Still, no surprise there. It’s not like we didn’t know that she was outdated.
Remember Jovanovski? Well, she made a 6-2 to Zvonerava, and then, she lost the court and the match. Since we are talking about the Russian, well, there is not much to say after that, she did her little things and managed to make it to the semi, but then she was no match for a Kim without mercy.
Samantha Stosur: please carry your brain on the court with you, you could be number one in the world if you knew all the things you could do. Well, she lost the scary Kvitova, it’s not like she lost to a school kid, but still, that was disappointing not just for me, but for all the Aussie who was hoping, with reasons, for a title. Oh Sam! Next year, perhaps?
And Kvitova was hard on my favorites has she defeated Flavia Pennetta. Not that I believe that Flavia could win the tournament, but she had a chance for a semi here. Well, the beautiful Italian and her double partner, Gisela Dulko won the double, so, that was comforting at the end.
Radwanska was surprising, she made a quart. All sort of thing happen to her this week: everybody who followed the tournament saw that time when her racket head went flying around, but what you may not know is that she was injured and hadn’t play for a long while. They were only 1% of chance that she could play this tournament so, congrats for this quart Aga.
Did a forget someone? Oh yeah, the Dane with many teeth. I swear, if Shiavone wouldn’t have been so tired of all those hours of tennis, she would have beat Wozniacki: her game is more elaborate and if she had her usual rhythm, that wouldn’t even have last 3 sets.
Anyone else? Oh, right, Jankovic *roll eyes* Dear Jelena, I know what is wrong with you, your coach knows it too, most of your fans knows what is wrong with you, if you’d just bother to ask, we’ll tell you. Oh right, they’ve told you, you just didn’t listen to. Your bad, you have so much talent. I believe in time, you will find it again, I just hope you won’t run out of it.
A word on the runner-up: I never really like the Chinese because she always beat the player I like, but that tells you one thing: she is one great player and has a very nice personality. 2 thumbs up for the Li Na: she knows that life offers opportunities and we have to seize them.
I was kinda of hoping that she will be able to pull the same trick she had in Sydney against Kim, and I thought she would for a moment: Kim seems flat and not that confidante but at the end of the second set, I don’t know, something happened, and Kim suddenly became the Champion and even thought Li’s fuel tank seem empty, I am not sure she could have done something to stop Kim to win this: they were no bunnies left in the hat.
Ok, make no mistake, the Australian open got a very nice Champion.
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