TennisPlanetBlog

Australian Open Tennis - Finals Wrap Up

It's been a wonderful fortnight of tennis! The 2010 Australian Tennis Champions are again Roger Federer and Serena Williams. A repeat of the 2007 Aussie Open result. Both matches were hard fought but in the end Roger and Serena again proved to be victorious!

The majority of the Justine Henin and Serena Williams match was unpredictable . . . as they were pretty evenly matched; and it was not until the twilight of the third set that things seemed to finally go Serena's way for good. Serena's serve was solid and helped her to take the victory. The match was surely a pleaser with regard to the quality of tennis, however, it was obvious most of the Aussie crowd was disappointed by the loss of Justine to Serena. But alas, Serena remains the "Queen of the Aussie Open" with 4-Slam titles down under - more than any other player on the women's side in the open era. Congratulations Serena!

My special congratulations to Roger, who is playing the best tennis I've seen in a while if not the best ever. Andy Murray put up a good fight though, as the Scott played far better than in the 2008 U.S. Open finals against Roger. Roger was just "in flight" this fortnight, and destined to win this one.

Lets give a mention to the winners of the doubles matches - Congratulations to Mike and Bob Bryan who won the men's title; and to the Venus & Serena sister act who took home the women's title. The mixed doubles was won by Carol Black and Leander Paes.

LINK TO INTERVIEWS/HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUSSIE OPEN

See you all at Indian Wells!

Australian Open Tennis - Set For The Finals

Roger Federer faced no resistence against Jo Wilfred Tsonga in the semis who appeared to be somewhat "fried" from the two five-setters he had in the previous two rounds - which included an upset win over Novak [Nole] Djokovic in the quarters - Nole ran into stomach issues that seemed to zap his energy and kinda took him out of the 5th and final set.

Andy Murray took out Marin Celic yesterday to set up the blockbuster tennis final everyone wanted to see between Roger and Andy. The Scott makes his second appearance in a Grand Slam final, having reached the U.S. Open finals in 2008 losing to Roger in straights sets. Back then, Andy had had two tough matches prior to reaching the finals, including that grueling semis against Rafa. But now the Scott is fresh and ready to go. But so is Roger! - should be a good tennis match.

Although Rafa will be out of action for 4-weeks to heal the injury he suffered to his knee in the quarter-final loss to Andy Murray, the good news is that it's not a recurrence of the tendonitis but rather some kind of tear that should heal within the 4-weeks. So happy to hear that it's not the tendonitis. Good news for Rafael Nadal fans!

Let's congratulate Serena and Venus Williams for defending their tennis doubles title. A brilliant move by the sisters and their team to start this new focus on doubles. Last year they played doubles in each Slam as well as the the year-end women's master event. They won everything but the French. It appears that Venus has "passed the torch" in a way to little sister Serena in the singles game. But even so Venus will continue to compete for those Grand Slam titles, however, this new emphasis on doubles will guarantee that both sisters remain in the spotlight. What a move! This is also hella good for doubles tennis. Like me - thousands of additional viewers around the globe tuned in to the doubles finals just because they were playing.

Tonight Justine Henin and Serena Williams will entertain us starting 12:30 a.m. pst in the much anticipated Women's Tennis Final. Followed by what should be a great men's doubles final between the number 1 seeds Bob & Mike Bryan (USA) and the number 2 seeds Daniel Nestor (Canada) and the Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia).

Australian Open Tennis - Day Nine Wrap Up

Oh no! . . . Rafael Nadal is having knee ailments again.  What a pity.  Rafa had to withdraw in the third set of his quarterfinals match against Andy Murray. Rafa was moving well through the first part of the match.  Then things went horribly wrong.  Rafa called the trainer to work on his right knee and shortly thereafter, retired.  Pour Rafa.  But props to the Scott who is playing impeccable tennis. This is not a good time to be a Rafa fan.  Here's hoping he will recover soon.

Big time winner of the day was Marin Cilic over Andy Roddick. The big Croat has made it through to his first Grand Slam Final. He will face Andy Murray in the semis. Should be a good one.

Justine Henin had no problems with Nadia Petrova. It looks as if the real Nadia showed up on this day. I bet Kim Clijsters is wondering who the imposter was that took her out 6-0, 6-1. Justine will face Zheng Ji in the semis who took out Maria Kirilenko in straights.

There will be two Chinese for the first time in the semis as Na Li just beat Venus Williams to move into the semis. An awful tennis match by Venus.

Her sister is up next to face Azarinka in the second quarters. Should be a very noisy affair.

Day Seven Tennis Wrap Up

What a day of tennis down under this Day Seven of the Australian Open. It was the start of the Round of 16 and there were some great matches. Some big upsets as well. I guess the biggest would be Marin Cilic's 5-set victory over last year's US Open Champ Juan Martin DelPotro. It was not until mid-way through the final set did the momentum switch convincingly in Cilic's favor. It was a big win for Marin, who will face Andy Roddick in the quarters, Andy edged pass Chili's Fernando Gonzales in a close 5-set encounter. Andy Murray had no problems taking down John Isner, who seemed a different player from the one who took out Gael Monfils in the previous round. Finally, Rafael Nadal overcame the big serving Ivo Karlovic in a 4-set victory and will now face Andy Murray in the quarterfinals.

Nadia Petrova continued her impressive play, following up her big win over Kim Clijsters by knocking off two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kunetzova. It was a hard-fought match by Svetlana and it took Nadia 3-sets to capture the win. Sveltlana was impressed by Nadia's form saying that this is the "best Nadia has played in her career" and that she was "just better than me" today. Petrova will now meet Justine Henin in the quarters. Justine had a tough match against her very determined young countrywoman Yanina Wickmayer. It took Justine 3 sets to post the 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 win over Yanina. But keep your eyes on Yanina, she is definitely the future of Belgium tennis - a tremendous all-round tennis player with no apparent fear of the big stage!

Zheng Jie of China became the first Chinese player to make the singles quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Her countrywoman Li Na is also still alive in the draw and will play Caroline Wozniacki today in the top-half of the Round of 16. She will have a tough go of it against Wozniacki who is playing very good tennis; but Li Na is a veteran and will definitely have a chance to move through to the quarters to join her countrywoman Zheng Jie.

Dinara Safina is starting off the year with a recurrence of a back injury; she was forced to retire at 4-1 in the first set against Maria Kirilenko who now advances to meet Zheng Jie in the quarters. I hope that Dinara's luck will get better in the near future. Here's to a speedy recover Dinara!

Day Five Australian Open Tennis Wrap Up

Some key tennis upsets marked Day Five at the Australian Open.  The biggest surprise was Kim Clijsters' one-sided lost to Nadia Petrova.  For Kim it was an unexplicable 0-6, 1-6 loss.  No doubt Nadia was on fire but Kim just could not find the court.  She herself was totally lost for words to describe the one-sided loss. Jelena Jankovic was also upset by Alona Bonderenko from the Ukraine.

Clijsters' compatriot Justine Henin had a tough match against Alisa "the Clubber" Kleybanova from Russia but survived the on-slaught and managed to take the win in 3-sets.  

Other winners on the women's side included Dinara Safina, who pounded her opponent Elena Baltacha 6-1,6-2.  Zheng Jie of China posted a major upset by beating the 2008 Wimbledon finalist from France, Marion Bartoli.

On the men's side big John "Baby Face" Isner upset the Frenchman Gael Monfils in a hard-fought thriller tennis match on Margaret Court Arena; while Andy Roddick edged pass Feliciano Lopez in a close 5-set match.  Rafael Nadal had to fight hard against Phillip Kohlschreiber to win his match in 4 sets.

A key match still to come later tonight is between the Aussie Leyton Hewitt and the Zypriot Marcos Baghdatis.  Remember that 5 set match between Baghdatis and Hewitt that went into 4:00 a.m. in the morning at the Aussie Open in 2008?.  Well that one was won by Baghdatis to the disappointment of the Australian fans.  Let's see if Baghi can repeat!

Day Four Wrap: The King of Tennis Meets a Future King

Prince William of Wales made his way to Rod Laver Arena to watch Roger Federer's match against Victor Hanescu of Romania. Roger was in great form and the Prince barely made it in time before the match was over - he arrived at 3-0 in the final set. Roger was in flight and the match was over before it began. This of course was a much easier match-up for Roger than the one against Igor Andreev in Round-1. Prince Williams received applause from the 15,000 plus spectators as he took his seat in the front row of the Royal Box. It was a surprise for everyone. Apparently he had not been to a tennis match since he was a young boy and with his mom, the late and lovely Princess Diana.

Following the match, the Prince spoke with Roger and also asked to meet Serena.  He took pictures together with Roger, Serena, and her mom - then politely asked the photographer to send the images on to Buckingham Palace in London.  The Prince was able to see approximately 20 minutes of tennis before departing.

Other Day Four Australian Open Winners

The Williams sisters both advanced easily on Thursday. Other winners on the women's side included Shahar Peer, Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Vera Zvonereva, Li Na, Daniela Hantuchova and the Samantha Stosur.

It was a day of five setters on the men's side. Besides Marcos Baghdatis' 5-set comeback over David Ferrer of Spain, five set survivors also included the German Tommy Haas , Albert Montanes and Nicolas Almagro (both Spaniards) and Juan Monaco (from Argentinia).

Things were considerably easier for Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, Lleyton Hewitt, and Mikhail Youzhny who all advanced in straight sets.

Australian Open Tennis - Day Three Wrap Up

Day three was a great day of tennis at the Australian Open. The match between Justine Henin and Elena Dementieva lived up to the hype. A very hard fought two setter with Justine prevailing 7-5, 7-6 in 2 hours and 50 minutes. The key to the win for Justine was her ability to follow short balls into the net and put away the point with impressive volleys. Both players struggled with their serve. But the quality of tennis from both players was outstanding. Although Justine has to be given the mental edge considering the 9-2 head-to-head against Elena, one should add that it was not that Elena "cracked under the pressure" but rather Justine had a bit better game yesterday - more variety in her game and that made all the difference. But give credit to Elena as she has improved her serve and overall tennis "leaps and bounds" from the days when she had the "serving yips." Remember how she would routinely have 15-20 double faults per match? Dementieva will take lots away from this tennis match and I believe she will eventually add a Slam to her resume.

The match between James Blake and Juan Martin Del Potro was - as I suspected - a classic 5-setter. James pushed the big man to the "edge." But Del Potro prevailed 8-6 in the fifth set to move on to the third round.

Also in the winners' circle on Wednesday: Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, John Isner, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Gonzalez, Stanislas Wawrinka, Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Ljubicic. On the women's side: Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki, Dinara Safina, Victoria Azarenka, and Jelena Jankovic.

Australian Open Tennis - Day Two Wrap Up

All of the men's first-round tennis matches were completed today at the Australian Open and most of the women's as well. There were a few significant additional seed-upsets. Joining Maria Sharapova on the loss column today was Robin Soderling, the 8th seed - upset by unseeded Marcel Granollers from Spain. Robin won the first two sets, only to let the match slip away in a tough 5-setter - a big disappointment for the Swede who has been playing inspiring tennis since his win over Rafa in the quarters at Roland Garros. Also, Tommy Robredo, the 16th seed from Spain was upset by a virtual unknown - Santiago Giraldo from Columbia. And finally, the big American Sam Querrey lost in a close 5-setter to the veteran Reiner Schuttler from Germany. However, one positive for the Americans - Donald Young posted an upset win over the Belgian Christopher Rochus and will face Leyton Hewitt in the second round.

The rest of the top seeds made it safely through the first round of play. Nikolai Davydenko destroyed German qualifier Dieter Kindlmann; while Roger Federer had a tough close encounter with the big-hitting Russian Igor Andreev, whom Roger managed to beat in 4 sets. Though Roger was expecting a battle, this was a really tough first round of play - remember the 5-set thriller Roger and Igor played against each other in the quarters at the 2008 U.S. Open?

The rest of the top guns all posted wins in their first rounds - on the men's side - Novak Djokovic, James Blake, John Isner, Gael Monfils, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer and Tommy Haas are all through.

On the women's side Serena and Venus Williams both won their matches with ease. The two Serbians Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic also got through in straight sets.

Day Three Matches to Watch!

What a pity that Elena Dementieva and Justine Henin have to meet in the second round. This is because Henin is unseeded, so one of two possible winners of the Australian Open will be knocked out in the second round. Which one will it be?

Also James Blake has to face Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round. That's a tough 2nd round opponent for James. Although the underdog, I think James has a shot of upsetting DelPo or at least making it a very tight match. Looking forward to that one.

Both Rafael Nadal (vs. Lukas Lacko) and Andy Murray (vs. Marc Gicquel) should get through without any hiccups. But the way so many players nowadays are hitting with such ferociousness and often with "nothing to lose" - who knows - upsets could be lurking at every corner. Even though I'm a Federer fan I am wish both Rafa and Andy good luck to get through these early rounds. Also Andy Roddick is playing tommorow against a pretty good player - Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil - but the way Andy is playing he should get through this one unscathed!

For those who don't have the Tennis Channel or ESPN2, the matches are being steamed at the following sites: www.channelsurfing.net and www.atdhe.net