(Rank/Seed)
In a final that most, myself included, believed would be a close fought encounter, (4/1)Radwanska annihilated (15/-) Cibulkova 60 60!
In the 1st game of the match, Radwanska was nervous, double faulting on the 1st point and Dominika had 2 break points. Little did anyone know that she would not be able to take advantage of any of the 4 break points she would see all match. The games were closer than the scoreline suggests, with Cibulkova often getting to game point and/or deuce, but was too often let down by her own mistakes. She hit only 15 winners to 36 unforced errors, constantly frustrated by Radwanska's phenomenal retrieving. The Pole looked embarrassed towards the end as the Slovak tamely double faulted down match point as Radwanska won her 2nd straight title and 9th match of the year. It was a shame for Cibulkova, who'd had a great week, beating Kvitova, Errani and Kerber, but this was another level.
Radwanska is certainly now the form favourite and can she do as her close friend Azarenka did last year; winning Sydney and the Australian Open back to back?
Friday, 11 January 2013
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Radwanska or Cibulkova?
The semi finals on Thursday produced two unexpected results, with Radwanska and Cibulkova reaching the final.
(Rank/Seed)
4/1 Radwanska won her 8th straight match to beat (6/4) Li 63 64, snapping her 8 match winning streak. Li looked tired as she hit over 40 unforced errors in the defeat, whilst Radwanska looked comparatively sprightly as she recovered ball after ball. Still, having being thrashed the last 3 times against Li in the last half of 2012, the nerves told as she took 8 match points to finish Li off; Li saving 5 on winners!
15/- Cibulkova got her 3rd top 10 win of the week over (5/2) Kerber 62 46 63. Dominika had a very clean first set with a 12:6 winner errors ratio, but in the second set fell victim to Kerber's 19 winners. However, she quickly established a 5-1 lead in the 3rd and though Kerber grappled two games back, Kerber simply didn't seem concentrated enough to pull back. This was the Slovaks 3rd win in as many meetings against the German.
Radwanska leads the head to head 3-0 against Cibulkova, but as they haven't played since 2008, the stats seem meaningless. Having won 11 of 15 finals, compared to Cibulkova's 2 of 6, Radwanska should have a mental advantage. Still, on her day, the Slovak is notoriously good when she has nothing to lose and looks to become the 1st woman since Na Li back at the French Open 2011 to beat 4 top 10 players in an event outside of the WTA Championships.
(Rank/Seed)
4/1 Radwanska won her 8th straight match to beat (6/4) Li 63 64, snapping her 8 match winning streak. Li looked tired as she hit over 40 unforced errors in the defeat, whilst Radwanska looked comparatively sprightly as she recovered ball after ball. Still, having being thrashed the last 3 times against Li in the last half of 2012, the nerves told as she took 8 match points to finish Li off; Li saving 5 on winners!
15/- Cibulkova got her 3rd top 10 win of the week over (5/2) Kerber 62 46 63. Dominika had a very clean first set with a 12:6 winner errors ratio, but in the second set fell victim to Kerber's 19 winners. However, she quickly established a 5-1 lead in the 3rd and though Kerber grappled two games back, Kerber simply didn't seem concentrated enough to pull back. This was the Slovaks 3rd win in as many meetings against the German.
Radwanska leads the head to head 3-0 against Cibulkova, but as they haven't played since 2008, the stats seem meaningless. Having won 11 of 15 finals, compared to Cibulkova's 2 of 6, Radwanska should have a mental advantage. Still, on her day, the Slovak is notoriously good when she has nothing to lose and looks to become the 1st woman since Na Li back at the French Open 2011 to beat 4 top 10 players in an event outside of the WTA Championships.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Seeded Success Whilst Errani Exits
Three of the quarter finals played today saw an expected outcome, whilst the other saw a minor upset.
(Rank/Seed)
4/1 Radwanska avenged a loss at last year's US Open to (16/-) Vinci 75 64, coming from 1-3 down in the second set. Using an aggressive game against a dogged opponent, she dropped serve once en route to winning her 7th straight match of the year.
5/2 Kerber edged qualifier Kuznetsova 63 75, once again being forced to recover from a second set lull. Falling 1-4 behind, she relied on some brilliant shots down the line to get her back, hitting 37 winners in total! Still, for Svetlana it's been a brilliant week, winning 6 matches; 4 of them going the distance.
15/- Cibulkova pulled off the only upset of the day, thrashing (7/3) Errani 62 61. It was her 16th top 10 win, but not surprising considering her 4 wins out of 5 against the Italian on hard courts. Now of course, it's 5 out of 6 as Errani was once again beaten by a powerful Slovak.
6/4 Li came from behind to defeat qualifier Keys 46 76(2) 62. Struggling against the Americans big serves, Li upped her game in the breaker before pulling away. She has now won 8 straight matches and as she's playing Radwanska next, one of them will incur their first loss of the year.
(Rank/Seed)
4/1 Radwanska avenged a loss at last year's US Open to (16/-) Vinci 75 64, coming from 1-3 down in the second set. Using an aggressive game against a dogged opponent, she dropped serve once en route to winning her 7th straight match of the year.
5/2 Kerber edged qualifier Kuznetsova 63 75, once again being forced to recover from a second set lull. Falling 1-4 behind, she relied on some brilliant shots down the line to get her back, hitting 37 winners in total! Still, for Svetlana it's been a brilliant week, winning 6 matches; 4 of them going the distance.
15/- Cibulkova pulled off the only upset of the day, thrashing (7/3) Errani 62 61. It was her 16th top 10 win, but not surprising considering her 4 wins out of 5 against the Italian on hard courts. Now of course, it's 5 out of 6 as Errani was once again beaten by a powerful Slovak.
6/4 Li came from behind to defeat qualifier Keys 46 76(2) 62. Struggling against the Americans big serves, Li upped her game in the breaker before pulling away. She has now won 8 straight matches and as she's playing Radwanska next, one of them will incur their first loss of the year.
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Kuznetsova Knocks Wozniacki Out
On a scorching hot day in Sydney, the seeds were largely successful in the 2nd round, bar another notable loss on the part of Caroline Wozniacki.
(Rank/Seed)
4/1 Radwanska backed up her Auckland title nicely with a 64 63 win over veteran Date Krumm, despite 10 breaks of serve in the match!
5/2 Kerber overcame qualifier Voskoboeva 62 75, coming from 2-5 and 3 set points at 4-5 down.
7/3 Errani crushed (14/-) Kirilenko 61 61, continuing her strong start to 2013.
6/4 Li, like Radwanska, backed up a title win last week, complained of 40 degree heat and beat a Japanese player, Morita 61 60! So much for complaining!
Qualifier Kuznetsova, ranked 85 in the world, pulled off a somewhat unsurprising upset of (10/7) Wozniacki 76(4) 16 62. As she herself expressed, many times in the past she has been on the verge of beating the Dane with her power game but has faltered. Now, feeling fresh and without pressure after six months off due to a knee injury, she's just happy to be playing. However, like Kvitova and Stosur, Wozniacki's Australian Open hopes look bleak after another early exit in Sydney.
Elsewhere, (15/-) Cibulkova survived a 3-5 third set deficit to overcome (19/-) Makarova 76 (3) 16 76(1) and (16/-) Vinci came from 26 03 and 2-4 down in the 3rd to escape former number one Jankovic 36 64 76(4)!
(Rank/Seed)
4/1 Radwanska backed up her Auckland title nicely with a 64 63 win over veteran Date Krumm, despite 10 breaks of serve in the match!
5/2 Kerber overcame qualifier Voskoboeva 62 75, coming from 2-5 and 3 set points at 4-5 down.
7/3 Errani crushed (14/-) Kirilenko 61 61, continuing her strong start to 2013.
6/4 Li, like Radwanska, backed up a title win last week, complained of 40 degree heat and beat a Japanese player, Morita 61 60! So much for complaining!
Qualifier Kuznetsova, ranked 85 in the world, pulled off a somewhat unsurprising upset of (10/7) Wozniacki 76(4) 16 62. As she herself expressed, many times in the past she has been on the verge of beating the Dane with her power game but has faltered. Now, feeling fresh and without pressure after six months off due to a knee injury, she's just happy to be playing. However, like Kvitova and Stosur, Wozniacki's Australian Open hopes look bleak after another early exit in Sydney.
Elsewhere, (15/-) Cibulkova survived a 3-5 third set deficit to overcome (19/-) Makarova 76 (3) 16 76(1) and (16/-) Vinci came from 26 03 and 2-4 down in the 3rd to escape former number one Jankovic 36 64 76(4)!
Monday, 7 January 2013
Stosur Sent Packing Again!
As the 1st round wrapped up on Monday, there was a few tough matches and some of the higher ranked players didn't make it.
(Rank/Seed)
7/3 Errani comfortably beat Pliskova 61 63.
6/4 Li battered Mchale into submission 76(2) 75, after the American had served for the 1st set twice. Battling jet lag and a scrappy opponent, the champion of two years ago had to battle herself and her errors on a sun drenched court, but ultimately pulled through.
Zheng, a former top 20 player, edged out of sorts (9/6) Stosur 63 67(7) 64! This is Stosur's 5th straight loss on Australian soil off the back of her early exit in Brisbane. Committing 58 unforced errors and struggling to find 1st serves, Stosur couldn't take advantage of the fact she saved match point to level the match, led 3-1 in the 3rd and also broke back when down 3-5 to keep in the match! For Zheng it was an impressive display of tennis as she once again demonstrated that despite her height, she can take the ball unbelievably early.
A minor upset was the 75 75 victory (16/-) Vinci posted over (12/8) Petrova, who looked to be carrying a knee injury in her 1st match of the year. (17/-) Safarova and (18/-) Goerges poor form continued as they were each beaten by qualifiers, Keys 62 61 and Kuznetsova 36 63 63! Also, returning to the top 20 Auckland finalist (20/-) Wickmayer was beaten by qualifier Voskoboeva 36 76(5) 62; no doubt struggling with the quick transition.
(Rank/Seed)
7/3 Errani comfortably beat Pliskova 61 63.
6/4 Li battered Mchale into submission 76(2) 75, after the American had served for the 1st set twice. Battling jet lag and a scrappy opponent, the champion of two years ago had to battle herself and her errors on a sun drenched court, but ultimately pulled through.
Zheng, a former top 20 player, edged out of sorts (9/6) Stosur 63 67(7) 64! This is Stosur's 5th straight loss on Australian soil off the back of her early exit in Brisbane. Committing 58 unforced errors and struggling to find 1st serves, Stosur couldn't take advantage of the fact she saved match point to level the match, led 3-1 in the 3rd and also broke back when down 3-5 to keep in the match! For Zheng it was an impressive display of tennis as she once again demonstrated that despite her height, she can take the ball unbelievably early.
A minor upset was the 75 75 victory (16/-) Vinci posted over (12/8) Petrova, who looked to be carrying a knee injury in her 1st match of the year. (17/-) Safarova and (18/-) Goerges poor form continued as they were each beaten by qualifiers, Keys 62 61 and Kuznetsova 36 63 63! Also, returning to the top 20 Auckland finalist (20/-) Wickmayer was beaten by qualifier Voskoboeva 36 76(5) 62; no doubt struggling with the quick transition.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Kvitova Crashes Again!
It's only the 1st day of the Sydney International and there's already been an upset in the 1st round matches!
(Rank/Seed)
(15/-) Cibulkova overcame a 0-4 head to head deficit to thrash out of sorts (8/5) Kvitova 61 61 for her 1st win of the year. Kvitova's now failed to reach the quarter finals of either of her two tournaments played so far and claimed everything went wrong in her match today. With semi final points at the Australian Open to defend, things are looking bleak.
(10/7) Wozniacki got her 1st win of the season over U. Radwanska 61 62.
(14/-) Kirilenko started her season well with a win over Rogowska 75 62.
(20/-) Makarova battled past Lepchenko 64 46 61.
(Rank/Seed)
(15/-) Cibulkova overcame a 0-4 head to head deficit to thrash out of sorts (8/5) Kvitova 61 61 for her 1st win of the year. Kvitova's now failed to reach the quarter finals of either of her two tournaments played so far and claimed everything went wrong in her match today. With semi final points at the Australian Open to defend, things are looking bleak.
(10/7) Wozniacki got her 1st win of the season over U. Radwanska 61 62.
(14/-) Kirilenko started her season well with a win over Rogowska 75 62.
(20/-) Makarova battled past Lepchenko 64 46 61.
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