Nadal Wins Wimbledon
July 4, 2010
Rafael Nadal was too consistent for Tomas Berdych in the final of the men’s Wimbledon title for 2010. He won 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
Nadal was in a way defending his title from 2008 as he missed 2009 through injury.
As I am about to head off on a cruise don’t have time to write more.
Serena Williams wins Wimbledon
July 3, 2010
It has got to the point where the Wimbledon trophy engraver can just put Williams on it and they would be right. For 10 of the past 11 years the trophy has been won by either Venus or Serena Williams.
So it was again as Serena outclassed Russia’s Vera Zvonareva to win her fourth Wimbledon singles title. The final score was 6-3, 6-2. The only time one of the Williams sisters did not win the title was when Maria Sharapova won the title by defeating Serena in 2004.
Nadal and Berdych to Meet in Wimbledon Final
July 3, 2010
Rafael Nadal has broken the hearts of British fans by denying Andy Murray the chance to win the Wimbledon tennis title. It will now be at least 75-years for a Brit to win the Wimbledon crown.
Nadal defeated Murray in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-4. The Spaniard who won the title in 2008 is looking to win again after missing the 2009 event through injury.
The relentless barrage of shots from the world no.1 was too much for Murray to handle. Nadal got a break in the first set, and two in the third. Both players did not drop serve in the second.
12th seeded Tomas Berdych continued on from his upset win over Roger Federer by defeating soon to be world no.2 ranked Novak Djokovic.
After winning the first set Berdych looked set to win the second and hold a 2 sets to nil lead. Djokovic fought back from 6-2 in the tie-break to have sets points himself before the power hitting of Berdych got the better of his opponent.
In the end Berdych reached his first Grand Slam final by defeating Djokovic 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-4.
Nadal has to be favoured to win his second Wimbledon title as he is in perhaps the best form of his life and he has a 7-3 record head-to-head against Berdych, including wins in the last six tennis matches.
Williams Fights Off Kvitova Challenge at Wimbledon
July 1, 2010
Czech’s Petra Kvitova had a point to go 5-3 up in the opening set of her debut Wimbledon tennis semi-final against world no. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams. She was not able to convert and Williams got back on serve.
From 4-4 in the first set the players moved into a tie-break. Williams raced to a good lead but Kvitova fought back to 6-5. In the end she was not quite able to edge Williams and the set was gone.
Williams then got on top of her opponent who was looking to become the first unseeded player to reach a Wimbledon ladies final. The world no. 62 had played Williams earlier in the year at the Australian Open and won just three games. This time around Kvitova put up a sterling effort however in the end the class and power of Williams shone through and she won the match 7-6(5), 6-2.
Serena Williams will now play Vera Zvonareva who reached her first Grand Slam final. The 21st seed defeated Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Zvonareva reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2009 losing to fellow Russian Dinara Safina.
Back then she was on a roll and found herself ranked at no. 5 in the world. That all came undone when she injured her ankle in the Charleston tournament. So after a 20-3 record to start the season she returned from injury to struggle to a 13-10 record for the remainder of 2009.
Again in 2010 Zvonareva started well but her recent form showed no signs of what was to come. She has now stormed through the field at Wimbledon to find herself in the final.
Federer Bounced by Berdych From Wimbledon
June 30, 2010
The King of Wimbledon is perhaps no more. Roger Federer was looking to equal Pete Sampras’ record of seven Wimbledon titles as he started his 2010 campaign.
After seeing his amazing record of 23 consecutive semi-final appearance end at the French Open Federer was also looking to get back into a grand slam semi.
Tomas Berdych was also looking for milestones of his own. He is yet to reach a grand slam final and after going close at the French Open he is ready for the next step.
Federer has been lucky to even reach this stage of the tournament after avoiding an embarrassing first round defeat. He had looked a bit better in recent matches but today was not to be the one for him.
Berdych was too good on the day and defeated Federer 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to make Federer wait another year to have a shot at Pete’s record.
Federer mentioned back and leg problems after the match so who knows how much difference that made. Berdych is riding a new wave of confidence after his semi final effort at Roland Garros. Who knows how far he can go.
For Federer is the grand slam run over? Will he ever add to his already record haul of titles? Some are writing him off already. That was done before and he came back to win again.
In the other quarter finals we saw Novak Djokovic easily account for Lu Yen-Hsun, Nadal defeated Soderling and Andy Murray overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Hewitt and Groth Bow Out and Roddick Upset
June 29, 2010
Andy Roddick losing to Yen-Hsun Lu was the big news out of Wimbledon on Monday. The 2009 finalist lost 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 6-7, 9-7 to the 82nd ranked player in the world. Lu from Taiwan is the first Asian male player to reach a grand slam quarter-final for more than ten years.
Lu now plays Novak Djokovic who defeated the 2002 Wimbledon champion, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt. Djokovic fought off illness to win 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Jarmila Groth from Australia pushed five-time champion Venus Williams to a 6-4, 7-6 win. Groth could have easily dispatched the no. 2 seed however when it mattered she missed some shots which in the end proved the difference.
In two other big name matchups we saw Kim Clijsters win the battle of the comeback queens when she defeated Justine Henin in three sets. Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 7-6, 6-4.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both advance in straight sets, both dropping only eight games.
Longest Tennis Match Ever
June 24, 2010
Even though the longest ever match was not played as a continuous match it still is a remarkable effort. The match started on Tuesday and was suspended at two sets all.
It then continued Wednesday and became memorable. The two players did not drop a service game at all to see the match go to 59-59 in the fifth before play was halted as darkness fell. They came out in the afternoon of Thursday and finally completed the match.
John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played a total of 11 hours and five minutes with a scoreline of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 70-68.
The previous longest singles match in history was beaten by a massive four hours and 32. It was played between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement at the 2004 French Open.
Here are the stats from this amazing match.
Match duration: 11 hours, five minutes
Fifth set duration: Eight hours, 11 minutes
Total number of games: 183
Fifth set number of games: 138
Total number of points: 980
Isner aces: 112
Mahut aces: 103
Combined aces: 215
Isner winners: 246
Mahut winners: 244
Isner advances to play Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker who himself had an extended battle to advance to the second round. He defeated Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3 5-7 16-14. The final set lasted 105 minutes.
Sam Stosur Upset
June 23, 2010
Sam Stosur has never really set the tennis courts alight when playing at Wimbledon. She has never got past the third round. With her game you would expect more.
Going into the 2010 Wimbledon championships Stosur had plenty of good form on the board. She reached a grass court semi-final last week at Eastbourne and was seeded sixth at Wimbledon.
2010 was to be the year where she would finally get her act together on grass, that is at least what many expected.
Someone forgot to tell Kaia Kanepi of Estonia. She came out and defeated Stosur in the opening round. The final score was 6-4, 6-4.
Looking at the statistics you could not see much between the two players. Kanepi had 25 errors to Stosur’s 24, winners were 34 and 32. The key stat was that Kenepi made 3 of 9 break points compared with Stosur who had 1 fomr 7.
For Stosur it is again next year that she has to look forward to.
On day two there were three Australian women in action. Apart from Stosur we saw Casey Dellacqua lose to Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 6-0. Anastasia Rodionova did manage to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 against Anne Keothavong from Great Britain.
Reasonable Day for Aussies on Day 1 at Wimbledon
June 21, 2010
Australia has nine players competing in the singles at Wimbledon in 2010. On the opening day six of the nine were in action.
At the end of the day we saw four of the six advance to the second round.
In the men’s tournament Lleyton Hewitt won 5-7, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 over Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina. Joining him in the second round is Peter Luczak who upset the 30th seed, Tommy Robredo, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-5.
The other two men from Australia lost. Mardy Fish defeated Bernard Tomic 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 and fellow qualifier Carsten Ball lost to Ricardas Berankis 6-2, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6.
On the women’s side Australia went 2-0. Alicia Molik had a solid 6-2, 7-5 win over Zuzana Kucova and Jarmila Groth also won in straight sets. She defeated Renata Voracova 6-4, 6-3.
On day two Sam Stosur, Casey Dellacqua and Anastasia Rodionova will be in action.
Federer Escapes First Round Loss
June 21, 2010
Opening day at Wimbledon features the previous years champion playing on centre court. Normally it is a nice way to ease into the tournament for the defending champion.
This time around it was a little different. Roger Federer found himself down 2 sets to nil and facing four break points in a game that would have seen his Colombian opponent serving for a huge straight sets upset.
In the end it was Federer who called upon all his resolve to fight his way back from the challenging position to win in five sets over Alejandro Falla.
The final score was 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0. Falla who is ranked 60 in the world did manage to serve for the match in the fourth set but could not pull off the huge upset.
