Friday, 21 January 2011

Australian Open 2011 3rd Round Matches

Stosur Vs Kvitova
This is probably the match of the day, home favourite Samantha Stosur taking on Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. Stosur is ranked number 6 in the world and should be favourite however Kvitova is in good form and recently won the Brisbane International title 2 weeks ago. Kvitova also easily won the last meeting in Roland Garros in 2008. Both players have improved a lot since so this result is slightly irrelevant. Kvitova is a hard-hitting left hander while Stosur is a big server with a strong forehand. This match is hard to predict as both players struggle with consistency but I am going to pick Kvitova in 3 sets.

Jurgen Melzer Vs Marcos Baghdatis
One of the most interesting matches on the mens side, both these players are also plagued with inconsistency but at their best they are very dangerous. Melzer won his matches comfortably where Baghdatis struggled in his 1st round match and beat 2009 US Open champion Del Potro in his 2nd round match in 4 sets. They have never played each other before so it makes it harder to predict. Baghdatis has a good record at the Australain Open but Melzer has had short matches so will be more fresh for this one.
Prediction: Melzer in 5 Sets.

Other Match Predictions:
Flavia Pennetta v Shahar Peer                      Pennetta in 3 sets
Simona Halep v Agniezka Radwanska          Halep in 2 sets
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Iveta Benesova Benesova in 3 sets
Lucie Safarova v Vera Zvonareva                 Zvonareva in 3 sets

Rafael Nadal v Bernard Tomic                      Nadal in 3 sets
Marin Cilic v John Isner                                Cilic in 5 sets
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga   Dolgpopolov in 4 sets
Amdy Murray v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez      Murray in 3 sets

Monday, 13 September 2010

US Open Women's Final Review

Kim Clijsters won the US Open women's final on saturday for the 3rd time with a comfortable 6-2,6-1 victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva. It was a brilliant performance from Clijsters from start to finish however it was the complete opposite for Zvonareva who had a huge mental meltdown after she was broken at the start of the 2nd set. Vera seems to have joined fellow Russians Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva in having huge talent but lacking mentally on the big occasion, Vera also lost in straight sets at this years Wimbledon Final against Serena Williams. The tournament as a whole was a big disappointment largely because the 2 best players on the women's side Serena Williams and Justine Henin were out injured, but there was very few great matches in fact only one and that was the 3 set epic between Sam Stosur and Elena Dementieva in the 3rd round.

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Champions League Play-Off Results (Leg 1)

Dynamo Kiev         1-1   Ajax
Rosenborg             2-1   FC Copenhagen
Sparta Prague        0-2   MSK Zilina
Young Boys           3-2  Tottenham
Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 Auxerre

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Toronto Masters/Rogers Cup Review

Andy Murray won the Toronto Masters with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Roger Federer. Murray reached the final with impressive straight set wins over Nalbandian and Nadal. Federer however struggles with hard fought out wins against Djokovic and Berdych. This was a great win for Murray as it was his 1st tournament win of the year and the 1st time he has beat Federer in a final. He also won it in great fashion as he changed to more aggressive tactics during the tournament instead of the defensive play he is usually associated with. If he keeps this up then he will be one of the favourites for the US Open.

Czech GP

Jorge Lorenzo - Yamaha Factory            43:22.638


2 Dani Pedrosa - Honda HRC                 +05.494

3 Casey Stoner - Ducati MotoGP            +11.426

4 Ben Spies - Yamaha Tech 3                  +13.723

5 Valentino Rossi - Yamaha Factory         +17.930

6 Nicky Hayden - Ducati MotoGP           +26.815

7 Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3           +33.396

8 Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini           +39.406

9 Hector Barbera - Ducati Aspar              +39.639

10 Randy de Puniet - Honda LCR            +40.893

11 Marco Simoncelli - Honda Gresini       +42.032

12 Aleix Espargaro - Ducati Pramac         +47.091

13 Alex de Angelis - Honda Interwetten   +51.368

14 Alvaro Bautista - Suzuki MotoGP       +50.0

15 Mika Kallio - Ducati Pramac               +17.5

16 Andrea Dovizioso - Honda HRC        +50.4

17 Loris Capirossi - Suzuki MotoGP       +04.1

Jorge Lorenzo claimed his seventh race victory of the season at the Czech Grand Prix to extend his overall championship lead to 77 points.