Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Bev’s Wimbledon Commentary

We are now onto the second round and final week of Wimbledon. And day 7 of the tournament proved to be an exciting 4th round.

Current French Open champ Maria Sharapova lost to Sabine Lisicki in two sets. This was a repeat of last year’s semi finals match where Sharapova beat Lisicki. But this time around, Lisicki drew ground from her powerful serves and Sharapova just couldn’t handle it. Sharapova, having the “never say die” attitude tried to come back on the second set, but Lisicki was just too good. Lisicki’s win puts her up to a match against the winner of Kim Clijsters and Angelique Kerber match.

Clijsters and Kerber have never had a previous match before and I was surprised when I woke up this morning, that the younger Kerber put away Clijsters like a pro, winning 6-1,6-1! So sad for Clijsters, who never reached the finals of the Wimbledon Championships. Unfortunately, this will be her last as she’s bound to retire by the end of the season.

Another good match from Federer last night against Malisse. Scary first set, where Federer had to go on a medical timeout due to some back pains. Thankfully, the Gods were with him because the match was suspended a little later due to rain. Lucky him. Two great saves. Hopefully he can sustain his momentum until the finals. However, the draw shows that Federer can face Djokovic as early as the semis. I’m really hoping Fed wins this time around.

Just some thoughts…

These days, I find the women’s draw more interesting than that of the men’s simply because there’s no one (or few) person dominating the women’s draw. The past 6 grand slam events were won by different women! That’s how interesting it is. As for the men, it’s always been Djokovic, Federer or Nadal. Quite uninteresting.

For example, moving to the quarterfinals, even though we have three grand slam champs still alive – Azarenka, Kvitova and S. Williams, it’s still not guaranteed that one of them would win. Heck, we don’t even know if they’d all get to the finals!

Quarterfinals Tonight

Tonight, Williams will be squaring off against reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. and I am predicting Kvitova will take charge of the match from the beginning. Williams’ past two matches have been very very tight, going deep on to the third set. Thus, I’m not sure how she will fair against Kvitova. She has to step up her game or the reigning champ will overpower her.

Another match that is a must watch will be Lisicki versus Kerber. Both are German, up and coming tennis superstars. One has a huge serve, while the other can catch all balls that come her way. This is definitely going to be a yoyo match. But I think Lisicki is going to win this.

I have a strange feeling that the three ladies grand slam champs won’t win the championships this year. I have a feeling it’ll be Lisicki, or Radwanska (one of my favorites who is slowly but surely creeping her way on to the quarterfinals). Of course, I am biased. But then again, as long as they produce quality tennis, I’m all for it!

As for the men’s side, I’m biased. I’m going with Roger all the way!

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