(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams comfortably handled (27/-) Cirstea 62 60 to win her 54th career title. The win is her 8th title of the year, equalling her previous best of 2002 as she solidified her status of US Open favourite. It was also her 3rd title in Toronto. Cirstea was playing her biggest ever final as the 1st Romanian woman since Irina Spirlea at Indian Wells 1997 to reach a final in the upper echelon of tour events. Ultimately though, Cirstea was outclassed in front of a packed house.
1st Set
The tone was set early on as Williams quickly moved into a double break 3-0 lead as Cirstea seemed nervous and double faulted twice in the 1st game. Neither player played near their best as Cirstea quickly broke back to give the crowd something to cheer about, but it was short lived as she ultimately tried too often to hit the extravagant instead of being solid as she'd done so successfully all week. Somehow, Williams won a 62 set whilst hitting a mere 3 winners and less than 50% of her 1st serves went in!
2nd Set
Perhaps the head to head, the occasion or her poor play got to her, but Cirstea couldn't play in this set. Williams in contrast started to get better, finding more 1st serves and hitting with controlled aggression, though she still hit only a mere 12 winners all match! Cirstea's fight dissipated rapidly towards the end as she made a number of careless errors, despite her coach's encouragement. It was all too apparent that Cirstea was upset with her inability to play better in the match having worked so hard to get there, but even a Williams at this level was a class above the players she'd played thus far. The match ended as badly as the last for Cirstea against Williams.
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Cirstea shocks Li, Williams edges Radwanska
The semi finals were both very entertaining battles.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams improved to 6-0 against (4/3) Radwanska with a close win 76(3) 64. Twice Radwanska recovered from a break behind in the 1st set, at 2-3 and 4-5 down (breaking to love in the latter!) as she used her mixture of flat and sliced hitting to disrupt the number one. In the tiebreak though, Williams played deep and aggressive to take control. Though the Pole led 3-1 in the second, Williams raised her game again to win 5 of the next 6 games to reach her 4th career final here having hit 45 winners past Radwanska. Radwanska should be proud of this match which was a marked improvement on her 60 63 loss in Miami this year.
27/- Cirstea continued her giant killing form with a 61 76(5) win over (5/4) Li; her 1st top 5 win. Cirstea dropped only 5 points on serve as she played as close to a perfect set as possible. Li turned the screw in the 2nd set though as she led 4-1 and 5-2 as Cirstea began to miss and became temperamental. However, a chat with her coach soon settled that and Li herself grew tense as her forehand and serve deserted her in the face of Cirstea's surprising consistency. This allowed Cirstea to resume control and win the next 4 games before it was her time to get nervous as she missed 2 match points in the 12th game. In the tiebreak, Li initially looked solid in building yet another 4-1 lead but ultimately was let down by double faults, hitting one down match point #3. Cirstea moves through to only her 3rd career final; her 1st at this level.
Williams is looking for her 54th career title, her 8th this year and 3rd in Toronto. Cirstea in contrast is looking for only her 2nd title. Williams leads the head to head 2-0, losing 3 games or less in both matches! However, Cirstea has beaten 12 top 10 players before and with the run she's on here, why not make it 13?
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams improved to 6-0 against (4/3) Radwanska with a close win 76(3) 64. Twice Radwanska recovered from a break behind in the 1st set, at 2-3 and 4-5 down (breaking to love in the latter!) as she used her mixture of flat and sliced hitting to disrupt the number one. In the tiebreak though, Williams played deep and aggressive to take control. Though the Pole led 3-1 in the second, Williams raised her game again to win 5 of the next 6 games to reach her 4th career final here having hit 45 winners past Radwanska. Radwanska should be proud of this match which was a marked improvement on her 60 63 loss in Miami this year.
27/- Cirstea continued her giant killing form with a 61 76(5) win over (5/4) Li; her 1st top 5 win. Cirstea dropped only 5 points on serve as she played as close to a perfect set as possible. Li turned the screw in the 2nd set though as she led 4-1 and 5-2 as Cirstea began to miss and became temperamental. However, a chat with her coach soon settled that and Li herself grew tense as her forehand and serve deserted her in the face of Cirstea's surprising consistency. This allowed Cirstea to resume control and win the next 4 games before it was her time to get nervous as she missed 2 match points in the 12th game. In the tiebreak, Li initially looked solid in building yet another 4-1 lead but ultimately was let down by double faults, hitting one down match point #3. Cirstea moves through to only her 3rd career final; her 1st at this level.
Williams is looking for her 54th career title, her 8th this year and 3rd in Toronto. Cirstea in contrast is looking for only her 2nd title. Williams leads the head to head 2-0, losing 3 games or less in both matches! However, Cirstea has beaten 12 top 10 players before and with the run she's on here, why not make it 13?
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Radwanska edges Errani
The quarter finals were a bundle of contrasts as some matches were easy, whilst others were epics.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams was overwhelming against (42/-) Rybarikova, breaking last weeks Washington DC winners 8 match win streak with a 61 61 win. The Slovak tried her best to mix up the play with slice and serve and volley but could only smile at the relentless quality of Williams. It was Rybarikova's 1st Premier 5 level quarter final, whilst Williams moves into her 5th semi final at this event.
4/3 Radwanska survived in a battle of the service breaks to beat (6/5) Errani 76(1) 75. Amazingly, there was 11 successive breaks of serve from 1-1 in the 1st to 1-0 in the 2nd, as Radwanska saved 2 set points before dominating yet another tiebreaker. It was a really gruelling contest with lots of crowd pleasing rallies, but Radwanska was fractionally better under pressure due to her willingness to flatten out her groundstrokes. Radwanska moves into her 2nd career semi final here.
5/4 Li maintained her perfect record against Stanford champion (20/-) Cibulkova, beating her for a 4th time 76(1) 62. She made sure she 'hit the ball' instead of allowing Cibulkova to dominate to make her 2nd successive semi final here having reached last years final.
Defending champion (7/6) Kvitova was surprisingly beaten 46 75 62 by Cirstea. After serving brilliantly against Stosur, Kvitova didn't get a good nights sleep and admitted she felt lethargic during the match. This contributed to her staggering 10 double faults (6 down break point) as she didn't feel she had the energy in her legs. However, having come from 0-4 down in the 2nd set to lead 5-4 she would have expected to win. Cirstea seems to be getting better with every match having saved match points earlier in the event and won 7 straight games from 4-5 down with her big, confident hitting. Her 2nd career win in 5 over the Czech sees her reach her 1st Premier 5 semi final, whilst it marks a second straight week that Kvitova has lost a close quarter final she should've won.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams was overwhelming against (42/-) Rybarikova, breaking last weeks Washington DC winners 8 match win streak with a 61 61 win. The Slovak tried her best to mix up the play with slice and serve and volley but could only smile at the relentless quality of Williams. It was Rybarikova's 1st Premier 5 level quarter final, whilst Williams moves into her 5th semi final at this event.
4/3 Radwanska survived in a battle of the service breaks to beat (6/5) Errani 76(1) 75. Amazingly, there was 11 successive breaks of serve from 1-1 in the 1st to 1-0 in the 2nd, as Radwanska saved 2 set points before dominating yet another tiebreaker. It was a really gruelling contest with lots of crowd pleasing rallies, but Radwanska was fractionally better under pressure due to her willingness to flatten out her groundstrokes. Radwanska moves into her 2nd career semi final here.
5/4 Li maintained her perfect record against Stanford champion (20/-) Cibulkova, beating her for a 4th time 76(1) 62. She made sure she 'hit the ball' instead of allowing Cibulkova to dominate to make her 2nd successive semi final here having reached last years final.
Defending champion (7/6) Kvitova was surprisingly beaten 46 75 62 by Cirstea. After serving brilliantly against Stosur, Kvitova didn't get a good nights sleep and admitted she felt lethargic during the match. This contributed to her staggering 10 double faults (6 down break point) as she didn't feel she had the energy in her legs. However, having come from 0-4 down in the 2nd set to lead 5-4 she would have expected to win. Cirstea seems to be getting better with every match having saved match points earlier in the event and won 7 straight games from 4-5 down with her big, confident hitting. Her 2nd career win in 5 over the Czech sees her reach her 1st Premier 5 semi final, whilst it marks a second straight week that Kvitova has lost a close quarter final she should've won.
Friday, 9 August 2013
Bartoli bows out
The 3rd round generally went according to plan.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams restored family honour in avenging her sisters loss to Wimbledon semi finalist (13/13) Flipkens. She fired 10 aces, one at 128mph to beat her 60 63.
4/3 Radwanska subdued powerful (17/14) Stephens 61 76(2), coming from 1-4 down in the 2nd set and playing more aggressively than ever to dominate the tiebreak.
5/4 Li barely survived in form (15/16) Ivanovic 36 61 76(5), recovering from 2-5 down in the 3rd set with some consistently powerful tennis from both the back and fore court.
6/5 Errani edged Cornet 75 76(3), having initially led 5-1 in the 2nd set! Errani lost her temper with Cornet over the French woman's persistent use of the Spanish phrase 'Vamos' as opposed to French phrase 'Allez,' somehow construing the action as some form of poor sportsmanship. Errani even saved a set point down 5-6 but still reached her 1st QF here.
7/6 Kvitova dominated on serve against Carlsbad champion (11/12) Stosur 63 63, who'd struggled in two 3 setters to reach the 3rd round. It was her 5th win in 6 over Stosur as she dropped serve only once, when serving for the match at 5-2!
8/7 (w/c) Bartoli sadly had to retire down 67(5) 0-1 to last weeks Washington DC champion Rybarikova with a suspected abdominal strain. Marion claimed it hurt on both the serve and her backhand as she admitted that her Wimbledon victory was still taking a physical toll.
Elsewhere, Stanford champion Cibulkova overcame (12/10) Vinci 63 76(4) having lost her last 5 meetings, including at Wimbledon against the Italian. Stanford semi finalist Cirstea backed up her 2nd round upset too with a straightforward 63 64 victory over (14/15) Jankovic, a finalist from 2007.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Williams restored family honour in avenging her sisters loss to Wimbledon semi finalist (13/13) Flipkens. She fired 10 aces, one at 128mph to beat her 60 63.
4/3 Radwanska subdued powerful (17/14) Stephens 61 76(2), coming from 1-4 down in the 2nd set and playing more aggressively than ever to dominate the tiebreak.
5/4 Li barely survived in form (15/16) Ivanovic 36 61 76(5), recovering from 2-5 down in the 3rd set with some consistently powerful tennis from both the back and fore court.
6/5 Errani edged Cornet 75 76(3), having initially led 5-1 in the 2nd set! Errani lost her temper with Cornet over the French woman's persistent use of the Spanish phrase 'Vamos' as opposed to French phrase 'Allez,' somehow construing the action as some form of poor sportsmanship. Errani even saved a set point down 5-6 but still reached her 1st QF here.
7/6 Kvitova dominated on serve against Carlsbad champion (11/12) Stosur 63 63, who'd struggled in two 3 setters to reach the 3rd round. It was her 5th win in 6 over Stosur as she dropped serve only once, when serving for the match at 5-2!
8/7 (w/c) Bartoli sadly had to retire down 67(5) 0-1 to last weeks Washington DC champion Rybarikova with a suspected abdominal strain. Marion claimed it hurt on both the serve and her backhand as she admitted that her Wimbledon victory was still taking a physical toll.
Elsewhere, Stanford champion Cibulkova overcame (12/10) Vinci 63 76(4) having lost her last 5 meetings, including at Wimbledon against the Italian. Stanford semi finalist Cirstea backed up her 2nd round upset too with a straightforward 63 64 victory over (14/15) Jankovic, a finalist from 2007.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Kerber and Wozniacki lose, again!
The biggest seeds were in action in the 1st Premier 5 level hard court tournament since Wimbledon having received 1st round byes.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Former 2 time champion Williams was a little sluggish initially in her summer hard court debut, falling a break behind as she adapted to Schiavone. She still won 63 62.
4/3 Radwanska managed the windy conditions and Wickmayer 62 63.
5/4 Last year's finalist Li made a strong hard court debut, beating Pavlyuchenkova 61 64.
6/5 Errani survived a late surge from big hitter Zakopalova as the Czech saved match points to stay in the match with Errani serving at 5-4. Still, the Italian won 62 76(2).
7/6 Kvitova, the defending champion spoilt home hopes in beating promising 19 year old Bouchard 63 62 in the night match.
8/7 (w/c) Bartoli played her 1st match since winning Wimbledon having nursed a hamstring injury. Though she was erratic naturally, she still crushed qualifier Davis 60 63 who had amazingly twice beaten Kuznetsova in the same event; in the last round of qualifying and the main draw when Kuznetsova was a lucky loser!
9/8 Kerber continues to lose left, right and centre these days as in form Cibulkova took her out for the fourth time in as many meetings 67(0) 62 75. The Slovak's added aggression saw her recover from 1-4 down in the 3rd as Kerber became increasingly defensive.
10/9 Wozniacki, a former champion here, looks destined to bid farewell to the top 10 with a disastrous 57 76(0) 64 loss to in form Cirstea. Just as has happened so often lately, Wozniacki lost a match she should have won, holding 2 match points up 6-5 in the 2nd set. However, the ever dangerous Cirstea caught fire to win the next 15 consecutive points. Wozniacki held break point again in the 9th game of the 3rd set but failed to convert and now has reached only 1 quarter final or better in her last 7 tournaments!
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Former 2 time champion Williams was a little sluggish initially in her summer hard court debut, falling a break behind as she adapted to Schiavone. She still won 63 62.
4/3 Radwanska managed the windy conditions and Wickmayer 62 63.
5/4 Last year's finalist Li made a strong hard court debut, beating Pavlyuchenkova 61 64.
6/5 Errani survived a late surge from big hitter Zakopalova as the Czech saved match points to stay in the match with Errani serving at 5-4. Still, the Italian won 62 76(2).
7/6 Kvitova, the defending champion spoilt home hopes in beating promising 19 year old Bouchard 63 62 in the night match.
8/7 (w/c) Bartoli played her 1st match since winning Wimbledon having nursed a hamstring injury. Though she was erratic naturally, she still crushed qualifier Davis 60 63 who had amazingly twice beaten Kuznetsova in the same event; in the last round of qualifying and the main draw when Kuznetsova was a lucky loser!
9/8 Kerber continues to lose left, right and centre these days as in form Cibulkova took her out for the fourth time in as many meetings 67(0) 62 75. The Slovak's added aggression saw her recover from 1-4 down in the 3rd as Kerber became increasingly defensive.
10/9 Wozniacki, a former champion here, looks destined to bid farewell to the top 10 with a disastrous 57 76(0) 64 loss to in form Cirstea. Just as has happened so often lately, Wozniacki lost a match she should have won, holding 2 match points up 6-5 in the 2nd set. However, the ever dangerous Cirstea caught fire to win the next 15 consecutive points. Wozniacki held break point again in the 9th game of the 3rd set but failed to convert and now has reached only 1 quarter final or better in her last 7 tournaments!
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