Wonderful or woeful Wednesday in Madrid?
Well now that all depends on your point of view really. In the red corner (we would say pink, but we’re not in the mood for stereotypes this evening!) we had Maria Sharapova weather a comeback from the feisty Caroline Garcia. After taking an early advantage and rounding out a comfortable first set, the Frenchwoman fought her way back into the match, going for the lines and continued to stay with the pace throughout the deciding set.
As always, experience, grit and determination are what sees Sharapova over the finishing line, as well as graciously dealing with a disgruntled hand-slap from the disappointed loser.
So far so good – but now we had what could be one of the best match-ups since… well… last year’s Brisbane final, when Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka last played each other. Since then Azarenka struggled with injury and some intense personal demons, but since she came back to the tour, it is safe to say she’s the devil in the draw that no-one wants to meet. We were not disappointed as the first set was tight and could have so easily gone Azarenka’s way, but perhaps showed a little rustiness where she couldn’t close it out from 5-1 up. But no matter – that momentum stayed with her into the second set but the real drama was to come in the decider.
Battling their way to a tie-break, Williams may have squandered one match point but that was nothing to the three Azarenka built up, that were nibbled away before a run of double-faults handed Williams the break she needed to force the tie-break.
The serve that Azarenka had tweaked and had served her so well deserted her when she most needed it, but make no mistake the rivalry that was just taking form before injury put Azarenka out for most of 2014 looks to be shaping up quite nicely once more.
In fact the irony was the one player everyone is having so many consternations about (Rafael Nadal, just in case you were not keeping up) actually shot through his match with Steve Johnson in almost indecent haste by comparison.
Just as well because the last “day” match brought the biggest shock of the lot. It had all the promise of being a bit of a blockbuster. Nick Kyrgios, mad and bad to the bone, taking on the serene grandfather of all things tennis Roger Federer.
Kyrgios meant business from the start, breaking Federer but eventually was pegged back as they battled to the first set tie-break where Federer showed the impudent young pup a thing or two. That wouldn’t stop him though as Kyrgios (who was broken at the start of the second) repaid the favour by pulling back the second set, and edging Federer to force a decider.
The real drama came in the deciding tie-break, with Federer saving two match points, but Kyrgios battling over and over until he scored his second top 10 win – arguably the biggest of his career.
Oh but we were not (are not) done yet! The scheduling was rearing its head, as the first night match started late and also hit the three set milestone (by now we were perhaps thinking it was a millstone).
And so, lovely readers – just a few hardy souls remain to watch Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber, and in truth there we will have to leave it. The scheduling may well ruin Murray’s chance to pick up a second clay court title in as many weeks, as once more he will play twice in one day.
We’ll let you know how that turned out!
MUTUA MADRID OPEN – MADRID, SPAIN
EUR 4,185,405.00
MAY 2 – 10, 2015
RESULTS – MAY 06, 2015
Women’s
Singles – Third Round
[1] S. Williams (USA) d V. Azarenka (BLR) 76(5) 36 76(1) (saved 3mp)
[3] M. Sharapova (RUS) d C. Garcia (FRA) 62 46 75
[4] P. Kvitova (CZE) d A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 61 64
[5] C. Wozniacki (DEN) d [9] A. Radwanska (POL) 63 62
[10] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) d [7] A. Ivanovic (SRB) 75 16 64
[13] L. Safarova (CZE) d R. Vinci (ITA) 64 67(6) 60
I. Begu (ROU) d B. Strycova (CZE) 64 64
S. Kuznetsova (RUS) d S. Stosur (AUS) 57 62 76(5)
Women’s
Doubles – Second Round
[4] S. Hsieh (TPE) / F. Pennetta (ITA) d A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 16 60 10-4
K. Mladenovic (FRA) / K. Pliskova (CZE) d [5] R. Kops-Jones (USA) / A. Spears (USA) 44 Retired (Spears: left calf injury)
ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, MAY 07, 2015
MANOLO SANTANA start 11:00 am
WTA – [5] C. Wozniacki (DEN) vs [3] M. Sharapova (RUS)
Not Before 12:15 pm
WTA – [1] S. Williams (USA) vs [10] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP)
Not Before 3:15 pm
ATP – [3] R. Nadal (ESP) vs S. Bolelli (ITA)
ATP – [7] D. Ferrer (ESP) vs F. Verdasco (ESP)
Not Before 8:00 pm
ATP – [14] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) vs [4] K. Nishikori (JPN)
ATP – [5] M. Raonic (CAN) vs L. Mayer (ARG)
ARANTXA SÁNCHEZ-VICARIO start 1:00 pm
ATP – [10] G. Dimitrov (BUL) vs [8] S. Wawrinka (SUI)
Not Before 3:00 pm
WTA – S. Kuznetsova (RUS) vs [13] L. Safarova (CZE)
WTA – [4] P. Kvitova (CZE) vs I. Begu (ROU)
ATP – [WC] M. Granollers (ESP) vs P. Kohlschreiber (GER) or [2] A. Murray (GBR)
STADIUM 3 start 1:00 pm
ATP – [12] J. Tsonga (FRA) vs [6] T. Berdych (CZE)
ATP – N. Kyrgios (AUS) vs [16] J. Isner (USA)
ATP – [1] B. Bryan (USA) / M. Bryan (USA) vs J. Cabal (COL) / A. Mannarino (FRA)
ATP – [7] D. Nestor (CAN) / L. Paes (IND) vs [WC] F. Lopez (ESP) / M. Mirnyi (BLR)
ATP – After suitable rest – P. Cuevas (URU) / D. Marrero (ESP) vs [6] M. Granollers (ESP) / M. Lopez (ESP)
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
WTA – K. Mladenovic (FRA) / K. Pliskova (CZE) vs [2] E. Makarova (RUS) / E. Vesnina (RUS)
WTA – [4] S. Hsieh (TPE) / F. Pennetta (ITA) vs C. Dellacqua (AUS) / Y. Shvedova (KAZ)
ATP – After rest – [5] M. Matkowski (POL) / N. Zimonjic (SRB) vs G. Dimitrov (BUL) / J. Melzer (AUT)
WTA – After rest – [1] M. Hingis (SUI) / S. Mirza (IND) vs [7] B. Mattek-Sands (USA) / L. Safarova (CZE)
WTA – After rest – [Alt] L. Arruabarrena (ESP) / I. Begu (ROU) vs [3] G. Muguruza (ESP) / C. Suárez Navarro (ESP)
COURT 6 start 11:00 am
[1] L. Llinares Domingo (ESP) vs M. Lopez Martinez (ESP)
C. Gallardo Guevara (ESP) vs [3] M. Berlanga Bandera (ESP)
Not Before 1:00 pm
[1] A. Turriziani Alvarez (ESP) vs D. Matheu Baldor (ESP)
A. Correa Linares (ESP) vs [3] C. Alcaraz Garfia (ESP)
Not Before 3:00 pm
[1] G. Maristany Zuleta (ESP) vs A. Fita Boulda (ESP)
Not Before 4:30 pm
C. Montero Estevan (ESP) vs [4] M. Bassols Ribera (ESP)
COURT 7 start 11:00 am
[4] L. Fernandez Campuzano (ESP) vs P. Garbisu Irizabal (ESP)
S. Cerezo Holgado (ESP) vs [2] A. Mintegi del Olmo (ESP)
Not Before 1:00 pm
[4] D. Naharro Gomez (ESP) vs C. Gimenez Perez (ESP)
A. Berasategui Zamora (ESP) vs [2] D. Rincon Yague (ESP)
Not Before 3:00 pm
[3] C. Pons Martorell (ESP) vs S. Bordes Caselles (ESP)
Not Before 4:30 pm
M. Perez Mur (ESP) vs [2] E. Lopez Alcaraz (ESP)
For Results
http://www.wtatennis.com/scores-and-stats
For Draws
http://www.wtatennis.com/draws-and-schedule
For Match Notes/Head-to-Heads/Player List
http://www.wtatennis.com/press-center
For Mobile Site/Chinese Site/Spanish Site
Tournament Website
http://www.madrid-open.com/en/
WTA
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Topics: Andy Murray, ATP Madrid, Federer, global chick, Maria Sharapova, Mutua Madrid Open, Nick Kyrgios, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Rafa, Serena Williams, Steve Johnson, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka, Wta
GLOBAL CHICK GIVES US THE INSIDERS VIEW OF THE #TENNIS IN #MADRID. @rogerfederer LOSES TO @NickKyrgios- http://t.co/QmGLYLhTSN #atpmadrid
RT @10sBalls_com: GLOBAL CHICK GIVES US THE INSIDERS VIEW OF THE #TENNIS IN #MADRID. @rogerfederer LOSES TO @NickKyrgios- http://t.co/QmGLY…
RT @10sBalls_com: GLOBAL CHICK GIVES US THE INSIDERS VIEW OF THE #TENNIS IN #MADRID. @rogerfederer LOSES TO @NickKyrgios- http://t.co/QmGLY…