Roger is back and on the grass

The all too short grass court season is now upon us and the sudden change of surface provides certain players with different strengths a chance to display their wares more adequately and confidently than on the clay.  Conversely, some of the clay courters are more prone to early exits as they struggle to handle the various nuances that playing on grass may present.

However, the pace of the grass courts these days is markedly slower than in yesteryear, and so the advantage is not as big as once was - incredibly 35-40 years ago Bjorn Borg could switch from slow clay to fast grass and dominate on each, making his six French Opens and five Wimbledons an achievement that should be given even more plaudits than it already receives.

Not long to Wimbledon and good to see Federer back and apparently fit.  He was top seed for the ATP Stuttgart tournament, one of two men's events on grass held in the first week following the French Open.

Roger won two tight matches, the first a thrilling three setter against young American future star Taylor Fritz, and the second a two tie break quarter final against qualifier Florian Mayer.  Federer was stopped in the semis by third seed Dominic Thiem, who for the second time this year ruined a tournament for Roger.  Down a set, Thiem fought his way successfully through a second set tie break before clinching the match 6-4 in the decider.

He will play Philippe Kohlschreiber in the final, after he defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in the other semi.  This will be the second final for Kohlschreiber in 2016, both events in his home country of Germany.  He beat Thiem in Munich on clay about 6 weeks back, and the two will be contesting this final as well.

Since Munich, Kohlschreiber had won just one match prior to Stuttgart, whereas Thiem had won 12, capturing the Nice tournament and making the Roland Garros semis.  Grass has changed the fortunes for Philippe and the final should be fascinating.

The Ricoh Open in s'Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, will feature 7th seed Gilles Muller from Luxembourg against Nicolas Mahut (8) from France in the final.  Muller defeated top seed David Ferrer while Mahut dispensed with second seed Bernard Tomic in two of the quarter finals, before dealing with Karlovic and Querrey respectively in the semis.

The WTA grass court season opened with its two tournaments this week including one held in conjunction with the ATP in s'Hertogenbosch.

Fresh from winning the French Open doubles title with Caroline Garcia, 3rd seed Kristina Mladenovic overcame top seed Belinda Bencic, after dropping the opening set, in one semi final.  Disappointed at the loss, it still would have felt good for Bencic to be back playing after her absence through injury.

Mladenovic will play sixth seed Coco Vandeweghe in the final following the American's victory over compatriot Madison Brengle in their semi final.

Nottingham has been the venue for the other WTA event this week, and it saw two comebacks - Caroline Wozniacki from injury, although she only won her first round match before exiting, and Australian Ash Barty, the former Wimbledon Junior champion, who quit tennis for a cricket career, but last year returned to tennis.

Until Nottingham Barty had been playing lower tier ITF events, but she won through qualifying here before winning her first two main draw matches.  Only top seed Karolina Pliskova prevented her moving into the semi finals, and it took two tie breaks to do it, the second lasting 9-7.  For 20 year old Ash Barty her future for a second time appears bright, as she gives tennis another go.

The final in Nottingham will be a battle between Pliskova and unseeded American Alison Riske.  Pliskova defeated fourth seed Puerto Rican Monica Puig and Riske knocked out China's unseeded Saisai Zheng in the semi finals.

Novak Slam !

Novak Djokovic continues to rewrite history books and insert new pages in them.  He added a few more with his emphatic victory in the 2016 French Open at Roland Garros.

Djokovic opened perfectly, breaking Andy Murray's serve to love, before being brought back to earth with a mighty thud.  Murray broke back and then held serve for the rest of Set One.  The key to a Scot winning the title lay very much in the consistency of serve, and apart from the blip in game one, Andy had his delivery on song, rendering even the masterful returning of the top seed incapable of breaking down enough of the second seed's wall.

With Andy serving first in the match and gaining the one game lead at 2-1, pressure returned to the Serb serve, and a couple of Novak unforced errors, together with a winning Murray forehand produced a second successive break.   Murray led 3-1.

As mentioned already Novak could not penetrate his opponent's serve sufficiently to force a break, and so holding his own for the rest of the set was nice enough in one sense, but the scoreboard displayed 6-3 for Andy, and the ghosts from 2012, 2014 and 2015 had started to gather in case they were required.

Not for awhile they weren't as a new Djokovic appeared for second set action, much as you would have a racquet replaced if the current one wasn't doing its job.  The newer version jumped out to a 3-0 lead, leaving Murray to wonder.  Most wondering is done in silence, but Andy vocalises, often in language preferably used after the kids have gone to bed.  With the replacement Djokovic playing more recognisable tennis aka brilliant shots, the crowd entered the contest, clearly favouring Novak - their twenty third choice as player to love, now that Roger, Rafa and all the French players were gone.

Andy didn't like the crowd noise, didn't like much at all with the environment, and he would have liked the scoreboard least of all, as it continually increased the number next to Novak's name.  The serving reliability of Set One had deserted him, quite possibly because his concentration was on other things, and second serves were being punished.  First serves were also being given the famous Djokovic returns which often put Murray on the back foot in rallies.

Once more the second seed was broken, and the set was taken gleefully by Novak 6-1.

At 1–1 in the third set, Djokovic, with a forehand winner and errors from Andy, garnered two break points.  The break arrived with the second of those, on the back of a Murray volleying error. 2-1 to the world number one, which soon became 3-1.

Backhand and forehand winners were the backbone of a second break of the Murray serve for the set, and at 4-1 hopes of a British win were slipping.

Djokovic saved four break points in the sixth game, one with a backhand winner, another with a volley winner and the third with an ace.  Murray was generous and one of his mounting errors saved the fourth.

Finally holding his serve enabled Andy to double his game score for the third set which Djokovic won 6-2.

Although he was feeling down and out, in real terms Murray was only trailing by a set.  However after three unforced errors he was trailing by a set and a break.  Djokovic led 1-0.  Three more self made mistakes and Novak was the recipient of a gift 2-0 advantage, the aroma of the roses ever stronger.

Andy saved a break point in the fifth game to make it 2-3, but serving at 2-4 it all fell apart.  He lost his serve to love and at 5-2 all that Novak needed to do was hold serve to win.

He subsequently played his worst game since the early stages of set one.  Murray had more spring in his step and held serve.  Suddenly it was 5-4 and fortunately Djokovic had the insurance break.  He served better to reach 40-15.  

Then a double fault and a careless shot brought it to deuce.  No panic though, and a clean forehand winner brought him a third championship point.  Murray netted a backhand and it was over.

Novak Djokovic won 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4

He is now holding all 4 Grand Slam titles at the one time - only the third male player to achieve this, the first since Rod Laver in 1969.  The only one to do it over two calendar years.

Andy Murray has now lost eight of his ten Grand Slam final appearances, but his consolation will be that this is his best Roland Garros achievement, and he has made the finals of every major.

Novak Djokovic has won 12 majors, half of them coming in the last eight Grand Slam tournaments held.  Domination of men's tennis at the highest level not seen since Roger Federer in the 2003-2010 period.  What Novak is doing is dominating at both Grand Slam and Masters level.

Garbine the Queen of Roland Garros

Venezuelan born Spaniard Garbine Muguruza is the 2016 Roland Garros Women's Singles Champion.  The 22 year old fourth seed defeated top seed and world number one Serena Williams 7-5 6-4, gaining revenge some would say for losing to Williams in the Wimbledon Final last year.

I prefer to think of it not as revenge, but as a natural progression for a young player whose star began shining brightly in Australia in 2014.  Garbine won a lead up tournament to the Australian Open in Hobart in January that year, and although she had played Serena in the previous year's  Australian Open, no one had marked her for sustained success until this initial WTA win.

Her next on court meeting with Serena was at Roland Garros 2014 and those that had yet to notice her, soon did once she had knocked the younger Williams sister out of the French Open in the second round.

So fast forward two years and Serena and Garbine faced each other a second time on the red clay of Roland Garros, with just a little more on the line this time.

Serena opened proceedings and her first service game was blistering, winning all four points and making a statement far more authoritative than at the start of her previous matches.

Williams led 2-1 and had conceded only a single point, before putting the Muguruza serve under its first dose of pressure. Two break points and four deuces were negotiated successfully and Muguruza then turned it all around forcing Serena into error and having the defending champ 2-2 and 0-40.  Williams saved two break points but double faulted on the third to give Garbine a 3-2 lead and the first real advantage of the final.

Garbine served two double faults of her own when attempting to consolidate the break, but kept her cool, hitting powerfully to all parts, continually pressuring Serena, and a forehand winner swept the fourth seed to 4-2.

Serena, as expected, stuck back hard winning the next three games to lead 5-4 and require Garbine to hold serve to remain in the set.  This she did, and more, breaking the American serve and holding serve again, a backhand sealing the opening set 7-5.

The second set began with Serena losing serve thanks to a series of backhand errors.  Then Garbine, with three double faults in the second game, donated a break straight back.  The third game began with a typical Serena ace, but brilliance from Garbine including backhand and forehand winners ensured the third successive service break.

7-5 2-1 and looking good for Spain.

Games went comfortably to serve until Serena was serving at 3-5 to stay in the match.

In trouble once more with Garbine attacking her backhand, Serena had to save four match points before she won her fourth game for the set.

Garbine needed a solid service game to win the match and she delivered, racing to a 40-0 lead, Serena almost resigned to her fate.  The title was won with the first of the match points, a backhand lob landing spot on the baseline, and leaving Garbine unsure for a couple of seconds whether it was in or not.  The realisation of victory transformed the look of wonder into indescribable joy, on the face of the newest member of the Grand Slam tournament winners club.

This was a French Open final of exceptional standard, and it took a player confident that her game plan would be enough to match it with the best, provided that she didn't deviate from it, whatever the circumstance.  Garbine Muguruza has the potential to win more Roland Garros titles as her game is well suited to clay courts.

However, she made the Wimbledon final last year, so she can handle grass as well.  There is no reason why she can't be a major factor in all the four majors - consistency is the area which needs improvement, and time is on her side.

Serena still can win the remaining majors this year - just a little luck going her way wouldn't hurt, but it is harder each year to dominate.

Finals set: Serena v Garbine & Novak v Andy

Still being behind schedule, the Roland Garros tournament organisers determined that all singles semi finals - women and men - be played on the final Friday, Day 13.

And after all the rain delays, Federer's absence, Nadal's withdrawal and plenty of upset results, the two finals will be contested: 1:) between the top two seeds from the men's draw; and 2:) between the numbers one and four seeds from the women's draw.

Many had predicted that these would be the four finalists before the event began.

Garbine Muguruza was the first to reach the final following yet another impressive straight sets win, this one over Samantha Stosur.  The Spanish fourth seed has improved with each performance, and although the 6-2 6-4 demolition of the 2010 finalist suggests that Stosur was off her game, it was more a matter of Stosur maintaining her standard but simply being outclassed by a player with greater capacity to inflict damage with her power serve and ground strokes.

For Garbine, this will be her second final in a Major, having been runner-up to Serena Williams at Wimbledon last year.  She will be hoping to turn the tables on the world number one, but on the clay this year, as it will be Serena again her final hurdle at Roland Garros.  

The two have met four times - each at a Grand Slam tournament.  Serena won in 2013 at the Australian Open, and again in Melbourne last year before repeating the dose in the Wimbledon final.

However their only match on clay saw Muguruza win at Roland Garros in round two in 2014, so that must give her confidence leading into this year's final.

Serena certainly has had to battle harder for her wins in order to reach the final.  Following the high quality close match against Mladenovic, the top seed struggled for a large part against Putintseva and was in strife for much of the first set against unseeded Kiki Bertens in a hard fought semi final.

Bertens broke immediately, and almost achieved a double break before Serena settled into the match.  Eventually a tie break was required, and were it not for a nagging hip injury which clearly restricted the Dutch player, Serena may well have been a set down instead of claiming the advantage 7-6.  The tie break was won 9 points to 7.

Kiki continued to challenge Serena but the number one was able to dip into her ample reserves and win her way into yet another GS final.  If she wins the title she will have at least four of each of the majors, and 22 in total, equalling Steffi Graf.

Andy Murray won his semi final against defending champion Stan Wawrinka, and surprisingly did it comfortably.  Stan, before the semi, was hitting what appeared to be peak form, but against Murray was no match, his court movement lacking, and once he had lost the opening two sets, there was no coming back.  Better signs with a 6-4 third set win, but this was Murray's day and he soon extinguished any thoughts of a five set thriller, stamping Stan's departure papers 6-2 in the fourth.

Andy has lost seven of his nine finals at Grand Slam level, four to Djokovic, including this year's Australian Open.  His two majors, though have been wins against Novak.  Because they were back in 2012 and 2013, his hunger for more success at the highest level must be extreme.

It will be another Djokovic v Murray final - their seventh at GS level (equal second most of any pairing in the Open Era)

Novak is in his sixth successive GS final, and third straight Roland Garros final, thanks to his awesome display against Dominic Thiem in their semi final.

Admittedly it was Thiem's debut showing in a semi final at a major, but his tennis has been of such a high standard that expectations were for a much closer battle.

Djokovic played his best tennis for the tournament, and hit shots of such quality that even Thiem's best efforts were not reaping the dividends that they surely would against any other player.  This led to him attempting too much too soon in rallies and committing too many errors.

The first two sets were Novak's 6-2 6-1, before Dominic launched himself into the match, breaking the Djokovic serve and taking a 3-0 lead in the third set.  Temporary respite only as Novak won the next four games and cleaned up the leftovers for a 6-2 6-1 6-4 entry pass to the final.

If Djokovic should win, he would become the first player since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the one time.  Andy Murray, like Novak, is gunning for his first Roland Garros title and would love to spoil the Serbian party.

Top Seeds into semis

We nearly saw the exit of the top seeds in both the women's and men's draws on Day 12 at Roland Garros,  one for less than normal quality tennis, the other for loss of temper.

Serena Williams, in her quarter final, had the basic task of eliminating Kazakhstan's favourite adopted Russian Yulia Putintseva, ranked outside the world's top 50.  However, Yulia wasn't playing Serena's victim in the first set.  She broke the defending champion's serve in the third game to lead 2-1 and although Williams levelled at 3-3, the eleventh game sent shockwaves through the stadium.  From 40-0, Serena's backhand fell apart, while Yulia's was set alight.  The break came and was consolidated with a service hold and the set 7-5.

If Williams didn't feel pressure at that moment, she must have after the next game when she dropped serve yet again.

The tables were turned as they usually are when Serena is in trouble, and she broke back immediately, proceeding to take the match 5-7 6-4 6-1, and book a semi final place against Kiki Bertens.

Yes it's true - for the first time in forty five years, a Dutch woman has made the RG semi finals.  Kiki destroyed the hopes of yet another seed, this one number eight Timea Bacsinszky from Switzerland.  It was quick and painless - well Kiki didn't feel Timea's pain anyway.  7-5 6-2 was enough to guarantee a match against the world number one.

Before Serena and Yulia crossed swords, Novak Djokovic had beaten Tomas Berdych for the 24th time from 26 attempts, the last eleven in succession.  Tomas began fairly well, but was caught inevitably in the trap which Novak weaves so well.  Leading 6-3 7-5 and in no trouble in Set 3, Novak lost a break point chance, but instead of taking it in his stride as is his norm, he lost his cool and threw his racquet down, whereupon it bounced backwards, barely missing a line judge. 

The risk of disqualification was avoided by a matter of millimetres. Lucky boy !

The win was comprehensive, 6-3 7-5 6-3, and Novak will play in his umpteenth semi final at Grand Slam level against GS semi final debutant from Austria, Dominic Thiem, who thumped David Goffin after giving the Belgian a one set start.

Day 13 will be lucky for some as the four singles semis are played - Muguruza should beat Stosur, S Williams will finish the fantastic Bertens run, and I predict a men's final featuring the same combatants as last year, after Wawrinka rids Paris of Murray and Djokovic bids farewell to Thiem.

Andy, Stan, Garbine, Sam win 1/4 finals

Day 11 of the French Open provided one major shock and three surprise results.

The shock was a schedule completed without interruption (the final Girls Doubles match on Court 18 was only stopped due to bad light at 3-3 in the second set)

The surprise result in the men's draw was Tomas  Berdych defeating David Ferrer in a fourth round encounter.  The seedings suggested this was an expected win for 7th seeded Tomas, but 11th seeded David is the better performed on this surface and at this Major, having made the final in 2014.

Berdych handled the conditions remarkably well and sent the Spanish terrier packing 6-3 7-5 6-3.

The male version of the 2016 Spanish Inquisition was dismantled further with the defeat of 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut by top seed Novak Djokovic.  The fourth round clash had included before today the mysterious loss of the opening set by Djokovic.  Police are still investigating the missing set, and have not ruled out suspicious circumstances.  Meanwhile Novak was advised to go about his normal business, which he did, ensuring that the remaining three sets were securely in his possession, and he could happily take his rightful place in the quarter final against Berdych.

Dominic Thiem resumed his fourth round battle with Marcel Granollers at one set all, and cruised to a four set win.  The Austrian is favoured to continue his cruise to a luxury resort where a semi final will be held.  Before he reaches that spot, he will need to survive the sea storm served up by Belgian 12th seed David Goffin who also gave his opponent a first set start before triumphing in four over Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

The women's draw saw its remaining fourth round matches completed, and Serena Williams was quickest of the four to make the quarter finals, obliterating the chances of 18th seed Elina Svitolina from the Ukraine 6-1 6-1.

Spain lost another player in a result no one saw coming.  12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro left the tournament in straight sets courtesy of Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva, who will find her quarter final opposition slightly more difficult.  It is Serena.

Kiki Bertens is the fourth unseeded player to feature in the women's quarter finals at Roland Garros 2016.  Not content with the upset of Angie Kerber in round one, the Netherlands player has looked the goods throughout, and 15th seed Madison Keys had no answer in their fourth round match.  7-6 6-3 for Kiki, and the quarter final against Timea Bacsinszky should be exciting.

Swiss 8th seed Timea made the semis last year and she is on track to do likewise this year.  Venus Williams, playing some of her best tennis in the past week or so, was thrashed 6-2 6-4 by Bacsinszky, and I believe the semi final will be Bacsinszky v the other Williams sister.

The first of the quarter finals were also played and Spain finally had a victory, with Garbine Muguruza putting an end to the fairy tale run of American Shelby Rogers in a routine straights sets dismissal.  

The fourth seed will face 21st seed Sam Stosur in the semi final, following the Australian's 6-4 7-6 win over Tsvetana Pironkova.  This wasn't as straightforward as the score may indicate, with Stosur needing to come from a service break down in each of the sets. 

Although Sam won the only previous match her and Muguruza have played, it was a while ago, and in that time Garbine has jumped into the world's top five, deserves favouritism for the semi final, and to reach her second Grand Slam tournament final.

The first semi final in the men's draw will, as has always been predicted, be a battle between the second and third seeds, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.  Stan won his quarter final against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, smashing another Spanish player 6-2 6-1 before Albert fought out a much better third set, only to lose in a tie breaker.

Andy played the last French player standing in singles, Richard Gasquet, and raced to 5-2 in the first set before surrendering the final five games and the set.  Murray was again leading 5-2 in the second set, but once more let Gasquet back in so games were on serve.  Andy almost went down another break, but instead steadied and a tie break was ultimately required.  Gasquet had the early advantage in the tie break, but once Murray levelled he raced away, won the tie break and the second set, and then the third set incredibly 6-0.  

Gasquet was spent mentally as much as physically and Murray won 5-7 7-6 6-0 6-2.

Day 12 will see the rest of the quarter finals played, with Thiem v Goffin possibly the more intriguing from the men's draw.  Unknown quantities this far into a major.

And the big question in the women's draw: Is the Sam Stosur revival enough to overcome the power game of Garbine Muguruza ?

Sam Stosur resurgent

Day 10 at Roland Garros 2016 was less miserable than Day 9 in that there was some tennis played.

For Simona Halep and Aga Radwanska, however, it was as miserable as it could possibly be.  The two players, seeded 6 and 2 respectively, had waited since Sunday with leads in matches against their fourth round opponents,  but both saw those advantages washed away.

Aga led unseeded but highly capable Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2 3-0, but proceeded to lose ten consecutive games, and was dumped from the tournament 2-6 6-3 6-3.  I had tipped Aga to reach the final so another selection bit the dust, or more correctly the red mud.

Simona resumed her battle with Sam Stosur ahead 5-3 in Set One, but was taken apart by a resurgent Queenslander, who simply adapted to the heavy conditions magnificently, while Halep wanted to be elsewhere.  Stosur broke back immediately and the Romanian to her credit fought hard to avoid a second straight break, forcing a tie break.  Simona need not have bothered as she failed to win another point, and Sam was a set up 7-6.

Set two was dominated by Stosur, and the 6-3 scoreline could even be described as a little flattering to Halep.

The first quarter final in a major for four years for Sam, and without any warning she has the form and belief to do further damage, as she did when a finalist in 2010.

The horrible conditions provided the setting for poor performances by top seeds, Novak Djokovic another to struggle, dropping the opening set to Roberto Bautista Agut.  He fought hard to level at a set apiece and then to lead 4-1 in the third before rain stopped play for the day.

Other matches yet to be completed at the end of Day 10 included Thiem v Granollers, currently at a set each, Ferrer leading Berdych 2-1, on serve, in Set One, and Gulbis leading Goffin 3-0 with a break in the opening set.

Several matches hadn't even started and more rain is forecast - there is little chance of the tournament finishing on the final scheduled Sunday.