De Young Tennis

Venus Williams might have to take on the Serbian superstar Ana Ivanovic in the semi final round of ASB Classic tennis tournament which is currently going on in Auckland. Both the players made it to the quarter final round by winning their respective second round fixtures yesterday.

Rafael Nadal has defeated Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the semi final round of the ongoing Western and Southern Open. Nadal won the match in the straight sets by 7-5, 7-6(4).

Now, Nadal is only one win away from winning his 9th title of the season. If he does that by defeating the local lad John Isner in the final, he will move up to no. 2 in the world rankings.

Talking to the reporters after securing win over Berdych, Nadal said, “It was another fantastic day for me. I was just a little bit tentative on my serve, but, I think I did well overall.”

Laura Robson has said that she was very nervous while watching the Wimbledon Championships final which was eventually won by her compatriot Andy Murray.

With that win, Murray ended the 77-year long wait of the British tennis fans. The whole of Britain was thrilled after his win and so was Robson.

Andy Murray’s countrywoman, Heather Watson, has been defeated by Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland in the first round of the French Open. Voegele won the match in three sets by 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Watson was Britain’s last hope in this competition after the defeat of Laura Robson and Elena Baltacha in the first round. She fought hard against her Swiss opponent, but, her effort didn’t prove to be good enough at the end.

Milos Raonic has been defeated by Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Nieminen won the match by 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(3).

It was a great performance by the Finnish player. Not many people were backing him to win, but, he showed terrific composure and secured win over a player who is way higher in world rankings than him. Nieminen won this match in just less than 2 hours.

This was actually Nieminen’s second victory over Raonic. He had defeated Raonic in the quarter final round of the Thailand Open last year as well.

Roger Federer has admitted that his performance hasn’t been up to the mark so far in the ongoing season.

Federer has taken part in three tournaments in this season so far. He began his season by participating in the Australian Open. He managed to reach the final 4 there before being beaten by the British superstar Andy Murray.

Federer then participated in ABN AMRO World Tennis tournament which was played at Rotterdam. He had been given the top seed in that tournament and was expected to go all the way, but, he was defeated in the quarter final round by Julien Benneteau of France.

Novak Djokovic has cruised into the semi finals of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. In the quarter final match, Djokovic defeated Andreas Seppi of Italy in the straight sets by 6-0, 6-3. The match got finished in just 65 minutes.

This was the 10th time that Djokovic was facing Seppi. The Serbian superstar had won all the previous 9 matches and he maintained his unbeaten record against Seppi in this match as well.

I was tempted to cash in my Unibet bonus and take a risk by betting on a Seppi win, but thankfully lacked the courage to go through with my gut-feeling!

Andy Murray has defeated Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania in the third round of the Australian Open 2013. Murray won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. With this victory, Murray has cruised into the final 16.

In his previous couple of matches, Murray didn’t have to work hard for victory, but, in this match, he was given a tough fight by 5 feet 8 inch Lithuanian. In the opening set, Murray dominated, but, in the next couple of sets, he really had to toil hard for each and every point.

Andy Murray has been defeated by Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in his opening match of the Mubadala Tennis Championship which is being played at Abu Dhabi. Tipsarevic won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-4. With the help of this victory, Tipsarevic has made his way into the final 4 where he will take on Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Murray had come into this match as favourite, but, he was stunned by a superb all round performance by Tipsarevic. The Serbian no. 2 took just 84 minutes to win the match.

Andy Murray has secured a place in the final 4 of the ATP World Tour finals by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in his third Round Robin match at London.

Murray won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 7-6(3). The British superstar looked in supreme touch throughout the match. It took him just 96 minutes to register the semi final berth. Out of his previous couple of matches, Murray had won one and lost one.