Both Halle and Queen’s Club Grass court tournaments which will take place from June 15 got promoted to category 500 from this year. While the women are heading to Birmingham for a Premier event with a 48 player draw which will give us some answers about the current state of the players. Let’s take a tour around and see who will participate and what we can expect
Djokovic in pursuit of immortality
(1) Novak Djokovic v (8) Stan Wawrinka
After a gruelling 5 set victory over Andy Murray that needed 2 days to conclude – Novak Djokovic is only one win away from becoming only the 8-th player in history to have won all 4 Major Titles.
The world number one took his winning streak to 27 matches and picked up his 8-th win in a row vs his rival Murray by triumphing 6-3 6-3 5-7 5-7 6-1. Play resumed yesterday with the score tied 3-3 in the 4-th set after forecast of thunderstorm plus the approaching darkness forced the organizers to postpone the conclusion of
Lots of questions surrounding our Women’s final preview.
(1) Serena Williams v (13) Lucie Safarova
Serena will try to win her 20-th Grand Slam title when she faces surprising first time Grand Slam finalist Lucie Safaroava in Saturday’s final. If she wins, Williams who is a winner here in 2002 and 2013, will tie Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam Titles, with Margaret Court’s 24 looking closer and closer.
The inconsistency of the American these two weeks continued with yet another come from behind win in the semifinals versus the Swiss Timea Bacsinzsky. This however was the most dramatic one to date, as Serena was visibly sick.
(1) Novak Djokovic v (3) Andy Murray
Novak Djokovic did what only one man alive previously has done – defeating Rafael Nadal in the French Open. It was a sweet victory for the Serbian as this was a long time coming, 6 times he had previously lost against Nadal in Paris, but it was worth the wait. It marks as the first time the Spaniard has lost in straight sets in 3 of 5 format on clay.
“It is definitively a match I am going to remember for a long time. I managed to stay aggressive, didn’t let him dictate the rallies, but rather be the one doing it.
Women’s Semifinals is the theme for Thursday in Paris.
(1) Serena Williams v (23) Timea Bacsinszky
Timea’s great form these 2 weeks continued with a straight sets win over another surprising participant in the latter stages in a GS tournament – Alison Van Uytvanck. Timea hit 39 winners from which 26 came from her backhand, and from that wing she completely dominated the Belgian. This is the first time a Swiss player has made it into a GS SF since Patty Schnyder in Australian Open 2004. Alison didn’t play bad at all, she was lacking a good game plan and hitting constantly to Timea’s backhand was not