Daniela Hantuchova kicked off the defence of her Birmingham title with a commanding 6-1 6-4 victory over Belinda Bencic. For a set and a half, Hantuchova delivered a clinic of grass-court tennis. Solid serving, thumping returns, of which she must have hit well into double figures, and consistent aggressive play from the back of the…
The main draws in Birmingham, Queens and Halle all kicked off today. My first round predictions for Birmingham are following a similar trend to 2013. Looking at my full draw predictions, i’ve never seen such a solid cluster of red. There were a number of surprising results; one of the more eye popping was Victoria…
THE GRASS COURT SEASON IS HERE. HIP HIP HOORAY! I could not be more excited that June has arrived and tennis is coming to the UK. Moo’s Tennis Blog will be covering EVERYTHING during the next four weeks so please stay tuned! I’ll be at the AEGON International in Eastbourne for three days next week…
I wasn’t able to watch yesterday’s Roland Garros final between Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep live. I saw the highlights of the third set last night and just had to say a few words. Wow. What a match and what a fight from both players. I was gutted for Simona, who I was rooting for…
In a draw that has been littered with shocks and members of the WTA new generation making their presence known, we are left with a fantastic showpiece featuring the world numbers four and eight, Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova. The Roland Garros final will be a repeat of the Madrid final, which was played four weeks…
6-2 6-2 was the order of the day for Simona Halep and Andrea Petkovic. Both players won their quarter-final matches by that scoreline to reach their FIRST Grand Slam semi-final. Petkovic’s victory over Sara Errani was the more surprising of the two. Errani is a demon to break down on the clay. My overriding though…
Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard will contest the first of the 2014 Roland Garros semi-finals on Thursday. It’s a match-up that is likely to thrill Stacy Allaster as the Bouchard bandwagon keeps on moving forward with full force. Sharapova was first to confirm her place in the semi-finals with a 1-6 7-5 6-1 victory over…
The first duo of womens quarter-finals saw Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard confirm their places in the 2014 French Open semi-finals. Both matches sounded really entertaining and a great advertisement for the womens game. Sharapova was taken to three sets again, but as she almost always does, found a way past Garbine Muguruza, 1-6 7-5…
In the first womens match of the day Andrea Petkovic edged the qualifier, Kiki Bertens in three sets to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2011 US Open. She will take on Sara Errani, who defeated Jelena Jankovic in two tight sets. Listening to Errani’s grunt on RG Radio this afternoon was a…
A series of drawn out matches on Suzanne Lenglen court saw Svetlana Kuznetsova and Lucie Safarova relegated to court one for the last of the fourth round matches. In the fading light, Kuznetsova defeated Safarova in a high quality encounter, 6-3 6-4 lasting one hour and 20 minutes. The first set was a little scrappy;…
