Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch.com) - Rafael Nadal won his second Wimbledon title Sunday 4 July, outplaying Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 6-4. The sets all went the same way as the Czech matched Nadal for a few games and then could not keep pace as the Spanish top seed accelerated at key points. Nadal now looks set to keep his top ATP ranking for some time. Novak Djokovic has moved into second place as Roger Federer slipped back to third.
Serena Williams took her fourth Wimbledon title as she crushed Vera Zvonareva with a brutal exhibition of power tennis.
International sports, Wimbledon tennis
Wimbledon, London (GenevaLunch) - Rafael Nadal, the world’s top player according to the ATP rankings, ended Andy Murray‘s hopes of becoming the first British player since 1938 to reach the Wimbledon final. Nadal won in three sets, 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-4. The match was closely contested but Nadal never seemed threatened and managed step up a level when it was really needed. The other semi-final saw Czech Tomas Berdych beat the number three seed, Serb Novak Djokovic, also in straight sets 6-3 7-6 (11-9) 6-3. Berdych always looked in control as the two fought it out from the baseline: the only time Djokovic came to life was in the second set tie-break when he survived four successive set points to level before surrendering the set with a double fault. Berdych now has the chance to beat the top three players in the world after beating Roger Federer in the quarter- finals.
The women’s final will feature Serena Williams against Vera Zvonareva.
International sports, tennis
Roland Garros, Paris (GenevaLunch) - Samantha Stosur continued her winning ways by beating world number one Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the French Open, 2 June. The seventh seeded Australian beat Justine Henin in the previous round. Serena was fortunate to survive the second set, winning her only break point for the set, but missed a match point in the third to concede 6-2 6-7 8-6. Stosur will play Jelena Jankovic for a place in the final.
In the mens’ draw Rafael Nadal continued to dominate, beating Nicolas Almagro in three closely fought sets, 7-6 7-6 6-4. The third seed Novak Djokovic was eliminated after losing in five sets to Jurgen Melzer despite winning the first two sets. The Serb lost 3-6-2-6 6-2 7-6 6-4 to the Austrian.
Links to other sites: Roland Garros, Guardian, BBC
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - Swiss world number one tennis player Roger Federer added a fourth Australian Open to his collection, and a record 16th Grand Slam singles title to his trophy cabinet as he crushed Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11.) Federer quickly took control as he broke Murray’s first service game but the Scot battled back to win the next three games.
The Swiss star then gave a masterful demonstration to take the first two sets. The third set was tightly contested as Murray took advantage of a few weak points to break Federer’s serve and lead 5-2 but he handed back the break and the set went to a tie-break. A tiring Murray failed to convert four set points and eventually lost the tie-break 13-11 to end the match.
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) – Serena Williams quashed Justine Henin’s hopes of turning her tennis comeback into a Grand Slam title in Melbourne, winning the Australian Women’s Open, 6-4 3-6 6-2. Henin briefly looked like she could turn the tide in her favour when she took the second set, but Williams maintained the title she won in 2009. This is Williams fifth Australian Open title.
Links to other sites: Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - The big surprise in the womens’ draw for the 2010 Australian Open has been the performance of Chinese players Li Na and Zheng Jie but they failed to make it through to the final. Serena Williams powered her way past Li Na 7-6, 7-6 in a closely fought match. Justine Henin thrashed Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-0, winning 12 games in succession. The final showdown between Serena Williams and Justine Henin should be a fascinating match. The Williams sisters moved into the final of the womens’ doubles where they will face Zimbabwean Cara Black and Liesel Huber of the USA.
Andy Murray started his semi-final match against Marin Cilic nervously, losing the first set 6-3 but then the British player picked up to break the Croatian’s serve and take the second set 6-4. He then went on to take the next two sets against a tiring Cilic to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. He will play either Roger Federer or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.
Links to other sites: Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer escaped a tough first hour of play to suddenly take over his match with Nicolay Davydenko to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5. Federer now moves into the semi-finals of the Australian Open, setting another record, for playing in more Grand Slam semi-finals than any player in tennis history. The win also assures him his number one place, which had been under threat from Novak Djokovic.
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - Scotland’s Andy Murray moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open when last year’s champion Rafael Nadal withdrew in the third set suffering from a recurrence of an injury to his right knee. Murray was already leading the match 6-3, 7-6, 3-0 and looked in awesome form. He will face the Croatian giant Marin Cilic, who beat Andy Roddick in five sets.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer and Serena Williams have been named ITF tennis champions for 2009, Federer for the fifth time, Serena for the second time. Roger Federer regained his top seed ranking from Rafael Nadal and he surpassed Pete Sampras’ 15 career Grand Slam titles. Serena Williams won Wimbledon and the Australian Open for a total of 11 wins. She last won the award in 2002. They will receive the awards in Paris in June.
Flushing Meadows, New York, USA (GenevaLunch) – Kim Clijsters’s post-motherhood comeback is a success as the 26-year-old Belgian took the Women’s US Open, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 7-5 6-3, with her young daughter watching. In other Women’s Open news Serena Williams has been fined $10,000 for “inappropriate and unprofessional conduct” after a verbal attack on a line judge. She was also fined $500 for racket abuse.
Flushing Meadows, New York, USA (GenevaLunch) - Serena Williams lost the semi-final of the US Open with an extraordinary outburst against a line judge who had called her for a foot-fault. She lost the first set to Kim Clijsters and was down 5-6, 15-30 when she was called for a foot-fault on her second service, thus losing the point. She advanced on the line judge with a variety of expletives which led to the lineswoman reporting to the umpire.
Serena had already been warned for racket abuse and was therefore given a penalty point against her: the fact that it was on match point meant the match was over. Tournament referee Brian Earley stressed that the point penalty for “unsportsmanlike conduct” had taken place on match point rather than Williams defaulting the match.
Willams later denied threatening to kill the line judge but did not specify what she had said, claiming not to remember. There is considerable online speculation about what exactly she said.
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) - Kim Clijsters showed what tennis been missing as she continued her run with a 6-0 0-6 6-4 win over third seed Venus Williams. The chunky Belgian powered her way past the gangly American in the first set but then started to miss and quickly lost the second. The third set was more even but Williams could not recover from an early loss of serve. Clijsters could face Serena Williams in the semi-finals but first needs to get past Chinese player Li Na.
Men’ tennis
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) -The first round of the US Open resulted in a few scares, but no real upsets. Number one seed Roger Federer, in search of his sixth successive title in New York eased past 18 year-old American Devin Britton 6-1 6-3 7-5, dropping serve twice but coming back immediately each time. Andy Roddick, who lost an epic Wimbledon final against Federer this year beat Bjorn Phau 6-1 6-4 6-2.
Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open in June and set a career record with his 15th Slam title at Wimbledon, became the first player to earn $50 million in career prize money with the victory.
Cincinnati, USA (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer showed why he is number one and put Andy Murray in his place with a superb display of tennis, taking the first set 6-2 with ease and then winning the second in the tie-break to end a four-match losing run against the Scot.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Roger Federer won an epic match against American Andy Roddick that went to 16-14 in the fifth set. Roddick only lost his service in the final game of the match, which lasted four hours and 16 minutes. The victory broke Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam wins. Sampras was in the Royal Box along with other legends Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver, the only male to twice win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The two women’s semi-finals were totally different but ended with the same result: Williams beats Russia. Serena fought back from a set down, and match-point down, to battle past Elena Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6 in the best match of the women’s tournament. Dementieva took the first set in the tie-break with precise ground strokes and an improved service. She then lost her first service game but came back to lead the set before Serena came back to take the set. The third set was hard fought with both players rising to the occasion until Serena finally won the longest ever women’s semi, at two hours 49 minutes.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The women’s Wimbledon tennis semi-finals will feature Americans Venus and Serena Williams against two Russians: Dinara Safina and Elena Dementiava.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer cruised past Gael Monfils to reach his 20th successive Grand Slam semi-final. He took the first set in the tie break and then accelerated to win 7-6 6-2 6-4. He will meet fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro in his next match as the Argentine disposed of Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 6-2. The other semi will be between the star of the tournament so far, Swede Robin Soderling who beat Rafa Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko, and Fernando Gonzalez, who crushed Andy Murray.
In the women’s event Serena Williams went out in a thrilling match against Svetlana Kuznetsova.
