Robin Soderling’s compatriot, Sofia Arvidsson, has defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia in her opening match in the Brisbane International tennis tournament. Arvidsson won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(7-4), 7-5.
This was an upset as Stosur was higher in rankings than Arvidsson and the Australian superstar was expected to walk away with a win. But, that wasn’t the case to be. Arvidsson played with a lot of determination and stunned Stosur.
This was the fifth match between these two players and this was only the second time that Arvidsson defeated Stosur.
In the first six games of the opening set, both the players held their service and the scores were levelled at 3-3 at that stage. Arvidsson gave Stosur the first blow in the seventh game and then, served out the following game to take a lead of 5-3.
But, after that, Stosur bounced back. She held her service in the ninth game and then, managed to sneak a breakthrough in the next game to level the scores.
Stosur got trailed again when she played a flurry of loose ground strokes and allowed Arvidsson to break her service in the 11th game. But, the Australian no. 1 female player managed to take the set into the tie breaker with a breakthrough in the 12th game.
In the tie breaker, Stosur’s inconsistency proved to be costly for her and she lost the first set.
In the second set, the first 11 games went with the serve and Arvidsson was ahead by 6-5 at the end of the 11th game. The set seemed to be going towards a tie breaker, but, Stosur wasn’t able to serve out the 12th game. Her service was broken and the match got finished.
In her next match, Arvidsson will take on Sloane Stephens of USA.
Lleyton Hewitt has said that he wants to play against Andy Murray at some stage in the Brisbane International tennis tournament which is going to start from 30th of December this year. Hewitt has played only one match against Murray so far in his career. That match was played 6 years ago at San Jose. Hewitt had lost the match. After that, these two players haven’t taken on each other, but, it might happen in the Brisbane International tennis tournament.
When Hewitt was asked if he wants to face Andy Murray in the Brisbane International, he said, “Murray is a great player and no player wants to face him in the first round. But, I would like to take him on at some stage in the tournament.”
“Murray has had a fantastic last season. He has improved considerably as a player. When he had first burst on to the scene, he was not as versatile as he is now. He has worked very hard in the last couple of years and he is one of the best in the world at this point of time.”
When asked about his performance in the last season, Hewitt said, “Last season, I had a lot of fitness issues and that reflected on my performance. But, my fitness improved a lot towards the end of the season and I am 100% fit at the moment. In the last season, at times, I had to go into the matches after taking injections. But, it’s not the case now. I am feeling a lot better physically as well as mentally.”
“Now that my fitness has improved, I hope that I would put up a much better performance in the upcoming season and would win a few titles.”
Robin Soderling’s compatriot, Sofia Arvidsson, has defeated Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic in the first round of the Generali Ladies Linz 2012. Arvidsson won the match by 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Safarova was given the fourth seed in the competition and she was expected to win the first round match easily. The Czech player looked in supreme form in the first set, but, as the match went on, her performance gradually deteriorated and she lost the plot. Arvidsson took 2 hours and 3 minutes to secure the victory.
Safarova’s service was broken in the very first game of the first set and she was trailed by 0-2 at the end of the second game. But, Arvidsson didn’t manage to maintain the lead for too long. Safarova managed to level the scores by sneaking a breakthrough in the fourth game. The next three games went with the serve and the scorecard was saying 4-3 in the favour of Safarova at the end of the 7th game. Safarova got another breakthrough in the eighth game and the score became 5-3. The Czech player only had to hold her service in the ninth game to seal the set and that’s what she did. She easily served out the ninth game and won the first set by 6-3.
In the second set, Arvidsson played with lot of aggression. She won five out of the first six games to take a profound lead of 5-1. Safarova broke Arvidsson’s service in the seventh game, but, that was it for her in the set. She lost her serve in the following game and the set was won by Arvidsson.
In the final set, both the players showed a lot of intensity, but, Arvidsson held her nerves in the last two games and won the final set by 7-5. Safarova’s service was broken thrice in the third set.
In the second round, Arvidsson will take on Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic.
Robin Soderling’s compatriot, Sofia Arvidsson, has been defeated by Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the second round of the US Open at the Flushing Meadows. Ivanovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-2. The Swedish player kept struggling throughout the match and didn’t manage to find a way to upset Ivanovic. The Serbian player looked in terrific form and dominated Arvidsson right from the first minute of the match.
Arvidsson started making unforced errors right from the beginning of the match. Ivanovic got a breakpoint in the opening game of the match and she didn’t miss the opportunity. She broke Arvidsson’s service to take a lead of 1-0. Ivanovic held her service in the next game and the score became 2-0. Arvidsson managed to level the scores by breaking Ivanovic’s service in the fourth game. But, that was it for Arvidsson in the first set. She wasn’t able to win any more game in the set. Ivanovic won the last four games in a row and grabbed the first set easily. In the second set, things were not much different from the first one. Ivanovic created a number of opportunities and capitalized on most of them. She broke the service of the Swedish player four times and won the second set by 6-2 to wrap up the match.
In the post match interview, Ivanovic said that Arvidsson is a good player and she played some fantastic return shots, but, she was not that good on her service which ultimately cost her match. As per Ivanovic, she is happy with the way she played her forehand shots. She desperately wants to get back at the top of the rankings again and for this, she would have to keep winning matches one after the other. She is in good form at the moment and she would like to continue playing in the same way in the further matches as well. In the third round, Ivanovic will play against Sloane Stephens of USA.
Robin Soderling’s compatriot, Sofia Arvidsson, has been defeated in the second round of the Western and Southern Open by Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. The Polish player won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 6-3. Radwanska had got a bye in the first round, so, this was her first match of the competition. After winning the match, she told the reporters that the conditions were tough out there. It was very humid and it was not easy to maintain the stamina. But, she is happy that everything went smoothly and she cruised to the second round.
Radwanska held her service in the first game of the first set to take a lead of 1-0. But, in the next four games, both the players broke each other’s service twice and at the end of the fifth game, the scorecard was saying 3-2. Arvidsson held her service in the next game to level the score. In the next two games, both the players broke each other’s service again. In the ninth game, the Polish star managed to hold her service and then, she got another breakthrough in the tenth game to grab the first set by 6-4. In the second set, the Swedish youngster made a very good start by breaking Radwanska’s service in the very first game. But, she wasn’t able to maintain the lead for too long. Radwanska got a breakthrough in the fourth game and the scorecard was saying 2-2 at the end of the fourth game. Radwanska broke Arvidsson’s service again in the eighth game and then served out the next game to wrap up the match.
Radwanska said that she is not happy with her service in the match. She could have served a lot better. She would like to put up an improved performance in the next match. In the third round, Radwanska will play against Sloane Stephens of USA.
Swiss number two Stanislas Wawrinka is ready to defend his Gold Medal won at the Beijing Olympic Games at the upcoming London Olympic Games with renewed hope with the form of his partner Roger Federer improving day by day.
The 27 year old teamed up with the then world number one Federer to win the doubles crown at Beijing but since then, the form of FedEx had been on a downward spiral and many people even in their homeland had begun to question whether they would be able to relive the moments of the last Olympic Games.
But Federer, who recently won his 7th crown at the All England Club defeating Andy Murray in an almost one sided final and reclaimed his world number one ranking is high on confidence and Stanislas Wawrinka believes that it would benefit them as a whole when the London Olympic Games kick off in 20 days’ time. Many fans had been tempted to bet on Andy Murray winning his first Grand Slam against the Swiss player, but he struggled to get into the game.
Moreover, Wawrinka also believes that with the tennis events for the London Games being held on the grass courts of the All England Club, which is the favorite surface of Federer hands them a big advantage.
Prior to Wimbledon, Wawrinka had been practicing with Rafael Nadal and he believes that having the world number three as his practice partner also helped him a lot ahead of the Olympic Games. The 27 year old, who is currently ranked at 25 in the latest edition of the ATP Tour rankings in singles and 110 in doubles, has not had the best of times this year but he hopes that he will be able to set things right at the London Olympic Games.
And with the high flying Roger Federer on his side, Stanislas Wawrinka might have a chance of replicating the success for Switzerland and bring home the doubles gold once again. Fans can watch the live tennis online on the Olympics website for FREE! 🙂
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January 15, 2013 8:31 am | 
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