Australian Open Ladies' Final
It was a good match, one that swung back and forth more than once. It had a few low spots where the play wasn't that inspiring from either lady, but overall it was an excellent match - one that kept you guessing as to who would win pretty much from the first ball to the last.
Petra had her chances to take the first set easily as she had multiple break-points on two of Naomi's service games and was pretty much untroubled on her own serve - until the tie-break, which she lost.
Naomi should have won the match in the second set as she broke early on and then had three match points on Petra's serve. However, she not only failed to take them, she then went on to lose her own serve, thus Petra won the second set.
The impetus did then seem to be with Petra, but that wasn't how it turned out. Naomi broke early on and this time held her nerve and served it out.
As I said in earlier posts, I did want Petra to win. However, Naomi is a favourite of mine too, so I'm not at all unhappy that she won.
There was a lot on the line for both ladies and both had 'stories' relating to them. For Petra it was her return to the top of the game after the awful stabbing attack in her own home that made it unlikely (it was her playing hand) she would ever play again. But she is once again playing and I hope she'll win another slam later in the year. Naomi had the whole incident at last year's USO and how she wasn't allowed to really celebrate her win and the cloud that was over the win. Neither of them had ever lost in a grand slam final before and whoever won the match would not only be AO champion, but would also take the number one ranking. So it really was more than just 'another final'.
Both played well, both had moments when they didn't play well, but it was an excellent match and very enjoyable to watch. I am glad it went to three sets, it felt right that it should.
Tomorrow is the men's final and I am really hoping that we don't have the same result, i.e. my out and out favourite not winning. We'll see.
Petra had her chances to take the first set easily as she had multiple break-points on two of Naomi's service games and was pretty much untroubled on her own serve - until the tie-break, which she lost.
Naomi should have won the match in the second set as she broke early on and then had three match points on Petra's serve. However, she not only failed to take them, she then went on to lose her own serve, thus Petra won the second set.
The impetus did then seem to be with Petra, but that wasn't how it turned out. Naomi broke early on and this time held her nerve and served it out.
As I said in earlier posts, I did want Petra to win. However, Naomi is a favourite of mine too, so I'm not at all unhappy that she won.
There was a lot on the line for both ladies and both had 'stories' relating to them. For Petra it was her return to the top of the game after the awful stabbing attack in her own home that made it unlikely (it was her playing hand) she would ever play again. But she is once again playing and I hope she'll win another slam later in the year. Naomi had the whole incident at last year's USO and how she wasn't allowed to really celebrate her win and the cloud that was over the win. Neither of them had ever lost in a grand slam final before and whoever won the match would not only be AO champion, but would also take the number one ranking. So it really was more than just 'another final'.
Both played well, both had moments when they didn't play well, but it was an excellent match and very enjoyable to watch. I am glad it went to three sets, it felt right that it should.
Tomorrow is the men's final and I am really hoping that we don't have the same result, i.e. my out and out favourite not winning. We'll see.