Roger Federer is through to his first Australian Open Final in 7 years. He beat Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4 -6, 6-3!
Will it be a Vintage Men’s Final too? Suga thinks so! Federer awaits the winner of the Nadal vs Dimitrov Semi-Final.
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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A Williams will win the Australian Open this year!
Serena’s serve was much better last night and she dominated Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 6-1.
It was all about Venus Williams making the Final last night though! She surely took centrestage. Her match was before Serena’s and must have helped to further inspire and fire up Serena to win her match.
Vintage Venus was on the move! It was such a beauty to watch. Quite inspirational.
The match started off with Venus being broken in her 1st game and that never occurred again. The 1st set went back and forth with Venus up 6-5. At this point Coco raised the level of her game to force the tiebreak. Venus tightened up during the tiebreak and lost the 1st set. She was visually upset with herself and if looks could kill! She expressed her wrath in the 2nd set with controlled aggression and took it easily, 6-2.
Of course at that point, the edge was still given to the younger player, Coco to have enough gas left for 3 sets. But the momentum stayed on Venus’s side with her entering the 3rd set with the same attitude, breaking Coco early. Coco went a bit loco throwing her racquet but she did not go down without a fight. I remember her asking out loud early in the 1st set what was going on. Well by the 3rd set it must have hit her that she was playing the experienced Venus Williams who was one of her 4 idols growing up. The other 3 included Venus’s sister, Serena, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport.
It has been years since Venus has played like this. I was pleasantly surprised that she pulled this off. She saved 12 of 13 break points faced and scored 11 aces. Her movement was phenominal, she made necessary adjustments such as hugging the baseline to accommodate hard hitting by Coco and beat her mentally. Her serve was clutch and she won 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. It was spectacular tennis by both players.
Her winning moment is a must see. The 36 year old could not contain her excitement and emotions. She looked like a 6 year old and deservedly so. She had more twirls going than Serena.
Watch “Venus Williams Victory Dance + Interview after reaching Australian Open Final” on YouTube here:
Venus hasn’t reached a Grand Slam Final since 2009 and her last Australian Final was in 2003 vs Serena.
Here are the stats between the Williams sisters heading into the Final this Saturday at 3am!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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Serena Williams is through to her 10th straight SemiFinal! She beat Konta 6-2, 6-3. It was all mental and she read her opponent well. Despite her poor 1st service games tonight she surely turned up her 2nd and returns!
She will meet 34 year old, Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at 12am later. Serena is chasing 23 Grand Slam Titles to write history but Lucic-Baroni has her own fairytale story, trying to have the biggest comeback in history. They last met at Wimbledon when they were teenagers in 1998 and Serena came out on top. Â Lucic-Baroni was to be the next big thing back then upsetting Monica Seles to reach the Semi Finals at Wimbledon in 1999. But she drifted from the scene with personal issues, coming out to the public a few years later that she was abused by her father. She has a number of injuries but was in tears of happiness just to make it to the SemiFinals and will surely give everything she’s got.
Venus will meet the young power hitter, Coco right now! Will Venus make it an over 30-year old final? Suga favours Coco to win but will be happy if Venus pulls off the win.
The Men’s side is also hot. Rafael Nadal beat Milos Raonic in straight sets and is heading to the SemiFinals vs. Dimitrov.
We could possibly witness a Nadal-Federer Final! Federer would have to overcome Stan Wawrinka first though at 3:30am, which may not be an easy task.
Enjoy and stay tuned! Suga’s got you if you are sleeping.
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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Venus at 36yrs old is through to the Semis as the oldest woman in History to do so at the Australian Open. She will meet the unseeded Coco Vandeweghe and fellow American who has been creating upset after upset, beating #7 Muguruza in straight sets 6-4, 6-0 after knocking out World #1, Angelique Kerber. Coco is a power hitter and she definitely has her eyes on the title.
Serena plays #9 Konta tonight at 9pm in the QF who is not a walk over.
For the Men, Nadal will face Raonic in the QF tommorrow at 3:30am.
Federer (#17) beat Zverev in straight sets and will meet #4 Stan Wawrinka who beat Tsonga in straight sets and stared him down.
Stay tuned!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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The Falcons destroyed the Packers, beating them 44-21 to head to the Super Bowl.
The Packers failed to score in the first half due to a fumble followed by 2 interceptions. They also failed to convert huge opportunities to intercept when they were unable to recover a loose ball, mistimed a jump in the end zone and dropped the ball in the end zone, which was followed with a touchdown by the Falcons, ending the 1st half 24-0.
Defense was poor for the Packers and has been throughout the Playoffs. The players had butterfingers and even though Rodgers had more rushing yards than his teammates, he couldn’t win it by himself.
The Patriots rolled over the Steelers as expected with a win of 36-17. They are heading to the Super Bowl for a record 9th time.
Will the Vegas Pro prediction of the Falcons winning it all come through? Suga thinks it is possible. They got young, fresh legs.
In other Sports news, Serena Williams moves on to the Quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Cavaliers last Saturday night in Cleveland in OT 118- 115!
LeBron James failed to make the game-winning shot that caused the game to go into OT, he missed more crucial clutch shots and created a turnover. Kevin Love missed his shots as well, including the very last possession when the Spurs defense slipped up and he was left wide open for the 3-point shot. Kyrie Irving made the usual clutch shots in OT but it wasn’t enough.
The Cavs didn’t even play the full Spurs team. The Spurs are currently without Pao Gasol, who is out for 4 to 8 weeks and Tony Parker, who has an injured foot. So the game belonged to Kawhi Leonard who scored a Career high 41 points. It was his 1st game over 40 points.
Stay tuned. Sports season is on a high until June!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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Tennis – Australian Open
No. 1 seed for the women and Defending Champion, Angelique Kerber was upset and overpowered by no. 35 American Coco Vandeweghe who hit 6 aces and 30 winners. Kerber lost 2-6, 3-6.
Does Serena have a better chance of winning her 23rd Grand Slam title now? Too early to say. Muguruza, Venus, Pliskova and more are still in it.
The no. 1 seed on the men’s side, Andy Murray was also sent packing. He lost to Mischa Zverev in 4 sets, 5-7, 7-5, 2-6, 4-6.
Old veterans and faves Nadal and Federer are still in it though and Federer looks like he is in great shape to win 1 more with Murray and Djokovic out of the way.
Football – NFC and AFC Championship
The favoured Falcons face the Packers today in the NFC Championship at 3:05pm on FOX today. The Falcons injury list is now empty compared to a lengthy one for the Packers. Luckily, ESPN Scorecenter has reported that Wide Receivers, Jordy Nelson, Devante Adams and Geronimo Allison are now active for the game in less than an hour.
The favoured Patriots face the Steelers at 6:40pm on CBS for the AFC Championship.
Enjoy and stay tuned!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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Novak Djokovic took down Andy Murray in straight sets to win his 6th Australian Open title, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6.
No surprise here, Suga didn’t think Murray had a chance versus Novak’s recent dominance.
Congrats Novak!
The Women’s Australian Open Finals was quite a humdinger. Nerves got the best of Serena Williams in the 1st set. Her feet weren’t moving well, her serve was not on point and she had a lot of unforced errors.
The 28-year old German, Angelique Kerber broke Serena early in the 1st, Serena broke her back and then Kerber broke her again to win the 1st set 6-4.
Serena had better movement of the feet in the 2nd, served better, got her 1st ace and a few more, played better tennis but not her best and won the 2nd set 6-3.
In the 3rd and final set, Kerber started on serve then got the early break on Serena. Serena broke her right back and held serve to break even at 2-2. Kerber then broke Serena in the longest game of the match to go up 5-3 in the 3rd then started to smell victory. But Serena put that on hold and broke her to get to 4-5. Kerber kept calm and was able to break Serena to win the Championship and her 1st major title.
Kudos to Kerber for keeping up with Serena in those rallies and hitting many spectacular corner shots and 2 perfectly executed drop shots at crucial points in the game.
The number 22 seems daunting at the moment for Serena. Looks like Steffi Graf’s help last year helped Kerber. To keep Serena off her #22 perhaps? Steffi was the last German to win the Australian Open.
To catch what you missed while you were sleeping, check these channels:
Tennis: 5:30am-8am and highlights at 8-9am
ESPN Caribbean: 9-10:55am
Serena Williams booked her spot to the Australian Open finals for the ladies in style.
Serena played an absolutely clean and dangerously good first set, winning it 6-0 versus Radwanska who moved well and didn’t play badly but didn’t play well either. She failed to capitalize on chances she had. Serena was also just too good and on top of her game.
Radwanska finally got on the board holding serve at the beginning of the 2nd set. Serena broke her then Radwanska got herself back in the match breaking back Serena at 3-3, then held at 4-3. Serena failed to convert break point for the first time in the match. Serena then came back, held her serve and stepped back up the level of her game to break Radwanska and serve 3 aces in a row, then won the next short rally in the final game to win the 2nd set and the match, 6-0, 6-4.
The 4-month break Serena took after the US Open loss and so much physical and psychological pressure seems to be working in her favour. Best of luck to her in the Finals.
Other semi-finalists left in the Australian Open included Johanna Konta and Andy Murray who both made history by being the first pair of Brits to make the semi-finals of the Australian Open since 1977, which was 39 years ago!
Konta was the first British woman to reach a Semi-final since Jo Durie in the US Open in 1983.
Konta, ranked 47th, had impressive wins throughout the Open, sending home Venus Williams in the 1st round and beat #21 Makarova in 3 sets. In the Quarters, she beat Zhang Shuai in 2 sets, who previously defeated Simona Halep and Madison Keys. Konta faced #7 Angelique Kerber last night.
Previously, Kerber defeated favourite, #14 Azarenka in 2 sets, who is thought to be more of a challenge to or fear for Serena Williams. It was the first time Kerber was reaching the semis of the Australian Open, but her overall Grand slam experience helped her to overcome Konta and she beat her in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.
On the men’s side, #1 Djokovic vs #3 Federer was at 3:30am! It was their 45th and decisive meeting, as they were 22 a piece. However, Djokovic had the edge as he has won the majority of the most recent meetings, including the last 3 Grand slam face offs.
They were both ready and on form. Previously, Djokovic defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets and Federer defeated Tomas Berdych in straight sets as well, even though the first set went to a tiebreak.
Last night, Djokovic came out blazing in the 1st 2 sets, probably the best 2 sets he has ever played versus Federer in his career. It was quite a display. Federer dug deep and got himself back in the match, winning the 3rd set. In the 4th set there was a delay with the overhead roof that affected both players, more so Federer, the 34 year old, as play was scratchy for the first few games but Djokovic came out on top with 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and now is ahead of Federer in meetings with 23.
Note though, Djokovic may have won the match but Federer won the point of the Australian Open!
Watch it here:
In the last Semi-final to be played today, Andy Murray will face Milos Raonic, who beat Gael Monfils in 4 sets. Murray defeated #8 David Ferrer in 4 sets as well.
Spectacular night in tennis. The repeats will be worth the watch if you missed it.
Since one of the biggest upsets in tennis history at the last US Open when Vinci stopped Serena from achieving a Calendar slam, Serena has been plagued with injuries. But so have the other top 5 seeds for the women at the beginning of this year. Serena did knee surgery and ended up pulling out of the Hopman Cup recently so there were concerns of how well she could do this year.
Well, Serena steamed pass Sharapova in the Quarterfinals and she is looking like she is in good shape to not only face #4 Radwanska in the Semifinal tonight at 9:30pm on ESPN 2, but the whole Championship!
Suga thinks Serena is all business this year and will take all 4 Major Tournaments. History in the making. Go Serena!