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Who’s Still in it to Win it at the US OPEN?!

Women’s Singles

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Photo: timesofindia.com

Anastasija Sevastova sent Maria Sharapova packing early in 4th round. Beating World no. 2, Simona Halep in the early rounds was probably just too much for Sharapova. Sevastova moves well but I don’t expect her to reach far with her poor service game.

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Photo: metro.co.uk

Two-time Wimbledon Champ, Petra Kvitova upset Wimbledon 2017 Champ and US Open favourite, Garbine Muguruza in hard-fought straight sets including a first set tie break last night. Muguruza rolled through her opponents in the opening rounds but Kvitova was just the better player last night. Her powerful shots were too much for Muguruza. Maybe the hard courts just aren’t Muguruza’s specialty either.

Kvitova recently made her comeback after a traumatic injury from a robbery, having to do surgery on her hand with lingering damage to the nerves and more. Kudos to her for making it to the Quarterfinals. She will meet Venus Williams, where she has the advantage of a 4-1 head to head. It is believed the winner of that Quarterfinal in the toughest half of the draw, may ultimately win the US Open.

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Photo: dailymail.co.uk

Venus Williams at 37 years old, beat Carla Suárez Navarro to reach the Quarterfinals. It took 3 sets but she showed the true Champion she was, totally dominating in the 3rd set. She has some work to do on her serve that eventually came together. But her movement was phenomenal, as if she was set back in a time machine.

Sloane Stephens is back from an injury as well. She is not back to her full potential yet, but is still playing well. She is through to the Quarterfinals.

What’s happening on the other side of the draw?

Current World no. 1, Karolina Pliskova will play in the round of 16 today. USA’s Coco Vandeweghe will also be in action along with no. 4, Elina Svitolina who will play the other American still standing, Madison Keys. 

Today’s Schedule (Women):

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Men’s Singles

Today’s Schedule (Men):

Screenshot_2017-09-04-00-40-39-1.pngSam Querrey, who upset Andy Murray at Wimbledon has been playing extremely well with more confidence, powerful shots and angles. He is one to watch.

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Photo: eurosport.com

Marin Cilic, past US Open Champ and who reached the Finals of Wimbledon this year, had an early exit.

Juan del Potro (24) is healthy and has been playing well. He will meet World no. 6, Dominic Thiem today.

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Photo: dailymail.co.uk

Roger Federer, who has been suffering from a back injury recently, was struggling in the earlier rounds with 5-set matches. However, he looked like himself again on Saturday, moving much better and destroyed Feliciano Lopez in straight sets.

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World no. 1, Rafael Nadal had a shaky round on Saturday but is still through to play in the Round of 16 today. He has never met Roger Federer in the US Open in all their years of rivalry, but if both of them stay on course, they are 2 wins away from a Semifinal match up!

Stay tuned!

By: Gabrielle Burgess

If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

 

 

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Wimbledon Update! Who’s still in it to Win it?!

Ladies Moving on to the QuarterFinals!

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Photo: theguardian.com

Garbine Muguruza (14), who reached the Final in 2015, upset World no. 1 Angelique Kerber today in quite a showdown, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Kerber hasn’t been playing well all year and even had a scare after losing the 1st set and going to a tiebreak in the 2nd set with American, Shelby Rogers in the round before.

Kerber will lose the no. 1 ranking as a result of losing in the 4th round to Muguruza.

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Venus moves on to the round of 8!  Photo: theguardian.com

Venus Williams (10) is also moving on to the Quarter Finals. She had a few early, hard fought matches but cruised pass Ana Konjuh (27) in the 4th round, 6-3, 6-2.

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Photo: www.firstpost.com

French Open finalist, Simona Halep (2), who has never won a major, put a halt to Victoria Azarenka’s post-baby return.

The young American, Coco Vandeweghe (24) has been playing well under the guidance of her new Coach and upset Caroline Wozniacko (5) in straight sets. Wozniacki usually has difficulties on the grass.

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Jelena Ostapenko through to the Round of 8! Photo: www.eurosport.com

Jelena Ostapenko (13) has not lost a match since her 1st career win at the French Open this year! She beat Elena Svitolina (4), who has been suffering from a foot injury in straight sets, 6-3, 7(8)-6(6).

Unseeded, Magdaléna Rybarikova is still in it and will play Coco in the Quarterfinals.

Svetlana Kuznetsova took out Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets to get to the Quarterfinals. Radwanska had the task of beating Timea Bacsinsky in the 3rd round before meeting Kuznetsova.

Home favourite, Johanna Konta (6) is also through to the Quarters.

Quarterfinal Schedule and Match ups for Tomorrow morning:

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Gentlemen moving on to the Quarterfinals!

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Photo: www.express.co.uk

Gilles Müller (16) upset Rafael Nadal (4) in an epic 5-set thriller today, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13! They went really deep into that 5th set.

Home fave and World no. 1, Andy Murray is safely through to the Quarterfinals.

Roger Federer (3), who decided to forego the Clay court season at his age, is doing well on his road to claiming a historic title. He beat Grigor Dimitrov (13) in straight sets to advance to the Quarterfinals.

Here is the Schedule for the Men’s Quarterfinals and Match ups for Wednesday morning:

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Tomás Berdych (11) upset Dominic Thiem (8) in 5 sets. Berdych now awaits the winner of the Novak Djokovic (2) and Adrian Mannarino match tomorrow morning at 6am. Mannatino just defeated Gaël Monfils (15).

Stay tuned!

By: Gabrielle Burgess

If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

Vintage Men’s Final for the Australian Open!

 

Photo: telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2017

Vintage Men’s Final it is! Federer vs Nadal!

After nearly 5 hours and 2 tiebreaks, Rafael Nadal has defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4!

The Final will be this Sunday! Stay tuned.

By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this blog, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

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Fed Express is back and in the Final!

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.

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Photo: www.theguardian.com

By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

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The Australian Open is heating up!

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Photo: www.yahoo.com

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.  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.

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Photo: www.tennisnow.com

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.

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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
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

​AUSTRALIAN OPEN UPDATE!

Photo: ESPN Scorecenter

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. 

Photo: ESPN Scorecenter

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
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

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Djokovic destroys Federer in a spectacular display in the semis at the Australian Open and more!

Serena Williams booked her spot to the Australian Open finals for the ladies in style.

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Photo: www.theguardian.com

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!

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Johanna Konta – Photo: sports.yahoo.com

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.

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Photo: sports.yahoo.com

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.

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www.telegraph co.uk

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.

 

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The Weekend in Sports! US Open Finals, Mayweather retires & more!

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US OPEN TENNIS

Suga called it! Congratulations to Flavia Pennetta and Novak Djokovic, the 2015 US Open Champions!

The more experienced, Pennetta won her first singles Grand Slam title on Saturday in 2 sets, 7-6, 6-2, defeating the woman responsible for the upset of the year, Roberta Vince.

The Men’s Final with World no. 1, Novak Djokovic vs no. 2, Roger Federer was delayed by 3 hours because of rain but definitely worth the wait. Note that there will be no more delays next year because there will be indoor options.

Djokovic has won his 10th Grand Slam title and 2nd US Open. 3 this year except for the French, where he was a finalist! Amazing season. He won physically and mentally with the crowd against him in 4 sets, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Well deserved.

The match was epic! Both players were a bit nervous in the first set. Djokovic was the more relaxed player, but had a nasty fall in one of the early games, then lost his momentum. He got it back and played well to win the first set, where Federer was very tight. The commentators said it was a messy first set for Roger.

Roger looked more like himself in the 2nd set, using a lot of variety to even sets, 7-5. That set was an hour long!

Djokovic regained control and took the 3rd.

In the 4th set, Djokovic was up 5-2 to serve for the match, but Roger wasn’t finished just yet. Roger broke his serve and held for it to go to 5-4. Djokovic had some big serves in the last game and after 3 hours and 20 minutes, Djokovic hit a massive serve that Roger sent long to seal the deal for Djoko.

Roger is clearly the People’s Champion. Djoko had to hit deep to win most rallies or serve big to win points. A few well executed lobs worked in his favour as well. Roger said he is very pleased with where his game is at and we will see him next year.

After losing the 1st set, he was already at a disadvantage to make up physically in the 2nd, then try to overcome the excellence of Djokovic in the 3rd at his age and current fitness level. He looked fitter than Wimbledon but he has more work to do. Kudos to him though for helping to make the match so entertaining. You know it was epic when Djoko jumped up into the stands afterwards and shouted, ‘This is Spaaaaarta!’ with members of his box. Suga thinks this is probably his best and most meaningful win of his career so far. Well done Djoko.

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BOXING

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Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather has hung up his boxing gloves, going out with a win by a unanimous vote over Andre Berto to retire undefeated 49-0. It was a good fight. Much more entertaining than the most hyped and marketed fight in history, the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight earlier this year. Props to the referee for denying Mayweather Barney hugs and there was less running, but more dancing. No joke. Mayweather actually did the running man during one of the rounds. He enjoyed himself. He displayed his quickness and agility off the ropes, as he is known for. Besides a very low, direct blow to Mayweather from Berto (for all the abused women out there!), it was a fairly clean fight. Finally we saw some upper cuts! Yes! Both boxers lost their footing during the fight, but it was in the last round that Mayweather piled on the right hooks and upper cuts, weakening the knees of Berto. But Berto recovered quickly and put up a good fight.

What did Mayweather and Berto say after the match? Well Mayweather explained why he was retiring. He said he is almost 40, been fighting for 19 years and has been a World Champion for 18 years. He believes he has accomplished everything, having broken every record there is, so there is not much left in the sport of Boxing for him. He is happy to leave the sport with all his faculties, something he has mentioned before, that clearly was a concern for him. He also mentioned that he has done a lot of charity work, which the media never mentions, for instance, feeding the homeless. He of course closed with, ‘Money don’t make me, I make money. I am the best at boxing’.

The defeated, Andre Berto said Mayweather was slippery. He had a lot of speed and was real crafty, using a lot of little things to keep him off his rhythm. He was asked about an exchange between them during one of the rounds and Berto explained that he basically said, ‘Here I come. I am here to fight.’ Berto said he pushed it to the limit but he fell short. He was asked if he thought Mayweather was the best ever. There was a pause and unclear shout from the crowd. Thankfully he kept it real and said Mayweather is ONE OF the best ever.

FOOTBALL: Barclay’s Premier League

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It’s not looking like a good year for Chelsea. They continue to dig a deeper hole with a 3-1 loss to Everton. The other big sides, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United were all victorious. Arsenal with a 2-0 win over Stoke City, Man City beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and Manchester United beat Liverpool 3-1!

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Why did Serena’s quest for Grand Slam History end yesterday and more!

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Huge upset on the Women’s side of the draw yesterday at the US Open. Last year it was on the Men’s side with Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori knocking out Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the Semi Finals. Now, Novak Djokovic defeated the Defending Champion who has been plagued with an ankle injury during the tournament, Marin Cilic easily in 3 sets with a 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 victory. Federer defeated Stan Wawrinka easily with a  6-4, 6-3, 6-1. Wawrinka has not shown his usual fighting spirit this Open. So it will be a Djokovic-Federer final tomorrow at 4pm ET. It has been a few years that Roger has made it to the US Open final, but he surely looks better than how he was at Wimbledon this year. He has started to run more and looks fitter, but still 80% of the Roger Federer we know aka Fed Express so Suga has Djokovic for the win in an entertaining match.

Now for the ladies! It was expected to be a Williams-Halep final. First of all, Flavia Pennetta (26) upset young, world #2, ‘ jalepeño’ Simona Halep in 2 sets! 6-1, 6-3.  Suga did not see that match but one would think that after that marathon of a Quarterfinal with Victoria Azarenka, Halep would have been exhausted.

Then Serena’s quest for Grand slam history ended dramatically yesterday to an UNSEEDED 32-year-old that looks like 60, Roberta Vinci whose odds were 300 to 1! Wow. What an anti-climax! What happened?! Drake? No, just kidding. But you never know. Serena played relatively well, but was not consistent. With a 6-2 start in the 1st set she probably thought she was safe. She was crushed in the second and looked like she recovered in the 3rd, breaking Vince early, going up 2-0. But it all went downhill from there. She had a lot of unforced errors and just could not maintain focus and settle her emotions. Vinci capitalized on every opportunity she got. She played the match of her life and was pumped! After winning a long rally at a pivotal moment in the 3rd set, she put her hand to her ear to the crowd, then raised both hands saying something like yessss! Look at me! Applaud me! Check that moment out here.

I thought Serena would steam roll her for that but Serena just could not answer. Vinci had a flurry of powerful forehands setting up Serena for an open court and frequently went to the net with effective drop shots. Then the inevitable happened, Vince finishing Serena in a LOVE GAME, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Steffi Graf can prepare to hand over the Championship trophy to Serena another time. All preparations can go back into storage. It will be an all Italian final at 3pm ET today with the oldest players in a women’s major final combined, as Pennetta is 33.

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Well done Roberta Vince for pulling off one of the BIGGEST upsets in history and showing that even towards the end of the road or your career, anything is possible if you keep fighting. She said it was the best moment of her life.

See Vinci’s hilarious post match interview here:

Pennetta with a lot of experience, has already won the Australian Open Doubles title in 2011 and is well rested after just a 2 set match vs Halep. After Vince used all the gas her tank, it is likely that Pennetta may win, but Suga supports Vince for the win. Afterall it’s sports. As we witnessed yesterday, anything can happen. Good luck to her in the final. With an upset victory like that, it would be even sweeter to go all the way.

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The Reggae Boyz are through to the next round, Venus says Serena is the best ever and more!

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With a goal in the 89th minute after many successful time-wasting tactics by Nicaragua, Simon Dawkins secured a place for Jamaica in the Semi Final round of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying game with a final score of Jamaica 2: 0 Nicaragua. Thanks also to Darren Mattocks who scored a goal in the 13th minute, which started to get Jamaica out of debt. Mattocks displayed a valiant effort throughout the entire match. Jamaica needed 2 clear goals to win and the Reggae Boyz accomplished just that. Well done. I wish I could say the same about the commentators on FLOW Channel 100 though. They probably put Jamaica to sleep, making some miss the 2nd goal. The same thing was said about every 5 minutes in a different way, CNN style. Though debatable, for Suga, there were a lot of dull aka boring moments in the game, especially in the 2nd half where it looked for a moment like the Reggae Boyz gave up, but the commentators could have done better. They even closed the curtains on the Reggae Boyz until World Cup 2022 with about 15 minutes left in the game, which is A LOT in football time. Shame on them and extremely poor coverage.

They will now join Costa Rica, Panama and Haiti in Group B. Haiti, who was also in a knock out round, beat Grenada to advance. How does the rest of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying 4th round look?

Group A: Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Canada

Group C: United States, Trinidad & Tobago, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala

So the Road to Russia continues!

US Open

Serena Williams won 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 last night in a 98- minute long Quarterfinal versus her sister, Venus Williams. It seemed much longer for them and it wasn’t easy for Serena at all compared to their match up this year at Wimbledon, where it took Serena only 2 sets to win. Serena’s face looked like she was in emotional pain for the entire match. Since they are both power hitters and servers, rallies if any, only lasted about 3 or 4 hits and nobody knows Serena’s serve better than Venus.

Serena closed out the match with an ace and Venus whispered in Serena’s ear that she was very happy for her. Very sweet exchange and embrace afterwards.

Serena will move on to play the unseeded Italian, Roberta Vinci in the Semi Final this Thursday, continuing her quest to complete a Calendar Grand Slam and even Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slam titles in the open era.

Serena now leads Venus 16-11 in head to head Grand Slam matches and has won 7 of the last 8 meetings.

See why Venus says Serena is the ‘best ever’ here:

http://es.pn/1K7Ppem

The men’s side of the Quarterfinals was also pretty exciting yesterday with a 5 – setter from Cilic and Tsonga, where Defending Cham, Cilic prevailed 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4. Marin Cilic will meet Novak Djokovic in the Semi finals.

Djokovic who continues to look good defeated Feliciano Lopez in 4 sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6. Do you know that he gets his sneaker company to shave down the bottom of his tennis shoes so that he can skid more. It has been noticed he gets to balls that are usually out of reach for most players, by skidding over to them during the open. Interesting stuff.

Today’s action at the Open includes:

Ladies QF:

Kvitova vs Pennetta

Halep vs Azarenka

Men’s QF:

Wawrinka vs Anderson

Federer vs Gasquet