Wednesday At The Madrid Masters - The Highs And Lows

Madrid Masters – Wednesday Highlights

Performance Of The Day

Caroline Wozniacki re-iterated her return to form, while Agnieszka Radwanksa continued her downward spiral on Wednesday in Madrid.

The former world number one was dominant from the off against a player who had occupied a position in the world’s top five for a long time before her recent demise, winning for the loss of just five games in a routine straight sets victory.

The result is indicative of the way things are going for both players at the moment and the Dane continues to build momentum ahead of the French Open at the end of the month.

Match Of The Day

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There were a lot of contenders in this category, but the unpredictable nature of the match between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka on Wednesday pips all the rest.

Azarenka started like a woman possessed, but froze with the winning line in sight in the first set with a 5-1 advantage, eventually giving up the set in a tight tie-break.

However, the woman from Belarus put that disappointment behind her impressively to take the match to a decider with a straightforward second set over her long-time rival.

It looked for all the world as if Azarenka was going to secure her first win in nine attempts over the world number one when she was serving at 6-5 40-0, but, not for the first time, the American staged a remarkable comeback to save all of those match points before going on to claim the deciding tie-break.

Three consecutive double faults displayed Azarenka’s nerves in that 12th game of the third set, but the majority of the match was played at a very high standard.

Shock Of The Day

Only one winner here. Young prodigy Nick Kyrgios has shocked the tennis world before with his famous victory over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year and he knocked out top seed Roger Federer in a thrilling match in Madrid on Wednesday too.

Federer looked on course for a straight sets victory at a set and a break up but he faltered in the second set when trying to see it out and lost a dramatic third set tie-breaker, which the Australian took 14-12.

Federer has hardly been in sparkling form coming into this tournament, but the impressive way in which Kyrgios held his nerve in the tense moments bodes well for his future in the sport.

One To Look Forward To

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A woman bang in form and a woman just returning to form as Caroline Wozniacki takes on Maria Sharapova first up on the Manolo Santana court tomorrow.

The Dane is looking back to her best while Sharapova is starting to regain some much-needed form ahead of the defence of her Roland Garros title, and just in the nick of time it seems.

These two often play out tight, tense and entertaining affairs, so a quarter-final match-up with both of them in confident mood is sure to keep the spectators happy.

A third set decider looks on the cards in that one – who will emerge victorious, though, is anyone’s guess.

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