Tennis: 2012 Sony Ericsson Open Summary

The 2012 Sony Ericsson Open has come to its conclusion with Novak Djokovic defeating Andy Murray 6-1 7-6(4) in a relatively one-sided final. The Serb seemed almost flawless, breaking Murray back-to-back in the first set and holding his ground with relative ease in the second. This marks Djokovic’s 11^th career ATP Masters 1000 title.

The tournament was the second ATP Masters 1000 competition of the year and featured 29 of the world’s top 32 ranked male players. Roger Federer was the sole top 4 player who was unable to reach the semi-finals, falling in the third round to Andy Roddick, an opponent who he has historically had very little trouble defeating. Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal was forced to withdraw from his semi-final match against Andy Murray due to a left knee injury. The severity of the injury is unknown.

As far as the world rankings go, the top 4 in men’s tennis remain unchanged, while Tsonga and Ferrer find themselves in a tight tussle for the world number 5 spot. Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who has been plagued with injuries over the past two seasons, has found his way back into the top 10 and looks set to get back into the top 8 of world tennis.

The tournament also featured a strong women’s draw with Agnieszka Radwanska defeating Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-4 in the final. Earlier in the tournament, world number 1 Victoria Azarenka suffered her first defeat of the year at the hands of Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli.

Both Williams sisters found their way into the draw’s quarterfinals. Wildcard entry Venus returned to the WTA circuit from her long absence and managed to defeat world number 3 Petra Kvitova during her run of matches at the tournament.

In the rankings, Serena Williams surpasses Andrea Petkovic to claim the #10 spot, while the rest of the top 10 remain unchanged with Azarenka still holding onto the top spot by a large points margin.