Tennis: Best Tennis Morning Ever - Na Li beating Sharapova and Hewitt FINALLY beats Federer

I've been failing recently to wake up in time for matches, I needed that extra kick to keep my eyes open just long enough to not lose the battle to sleep, and this morning's finals line-up is exactly what I needed, Sharapova vs. Na Li in Birmingham, England; and Roger Federer vs. Lleyton Hewitt in Halle, Germany.

I'm always in for a Li Na match, especially one against Sharapova, and definitely after Sharapova proclaiming that she won't lose to the same player twice (she lost last year in the Semi to Li Na). But guess what, she did lose! Maria lost in two sets 7-5 6-1 this morning, but in a sense she didn't lose to the same player, Li Na is hardly the same player from a year ago, this is an even more improved version of the one that beat Sharapova last year. But what an exciting win for Li Na, who's been plagued with injuries in the past several years, this being her third title on the tour, this should give her plenty of confidence going into Wimbledon, the place where she first broke through and got to the quarter-final in 2006. And for Sharapova, she did one better than last year by reaching one step further in the tournament, so she should feel good about the week, it's just I expected more fight and more fire-power from her today, everything seemed confused and entangled in her game. Plus Li Na's backhand is just too awesome =)

On a nearby country, Germany, at Halle, it was a familiar showdown between Roger Federer, who has won this tournament for the past 5 years, playing Lleyton Hewitt, the former #1 now in his late twenties, who has had injuries and is consistently out-shined by Federer and a slew of other younger, stronger players. The stage was set, Hewitt has lost to Federer the last 15 TIMES they played, and no one has expected anything different, although Hewitt always try; and this time he tried and succeed! As history wants it, Hewitt FINALLY WINS ONCE!!!! He beat Federer in 3 sets 3-6 7-6 6-4! This must've been an emotional win for him, just try to imagine the psychological burden to have lost to someone for 15 times straight, and all of which are played in front of millions of people, just the thought of being the eternal underdog and being the toy joy of your opponent. But as fact proves it, all of those didn't matter today as Hewitt took advantage of a less than normal Federer, and along with a high-level of his own playing, Hewitt was able to turn the one-sided record around.

All in all, so glad I woke up at 5 to catch both matches, even more excited for Wimbledon now!

p.s: decided to take advantage of the cool new design function of bloggers and got myself a new summery page with livelier colors : )