On a cold and drizzly morning, Anna Kournikova headed to the courts for what appeared to be a routine 3rd round match. The match started out as anything but routine, as Anna looked like she was on a tennis court for the first time in her life. Hardly anything she hit landed, and she wasn't moving around the court as she normally does. Kvetoslava "Kveta" Hrdlickova has had her share of tough matches, and reached her career high ranking of 44 in the last week of 1999. With Anna in such a puzzling "funk", the Czech seized her opportunity, playing high percentage but aggressive tennis. Kveta's forehand was working especially well for her and she was getting as many winners off that wing as probably Steffi Graf would.

Anna's problems continued for her throughout the first set, and the crowd was nearly deadly silent, wondering what was going on in the Russian heartthrob's mind. The few that managed to get over the shock, though, loudly applauded the Czech's efforts. Helped along by a myriad of unforced errors on Anna's behalf, Kveta played nearly flawlessly to take the first set 6-2.

As if suddenly awakened by the words "Hrdlickova takes the first set 6-2" coming from the umpire's chair, Anna cut down drastically on the effortless performance she had put in in the first set, and started hitting her shots instead of just flailing at them. She served well to open the set, broke serve, and consolidated the break, going up 3-0. Improved serving on Kveta's behalf, and some service return errors from Anna, gave her her service game to finally get her first game in the second set. Anna started to have trouble getting her first serves in, though, and that let Kveta back in the set. She got the break back, and continued to play aggressively, taking it to 3-all.

Back in a hole again, Anna's serve continued to get her in trouble. She found herself down 15-40, but somehow managed to get a good serve out wide, setting up an easy point. A backhand error from Kveta brought it to deuce. The advantage swung to and fro in this crucial game, both players knowing the importance of going up 4-3, and after 5 deuces, Anna finally got the game on a forehand by Hrdlickova gone long.

Anna finally started playing like herself again, much to delight of the pubescent boys dominating the stands. Anna got the break in the next game, forcing the errors from Kveta, and served out the set. The crowd was treated to some quality tennis in the third set, and Kveta put up a good fight till the very end. After a tough struggle, Anna took the match 2-6 6-3 6-4. Kveta walked off the court not as the winner, but definitely not as the loser, either. She had done the right thing by playing aggressively, and had come close to beating all the odds.

Next up were my favourite "dark horse" doubles team in the draw, Tathiana Garbin and Katalin Marosi. Note that when I say dark horse, I exclude any team involving Natasha Zvereva. They were up against their second formidable doubles team in as many matches, Alicia Molik and Nathalie Dechy. Alicia had recently gotten a lot of attention due to her results in the singles draw and the need for the Australian public to have an Aussie heroine, and her serve would certainly be a major factor on the doubles court. Nathalie Dechy had just come off one of the best years in her career, in which she reached the top 25 and defeated 2 top ten players on the way.

Alicia and Nathalie won the toss, and were glad to be able to start the match serving. Of course, Alicia Molik would start for her team, and quickly blasted four good serves to force the errors off Tathiana and Katalin's racquets. Tathiana, no slouch in the service department herself, opened for her team, and held serve. The two teams played good tennis, and games went on serve up till the tie-break. Both teams fought hard, and the tie-break went to 6-all. Both Alicia and Tathiana were serving well, and Katalin and Nathalie were playing well to make up for the lack of a big serve. The lead swung to and fro, one team holding set point one minute and finding themselves in trouble on the next, but Alicia and Nathalie, while holding most of the set points for the first part of the tie-breaker, were forced to come up with the goods by their opponents, with Tathiana Garbin coming in to net and skipping to and fro and moving all over the net, and Katalin doing a good job of covering the open alleys despite having to read not only which side her opponent was going to go for, but which way her partner was going to react. Saving set point after set point, Kata and Tathi finally started holding their own set points, and after a thrilling first set tie-breaker, took it 15-13. After the match, she remarked, "I couldn't believe it was over."

Nathalie and Alicia got off to a quick lead in the second set, getting the break early. Katalin and Tathiana couldn't find the opportunity to break back, and it was obvious that they would have to come up with something soon. At 4-2 would be their last chance, with Nathalie Dechy serving, and if they didn't get it this time, they certainly would have less chance of getting it on Alicia's serve, especially with Nathalie doing a good job at the net. I was sitting next to a very nice couple who have a hand in running a small ITF event, and they had come in for the first week of the Open. I had noticed them at Tathiana's first round singles match, and while talking to them throughout the match, learned that they had been the ones to host Garbin at the tournament the previous year.

Anyway, Katalin and Tathiana cleaned up their service returns, and played a good game, taking the break back without too much of a struggle. Games continued to go on serve, and the second set soon went into another tie-breaker. This time, it didn't go the distance, and some excellent points went the Hungarian/Italian pair's way, giving them a 4-1 lead. They continued to play good clean tennis, and in a stark contrast to the first set, took the second set 7-1 in the tie-break. They moved on into the third round with the victory, claiming their second pair of scalps.

Over on the other court, Mirjana Lucic and Natasha Zvereva were having a hard time against Sabine Appelmans and Rita Grande. Mirjana's first serve percentage was atrocious, and her net game was a more off than usual. NZ was playing average tennis, certainly not what she is capable of, and a careless returns of serve would get her and her partner in trouble with whichever opponent it was who was at net. Mirjana still got some cheap points when she got her first serve in, though, and managed to hold serve twice in the first set. It didn't hurt that she had one of the best doubles players in the world at net, ready to put away any balls that strayed across the net. Mirjana was doing well to rush net, but her unforced error numbers were just way up, and she made mistake after mistake. Surprisingly, Natasha didn't look all that annoyed with her partner's performance, as she had in several matches in 1998. She didn't have to, as Mirjana was constantly berating herself for missing he shots. NZ and ML lost the first set 6-2.

In the second set, Mirjana managed to cut down on her errors, and played better at net. NZ herself picked up her service, and held to open the set. They broke Rita Grande's serve, thanks to some fantastic service returns from Mirjana and inspired tennis from Natasha, and took a 3-0 lead when Mirjana held serve easily with some finally consistent first serves. That's where the joyride ended, though, as Sabine Appelmans and Rita Grande made no mistake in taking the next 6 games in a row to send Natasha Zvereva and Mirjana Lucic crashing out of the tournament. Good thing Natasha still has the mixed doubles to look forward to, where she is the fifth seed with Mark Woodforde.

All in all, a disappointing performance for Mirjana in her second tournament of the year, but possibly an eye-opening one as well. While the Croat's stubbornness and strong will may help her get through difficult situations on court, it may be all that's keeping her from going further up the rankings. So far, a 0-2 W/L record for the year in singles (which admittedly could be a lot different if she hadn't been drawn against Martina in the first round), and a 1-1 W/L record in doubles.