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by Christopher Gerby Barbara Schett vs. Silvija Talaja Singles: First Round Court 1 After making steady progress in the past few seasons, Barbara Schett has come back to earth a bit in 2000, putting together a win/loss record of just 19-15. She got the 14th seed here in Montreal, though, and was a slight favorite against Croatian slugger Silvija Talaja. Schett and Talaja play quite similarly, their games centered around strong groundstrokes from both wings. They were evenly matched in the early going here, but Schett seemed to lose her way after misfiring on a backhand to fall behind 1-3. Talaja held easily for 4-1, snuck out another break for 5-1, and closed out a 6-1 win of the set with an ace. Talaja had only played one hard court match (a loss to Alexandra Stevenson) since March, but she was in sterling form here. After a double fault in the opening game of Set 2, Schett whacked a ball high over the Court 1 bleachers, incurring a mandatory "ball abuse" warning from chair umpire Cristina Olausson. When Schett then steered a backhand wide on break point, one got the impression this could be a quick victory for Talaja. Trailing 1-3 and 0-40, Barbara set herself to serve to the deuce court...only to see Talaja correctly standing on the ad side. That blatant display of lost focus may have been exactly what Schett needed to wake herself up. She came all the way back to win that game, break for 3-3, and add a love hold for 4-3. With former doubles partner Patty Schnyder looking on from the stands, Schett was striking the ball with renewed confidence. After an exchange of holds made the score 5-4, the Austrian earned triple set point against Silvija's serve. She'd only need one chance -- Schett ripped a cross-court forehand winner to complete a love break and a 6-4 win of the set. The first six games of Set 3 went with serve, but several of them were grueling affairs punctuated by long rallies and forced errors. Holding break point at 3-3, Talaja broke a string on her racquet, but Schett instinctively went for a down-the-line winner...and barely missed. Displeased with the line call, her shot selection, or both, Schett angrily whacked the net with her racquet. A good service game from Talaja made it 5-3 and Schett stayed alive with a hold for 4-5. Talaja still had the advantage and wasn't about to give it away. From 30-15 in Game 10, she smacked two aces in a row, forcefully closing out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 upset. A dejected Barbara Schett tossed her racquet to her chair and made a very brisk exit from Court 1. Next up for Silvija Talaja: a second round meeting with Nathalie Dechy. Anke Huber vs. Sarah Pitkowski Singles: Second Round Centre Court Anke Huber ran up a 3-0 record in her previous meetings with France's pesky Sarah Pitkowski, but the little redhead doesn't discourage easily. I took my press box seat just as Pitkowski was guiding a backhand winner down the line to break Huber and take a 4-3 lead. Two easy holds later, Pitkowski was serving for the set at 5-4. Game 10 turned into a three-deuce thriller, with nearly every point decided by Huber's forehand. A good side-to-side rally on set point ended with Anke clocking a forehand long. Pitkowski's quickness and consistency had taken her to a surprising 6-4 win of the opening set. However, Anke really got her act together in the second set. Cutting down on her errors, she quickly sprinted to a 5-1, 40-0 lead. Pitkowski then laced a clean return winner into the corner which was called out by chair umpire Lynn Welch. As Pitkowski complained, Huber quietly went over, checked for a mark, and decided the ball really was in. Welch announced "replay the point," but Huber insisted the point be given to Pitkowski. Of course, sportsmanship is easy when you've got a big lead. Pitkowski netted a return on the very next point to give Huber a 6-1 win of the set. After Pitkowski returned from a shirt change break, the tense third set got underway. Huber overcame an incredible running forehand winner by Pitkowski to break for a 1-0 lead. However, Sarah came right back, winning the next two games. Anke furiously slammed her racquet after an error in Game 4, but fought off a break point in holding for 2-2. Pitkowski won Game 5 with a nifty scoop forehand winner on the dead run and then broke Huber at love to take an imposing 4-2 edge. Now it was Anke's turn to reclaim the momentum, getting to 30-40 on the Pitkowski serve. On break point, a Pitkowski backhand which looked closer to the inside of the sideline than the outside was called out. Sarah flipped out, but there was no way Huber would give up this point. The 25-year-old marched to her chair, back on serve at 3-4. Huber's form had been fading in and out for much of the set, but she came through in the clutch, holding for 4-4 and breaking for 5-4. She now had an opportunity to serve for a spot in the third round, but nothing would come easy in this match. Huber double faulted twice in a row, giving Pitkowski a break point at 30-40. A couple errors from Pitkowski gave Huber a match point, but she lost it by netting a forehand. Demonstrative at ever, Anke threw her hands up in frustration. The # 7 seed finally did get her victory, though, as two more forehand errors from Sarah Pitkowski ended the 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 battle. "She gets a lot of balls back, she's moving well and you always know that you have to work for every point," Huber said afterwards of her diminutive opponent. "I could have played better, but I'm happy I won." Conchita Martinez vs. Annie Miller Singles: Second Round Centre Court After scoring her first victory in nearly two years on Monday, semi-retired Annie Miller's reward was a Centre Court showdown with reigning French Open champion Conchita Martinez. Clad in an eye-catching lime green dress which almost perfectly matched the court surface, perhaps Miller's plan was to blend into her surroundings and disappear. That was almost a reasonable inference to make a few games into this lopsided encounter. Struggling mightily against the versatile Spaniard, Miller dropped the first four games of the match. Martinez was looking very relaxed, moving Miller around and taking advantage of every short ball. Annie even tried some uncharacteristic moonballs, unwisely trying to beat Conchita at her own game. Miller did stake a 40-0 lead in Game 5, but Martinez won the next five points and extended her lead to 5-0. A Miller forehand floated long on set point, concluding the first set bagel job after just 26 minutes. Martinez called for the trainer in between sets, but from my vantage point I couldn't tell what the specific situation was. I don't believe Conchita was ever treated for an actual injury and she certainly wasn't playing like she had one. Martinez quickly went ahead 2-0 in the second set. Game 3 went to four deuces, with Miller gamely trying to hold serve. However, she was once again wide with a forehand on break point and the deficit increased to 0-3. Still on a mission to save face, Miller earned three break points in Game 4, but Martinez kept fending them off. The third was an unbelievable rally -- Miller taking control of the point, losing control of the point, scrambling to hit a ball which had gotten behind her, and finally watching helplessly as Martinez whipped a backhand winner down the line. Miller double faulted on her way to losing yet another service game and falling behind 0-6, 0-5. The second set really had been somewhat competitive, though, and Martinez apparently decided to reward Miller by giving her one game. After taking a 15-0 lead, Martinez made four undisciplined-looking errors in a row. Miller was finally on the board at 1-5 and couldn't help smiling when she was granted a round of applause. I suppose only Conchita knows for sure whether that one game was an intentional gift. At any rate, she then got back to the task at hand, breaking Miller for the sixth time to finish a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing. The numbers told the story for Annie Miller -- a paltry 2 winners, compared to 24 unforced errors. However, for the rest of Miller's story, you can check out a transcript of the one-on-one interview I conducted with her after the match. Hingis/Tauziat vs. Grande/Habsudova Doubles: Second Round Court 1 With regular doubles partner Alexandra Fusai absent for a couple weeks, Nathalie Tauziat has found an OK replacement -- none other than Martina Hingis. Despite a 13 year gap in their ages, Hingis and Tauziat have a bit in common. Both are fantastic doubles players and both have a penchant for making blunt comments which get them in trouble. (In Tauziat's case, outspokenness even led to her being left off the French squad for the upcoming Olympics.) Their partnership got off to a rocky start, as they suffered a surprising loss to Els Callens and Dominique van Roost last week in Los Angeles. However, the # 2 seeds made pretty short work of their opening match in Montreal. Tauziat was all over the net in the last few games and it was she who put away a winning backhand volley to wrap up a 6-3, 6-3 dismissal of Rita Grande and Karina Habsudova. In a reversal of last night's ending, this time it was a defeated Grande and Habsudova leaving Court 1 to a nice ovation. Hingis and Tauziat, meanwhile, did their best to accomodate a huge throng of autograph seekers. Tuesday's first round doubles results:
Dominique van Roost vs. Kveta Hrdlickova Singles: First Round Court 1 The final match of the first round finally took place on Tuesday evening. The reason for the delay: Dominique van Roost was still in Los Angeles on Sunday, teaming with Els Callens to win the doubles title at the estyle.com Classic. It's been quite a turbulent year for Van Roost. After watching her mother tragically lose her battle with cancer in March, a distraught Dominique considered retirement. However, shortly after coming back she pulled off the biggest win of her life, upsetting Lindsay Davenport at the French Open. A few weeks later, she toppled Davenport again, this time on a grass court at Eastbourne. Across the net from her tonight was Kveta Hrdlickova, a hard-hitting Czech who bears a facial resemblance to Natasha Zvereva. Hrdlickova's results have been inconsistent, but her goal of reaching the Top 20 next year is realistic, since she can just about knock the cover off the ball. The match's first nine games all went with serve, but only because Van Roost failed to capitalize on six break points and Hrdlickova squandered two. As in the Schett-Talaja match, most of the games were long, hard-fought, evenly-matched baseline wars. Now it was just a matter of which player would break through on a big point. It was Hrdlickova, ripping a forehand winner on her second set point to break Van Roost for 6-4. Never one to quit, Van Roost began imposing her will, snaring a 3-1 lead in the second set. Losing that fourth game even prompted Hrdlickova's first outward show of emotion, as she hit her shoe with her racquet. The Czech held for 2-3 and then earned a break point chance. Van Roost seemingly got back to deuce with a forehand winner, but chair umpire Lynn Welch overruled, calling it out. Van Roost looked up in disbelief, but didn't bother to argue. The set was back on serve at 3-all. Hrdlickova's rocket forehand, which had gotten a bit out of control early in the set, was back in gear now. It carried her to a hold for 4-3 and a break for 5-3. The tournament's 12th seed was just one game away from elimination. Still moderately effective with her flat, deep groundstrokes, Van Roost took a 30-40 lead against Hrdlickova's serve. However, she buried a backhand in the net on break point. Two points later, Hrdlickova knocked off an easy smash to seal the 6-4, 6-3 upset. It actually wasn't a bad performance from Dominique van Roost -- she had more aces and fewer double faults than usual -- but Hrdlickova was just a little too powerful and was the better player on the big points. Kveta will look to extend her run on Wednesday, as she takes on Jana Nejedly, the last Canadian still going in this year's tournament. |