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by Christopher Gerby Sandrine Testud vs. Chanda Rubin Singles: Third Round Court 1 After playing doubles together for the past year and meeting eight previous times on the singles court, 8th-seeded Sandrine Testud and 15th-seeded Chanda Rubin surely knew each other's games pretty well. On a very cloudy, unseasonably cold morning in Montreal, the two squared off for a spot in the quarterfinals. Testud served first and took an early 2-1 lead. In the fourth game, a Rubin forehand landed near the baseline and was called out, but the linesman immediately bellowed "correction!" Chair umpire George Rustcheff ordered the point to be replayed, much to Testud's dismay. ("Oh no! It was so far out," she complained.) The Frenchwoman found the best revenge, winning the next four points to secure the match's first break. However, Rubin delivered some impressive forehand winners in breaking right back for 2-3, holding for 3-3, and breaking Testud again for a 4-3 advantage. Testud had gone off the boil a bit, but found her way in Game 8. On break point, Rubin was pulled wide and tried a cross-court forehand, but missed the sideline. Testud then put together her first good service game in a while to snare a 5-4 lead. At deuce in Game 10, Testud followed a big forehand into the net, knocking off a backhand volley to earn set point. Rubin, the daughter of a Louisiana judge, kept the set alive by handcuffing Testud with a well-struck backhand. However, Testud kept on coming, lacing a backhand winner down the line to get a second set point and ripping a forehand down the other line to clinch the set. The disappointment of losing a set she was leading seemed to take a toll on Rubin, who proceeded to fall behind 6-4, 2-0. At 30-30 in Game 3, Rubin sent a forehand return wide and slapped her thigh twice, trying to fire herself up. She hit a nifty drop volley on the next point, but Testud -- a lot more mobile now than she was early in her career -- ran it down and flicked a desperate lob which landed squarely on the baseline. Absolutely nothing was going Rubin's way and her game was still floundering. She missed two backhands in a row to finish a Testud break for 0-4 and threw in a few more errors on the way to 0-5. The run finally ended at eight consecutive games when Rubin held for 1-5, but the outcome was no longer in doubt. On her first match point, Testud drilled a backhand winner down the line. A 6-4, 6-1 victor, Sandrine put a reassuring arm around her doubles partner following the customary post-match handshake. Testud's next opponent will be # 1 seed Martina Hingis. Hingis holds a 10-0 career mark over Testud, but a number of those matches have been close, including a 6-4 in the third thriller two years ago here in Montreal. Davenport Limps Out of Montreal: Lindsay Davenport's first visit to Montreal ended ignominously today. A sprained left foot forced her to retire from her match against Magdalena Maleeva after just seven games. She traced the injury back to her second round win over Justine Henin. "It all of a sudden started hurting in the second set yesterday. And I played doubles and it was sore in the doubles and then I woke up this morning and it was really inflamed -- you know, much more sore. So I think it was almost a freak thing that I stepped on my foot the wrong way." Davenport hadn't yet taken an MRI to discover the extent of the injury, but admitted she would probably withdraw from the doubles as well. "I really enjoyed my time here and I think that from now on I'll probably be coming to Canada. Hopefully I'll be back here in Montreal in 2002 and hopefully with a lot better performance than this year." Rubin/Testud vs. Capriati/Van Roost Doubles: Second Round Centre Court The abrupt end of the Davenport-Maleeva match left some time to fill in the stadium, so the second round doubles match between Chanda Rubin/Sandrine Testud and Jennifer Capriati/Dominique van Roost was moved onto the big court. Three of the four were successful in their opening service games, but a break of Van Roost enabled the # 3 seeds to grab a 3-1 lead. Capriati and Testud held again, making the score 4-2. Van Roost had gotten off to a slow start, but she smacked a service winner to hold for 3-4 and struck some powerful forehands in breaking Rubin for 4-4. That set the stage for Game 9, an epic struggle for Capriati. She double faulted for 0-15 and 30-30, but the game went to deuce...and another deuce...and seven more deuces after that. Rubin was winning most of those deuce points, but Testud was having a miserable time with her returns, so break point after break point was squandered. Finally, on the 26th point of the game, Testud sent one more forehand return long to fall behind 4-5. Capriati/Van Roost got to set point in Game 10 and Capriati had a chance to convert it, but her swinging volley found the net. Two points later, Rubin (playing much better here than she had in singles) knocked off a backhand volley for 5-5. Service holds from Van Roost and Rubin carried the set into a tiebreak, which went as follows...
Hingis/Tauziat vs. Huber/Schett Doubles: Quarterfinal Court 1 About an hour after taking a tough exit from the singles competition (falling 6-4 in the third to nemesis Amy Frazier), Anke Huber returned to Court 1 for doubles duty. It had also been a frustrating day for her partner, Barbara Schett. Earlier in the afternoon, Schett could be seen screaming at herself and looking quite dispirited during a practice session which presumably did not go well. Nathalie Tauziat, meanwhile, got the news that she won't be allowed to appeal the decision which left her off the French Olympic squad. So, essentially, the only player who could come into this match with reason to be happy was Martina Hingis, who'd earlier defeated Kveta Hrdlickova in straight sets. And even she was wearing a wrap around her lower back, which had become sore in the singles win. Nevertheless, Hingis wore a big smile throughout this quarterfinal bout. With the temperatures having dropped again, Hingis and Tauziat elected to keep their warmup pants on. That didn't seem to impede their play at all as they won the match's first two games. The blondes got in gear in Game 3, though. With a break point against the Hingis serve, Huber cut across the middle of the court and knocked off a winning volley. That was virtually the only first set highlight for Huber and Schett, who spent much of the frame looking sluggish and outskilled. Hingis and Tauziat built up a 5-1 lead and found their way to double set point. Huber smacked a winning return down the line to save the first point. However, at 40-30, Hingis put some downright nasty backspin on a drop volley. It nearly bounced right back over the net and even Huber had to break into an impressed grin. First set to the # 2 seeds, 6 games to 1. Huber played a poor service game to open the second set, but gave her all in a Game 2 marathon. After eight deuces and a plethora of errors, Hingis struck a winning volley for 2-0. Schett held for 1-2, but Hingis recorded an ace on her way to 3-1. Three consecutive breaks (of Huber, Tauziat, and Schett) gave the Swiss/French duo a 5-2 lead in the second set. When Hingis built up a 40-0 lead on her serve, the autograph seekers moved to the edges of their seats, ready to spring into action. However, Schett clobbered a winning return, Hingis missed a smash, and Hingis netted a backhand. All of a sudden, we were at deuce. Hingis got a fourth match point, but double faulted it away. Two points later, a reflex volley jumped off Tauziat's racquet and over the baseline. Huber/Schett were back in business at 3-5 and the crowd, eager for the match to keep going, gave them a huge ovation. A couple of fans even broke into a "Barbara! Barbara!" chant. Hingis wanted to get off this court (and in from the cold) as soon as possible, so she knocked in a pair of winning volleys to take a 0-30 lead against Huber's serve. However, Anke and Barbara then reeled off four points in a row, with a winning Schett volley taking them to 4-5. The applause swelled again for a team which had fought off four match points and made this set competitive. But the carriage turned into a pumpkin for Huber/Schett (or "Schuber," as one spectator took to dubbing them) in the set's tenth game. No-nonsense Nathalie Tauziat held at love, finishing off the 6-1, 6-4 victory with an unreturnable serve. It took a bit longer than it probably should have, but Hingis and Tauziat booked themselves a place in the doubles semifinals. Serena Williams vs. Anna Kournikova Singles: Third Round Centre Court I got back from the Hingis/Tauziat doubles win just as # 4 seed Serena Williams was finishing up a 6-3 win of the first set against Anna Kournikova (11th in the seedings; 1st in the hearts of her countless male fans). Kournikova had never faced the younger Williams sister before, but she was getting a crash course in the Serena experience here. Williams had won 92% of her first serve points in the set, thumping five aces in the process. Kournikova did earn double break point in the opening game of Set 2, but Williams came charging right back and held with another ace. Anna held for 1-1 and once again had break opportunities, but Williams kept delivering huge blows when she needed them -- a service winner took her to 2-1. Kournikova had been hanging in there pretty well, but she played a poor service game to fall behind 1-3. Refusing to let up on the Russian, Williams blasted her latest ace in a hold for 4-1. Thursday's marquee match was rapidly becoming a blowout. Kournikova managed an ace of her own in Game 6, but also sprinkled in a pair of double faults. On break point, she sent a forehand into the net to trail 1-5. Hopes for a miraculous comeback were ignited when Williams briefly lost control of her groundstrokes and was broken for 5-2. Kournikova just didn't have the weapons to extend this battle much further, though. Anna can slap the ball around with the best of them, but Serena is capable of almost other-worldly power. She creamed a backhand winner down the line on match point to finish off a 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Kournikova (and rather rudely began blowing kisses to the crowd before shaking Anna's hand). Despite all the pre-match hype, Kournikova hadn't lasted any longer against Williams than Annie Miller had in her lopsided loss to Conchita Martinez. (Both bouts clocked in at a swift 63 minutes.) The recent GQ cover girl was understandably somber in her post-match press conference. "I didn't really play too well and made some unforced errors... It's disappointing to lose any match, especially when you have your chances." Williams, on the other hand, was pleased with her performance and even more pleased about her linguistic skills in a post-match TV interview. "I'm really proud of my French. Overall, I was like, `yes!' I didn't expect to speak that well. I just started talking and I was, like, `Wow, Serena!'" She had called big sister Venus for some advice about playing Kournikova and will be ringing her up again before her quarterfinal match against Amy Frazier, who lost to Venus a few weeks ago at the Bank of the West event. "Venus has played everybody! She's like a book... I'll call her tomorrow and she'll tell me how to play." |