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by Christopher Gerby Martina Hingis vs. Conchita Martinez Singles: Semifinal Centre Court Martina Hingis entered the day with an 8-3 lifetime record against Conchita Martinez. However, she'd lost the most recent encounter (three months ago in the Berlin semifinals) and admits to having played too passively in that match. So it was an aggressive Hingis who started this semifinal. Too aggressive, as it turned out -- she sprayed errors and watched passing shots sail by as Martinez opened up an early 3-1 lead. But Martinez has been struggling with her serve (never a big weapon to begin with) and she double faulted on her way to a break for 3-2. Hingis then took the lead, holding for 3-3 and breaking the Spaniard by catching the baseline with a swing volley winner. Hingis was now much more judicious in picking her times to attack. She followed a deep backhand in to knock off a winning volley for 30-0 and, at 40-15, made good on another volley for 5-3. Conchita's slice backhand, which she so often relies on to drive opponents batty, was flying all over the place on her. Trailing 15-30 in Game 9, she sent one of those backhands wide to give the # 1 seed double set point. Martinez then got a racquet on a Hingis lob, but the weak overhead left her a sitting duck for a forehand pass down the line. First set to Hingis, 6-3. Martinez continued to look lost and Hingis continued to cruise, going up 2-0 in the second set. Martina suddenly played two horrendous games in a row, though, and the set was even. Hingis got her focus back, holding easily for 3-2 and sprinting to a 15-40 lead against the Martinez serve. The Spaniard saved the first two break points, but gave Hingis another. She dealt with it accordingly, painting the sideline with a backhand winner to break for 4-2. Hingis ran her streak to five consecutive games with a hold. Conchita Martinez can be a very tough nut to crack on her best day, but this was far from her best day. After Game 8 went to deuce, Hingis earned match point with a winning backhand volley and converted it by lacing a forehand cross-court. It wasn't an especially impressive performance from either player, but Hingis had her moments of brilliance and did more than enough to win. She advances to the final by a 6-3, 6-2 tally. After the match, I asked Conchita if she feels Martina is playing well enough to beat Serena Williams, if that's who she faces in the final. "Well, Serena has to beat Arantxa, first," Martinez said. "If she does and there is that final...it all depends on if she plays deep, she has patience. Because, I mean, Serena is going to hit the ball hard and try to overpower her. But, you know, she's got to be patient and play aggressive at the same time. So if she can do that, then yeah. If not, you know, I see Serena very strong right now." After taking Williams to three sets a week ago in Los Angeles, Hingis feels she has a chance. "I think I was close last week and I just probably didn't believe it enough to really beat her. But I think I'm playing, you know, better since then and also playing the doubles with Nathalie kind of helped me, you know, to get the routine going again. And, you know, I'm feeling good. I'm ready for tomorrow." Hingis/Tauziat vs. Po/Sidot Doubles: Semifinal Centre Court Speaking of "the doubles with Nathalie," Hingis returned to the court after about an hour of rest to try and book her place in a second final. She and partner Nathalie Tauziat had to rate as heavy favorites against unseeded Kimberly Po and Anne-Gaelle Sidot. They played like favorites right out of the blocks, winning the first seven points of the match. Hingis held (serving first today -- a switch from their strategy in the previous rounds) and a break of Sidot made it 2-0. Hingis/Tauziat dropped only two points in the following pair of games -- a Tauziat hold and a break of Po. Nathalie put away a high forehand volley to finish a Hingis hold for 5-0. The # 2 seeds were absolutely cruising, doing everything right. Sidot did smack a service winner to complete a successful service game for 1-5, drawing a nice round of applause, but this set was as good as gone. Tauziat served it out at love, with her countrywoman Sidot sending a lob long on triple set point. Hingis/Tauziat take it 6-1 in a blistering 18 minutes. Po/Sidot actually took an early 2-0 lead in the second set by breaking Tauziat's serve, but a Po break and Hingis hold put things all square. Sidot then played a rough service game, double faulting at 15-40 to give the favorites a 3-2 lead. The underdogs were getting their teeth into some of the rallies, though, and they came right back with a break of Tauziat -- Sidot ripping a forehand pass for 3-3. Now that Anne-Gaelle was getting the feel, Kimberly lost her way. The shortest player on the court netted volleys on two points in a row to surrender a break for 3-4. Game 8 was a close struggle for Hingis, as Po cracked a winning return to earn break point. Martina had to save herself with a pretty astounding defensive lob -- running with her back to the net, she lofted a ball from her baseline to the other baseline, and Sidot sent the ball into the net. Two points later, a Hingis service winner made it 5-3. Hingis/Tauziat quickly got to double match point against Sidot and Nathalie made it official, banging home an overhead smash to complete the 6-1, 6-3 victory. Key stats from this one: Kimberly Po making only 33% of her first serves and Martina Hingis putting 100% (22 for 22) of her returns in play. I asked Martina whether that bit of perfection left her any room for improvement. "Well, I think I mis-hit two or three," she replied. She added that the return practice in doubles is a great aid to her singles game. "Doubles helps you to really play aggressive and play good returns. Because I mean, there is not just a nobody on the other side, you have to hit cross-court and then go for a good return. You can make a great position with your return." Serena Williams vs. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario Singles: Semifinal Centre Court The atmosphere was absolutely electric for the evening semifinal between powerful Serena Williams and tireless Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Both players received big ovations as they were introduced, with longtime Montreal fan fave Sanchez-Vicario getting the longer, louder cheers. The excited crowd even got "The Wave" going during the pre-match warmup. The hopes most fans had for a good, close match were almost dashed right away -- Williams blasted an ace and a huge forehand winner in claiming Game 1 at love. Sanchez-Vicario got herself to 1-1, but Williams held convincingly again for 2-1. When the fourth game went to deuce, some overly exuberant fans got into a shouting match. The "Go Serena!" and "Come on Arantxa!" factions shouted back and forth until chair umpire Leanne White finally announced, "merci" (which is French for "shut up so play can continue"). The game went on for four riveting deuces and finally ended with Williams netting a backhand. Sanchez-Vicario was doing everything she could think of to win points out there, but Williams has the ability to just blow balls past her. She did so in a hold for 3-2 and break for 4-2. Arantxa got her first break point opportunites in Game 7, but her forehand let her down in the clutch. After sending a backhand just wide for 2-5, Sanchez-Vicario looked up to the stands with a shrug-like gesture that seemed to ask, "What can I do?" Williams got her first set point in Game 8 and banked it, clobbering a backhand return winner. First set to the American, 6-2. The first four games of Set 2 went with serve, Serena still having a much easier time holding than Arantxa. Williams then ended Game 5 with a picture perfect drop shot, prompting one reporter to say, "It's not fair to have that much power AND touch." Sanchez-Vicario overcame a break point to hold for 3-3, but Williams kept her in check by slamming three aces (one of them on a second serve) in a quick hold for 4-3. At 30-30 in the following game, a Williams forehand clipped the baseline. Arantxa could only block it back into the net and immediately disputed the call. The ball looked in on the TV replay, but the crowd whistled their disapproval anyhow. On the very next point, Sanchez-Vicario missed a backhand for 3-5 and the crowd booed lustily, feeling their player had been robbed in that game. Up 0-15 in the following game, Arantxa disagreed with another non-call on the same baseline. She waved her arms around, suggesting that the entire stadium agreed with her. The fans continued jeering and Arantxa thumped her racquet against the spot where she thought the ball had landed. Williams then did miss a forehand and Sanchez-Vicario whirled around, applauding the linseman with her racquet. Looking quite unnerved by all the commotion, Williams sent another forehand long for 15-40 and double faulted to end the game. It was the first service break she'd yielded all night and she admitted afterwards that the crowd was a factor in it. "I should not have let the booing get to me, at all, but I did... I'm going to have to definitely work on that." Sanchez-Vicario had new life at 4-5, but could not capitalize. She made four errors (three of them unforced) in a love break, chopping a forehand into the net to finish the 6-2, 6-4 defeat. For the first time since 1990, a women's singles final will be contested in Montreal without Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. She was beaten, but unbowed. "I'm not disappointed at all, because I think I played great matches here," she swore afterwards. "I didn't won the match today, but I had the crowd on my side. So I definitely think it's not bad at all to get to the semis because you lose to a player who's probably in the best moment right now and the one who's been playing the best so far." Williams claimed to be disappointed in her own play, particularly the number of first serves she missed, but she gave an entire series of bubbly answers in a lively, wide-ranging press conference. Serena spoke at length about her love for all things purple ("my favorite flavor of Gatorade is Riptide Rush and that's the purple flavor") and said she'll be unveiling a special new outfit at the U.S. Open. "You guys will have to stay tuned. It's very exciting. It's a new millennium outfit and, you know, it's awesome. It's going to make everyone off their rockers... It will make me lighter and faster." Halard-Decugis/Sugiyama vs. Rubin/Testud Doubles: Semifinal Centre Court The last order of business on Saturday was the second doubles semifinal, featuring the 1st- and 3rd-seeded teams. Julie Halard-Decugis and Ai Sugiyama had never played doubles together before this year, but have quickly established themselves as one of the very best teams on the Tour. They won titles at Sydney and Miami, reached the semis at Roland Garros, and were finalists at Wimbledon. They definitely seem to enjoy being on court together, smiling a lot and engaging in those special little doubles team hand slaps after nearly every point. Their semifinal opponents, Chanda Rubin and Sandrine Testud, had a pretty light-hearted practice session in the late afternoon. They ran drills before teaming up with their coaches to play some mixed doubles. Service breaks ruled the late stages of the opening set. Halard-Decugis and Sugiyama were up 4-3, but Ai was broken for 4-4. Breaks of Testud (playing with a heavily taped left thigh) and Halard-Decugis then brought the score to 5-all. Rubin was pushed to deuce before stopping the insanity with a hold for 6-5. Then Sandrine Testud, who gave Martina Hingis such a battle in singles yesterday, took over. She spanked two winning returns on the way to 15-40 and then hit a winning backhand volley to break Sugiyama and win the opening set 7-5. Testud also came out firing at the start of the second set, finishing Game 1 with a volley winner and a service winner. However, Halard-Decugis and Sugiyama really came on after that. Julie's low, angled returns and Ai's dependable volleys enabled the team to win five consecutive games. Rubin evaded a set point on her serve, but Sugiyama served it out, winning the set 6-2 when Testud netted an off-balance return. Halard-Decugis and Sugiyama were really exploting Testud's reflexes, which seemed to be the slowest among the four players on court. An Halard-Decugis volley off Testud's racquet (which Sandrine then bounced) ended a third-set-opening break. An errant volley from Testud closed out an Halard-Decugis hold for 2-0. Rubin held for 1-2 and made a number of great shots in Game 4, a five-deuce challenge of Sugiyama's low-velocity serve. However, Testud (who let out an anguished squeal after squandering one of the game's five break points) pushed a backhand return wide to finally make it 1-3. The top seeds kept hitting the ball at Testud and, all too often, her replies kept finding the net. She was broken for 1-4 and Halard-Decugis held for 5-1. A lower back strain forced Julie to withdraw from singles earlier this week, but even in the chilly night air, she looked fine. With her team holding double match point, Halard-Decugis picked a ball out of the air and ripped a winning forehand. It took nearly two hours, but Halard-Decugis and Sugiyama advanced to the final 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. It was a night of blown chances for Chanda Rubin and Sandrine Testud, who'd made good on only 4 of 20 break points. |