|
by Christopher Gerby Dokic/Hopmans vs. Pullin/Yoshida Women's Doubles: First Round Court 17 Aussie phenom Jelena Dokic has tried a few doubles partners this season, playing several events with Jennifer Capriati and hooking up with Rennae Stubbs two weeks ago in Montreal. Amanda Hopmans of the Netherlands was her partner on Wednesday, with British lefty Julie Pullin and Japan's Yuka Yoshida on the other side of the net. The first point suggested that this might not be a traditional doubles match -- a long baseline exchange between Dokic and Yoshida finally ended with Dokic netting a forehand. Other early impressions: Jelena looks taller in person than she does on TV and that unflattering birthmark which was once so prominent on her face has magically disappeared. Pullin/Yoshida looked like the much more competent doubles team early on, snaring a 4-0 lead. Hopmans was missing most of her volleys and Dokic was essentially trying to play singles, whacking away from her baseline perch. Pullin managed to win a point with a broken string in Game 5, which ended on another Hopmans volley error. Hopmans did strike a forehand winner to save a set point on Pullin's serve. However, Yoshida then put away a winning volley to wrap up a 6-0 win of the set. The struggles continued for Hopmans as the second set began -- she essentially broke herself by netting an overhead and yet another volley. However, she and Dokic then broke Pullin to get on the board at 1-1. Holds from Dokic and Hopmans were then sandwiched around a break of Yoshida to give the Australian/Dutch pair a 4-1 lead in the second set. Dokic was spending more time at the net now, showing good feel when she was up there. She was also starting to smile quite a bit. Holds from Pullin, Hopmans, and Yoshida brought the second set score to 5-3. Just when a third set was looking inevitable, though, Pullin floated a topspin lob winner for a 15-40 lead against Dokic. A Yoshida error brought the score to 30-40, but Pullin went for another lob on the second break point. Jelena apparently misinterpreted Amanda's cry of "go go go" as "no no no," because neither player went after the ball. It completed its arc over Dokic's head and fell in, breaking the Aussie for 5-4. Yoshida held for 5-5, moving the second set closer to a tiebreak. Winning returns from Pullin and Yoshida (playing as well now as they had in the first set) gave them a huge break point opportunity at 30-40 against Hopmans. However, Julie and Yuka had an untimely clash of racquets going for a volley, so the game went to deuce. Two more break points came and went, with Dokic/Hopmans pushing the game to four deuces. Hopmans finally held serve with a winning backhand volley for 6-5. Game 12 was another tight battle. After the second deuce, Pullin missed a smash to bring up set point. That was all the opening Amanda Hopmans needed -- she put away a forehand volley to win the set 7 games to 5. The momentum clearly shifted now the the Dokic/Hopmans side. Playing with renewed confidence, they stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the third set. Game 5 was long and wild. One rally had to be stopped when a ball came flying onto the court from a practice session next door. By the time the game reached its sixth deuce, the chair umpire had lost track of the score. He called out "advantage Hopmans," only to be corrected by Dokic, who volunteered that it was really deuce. Two points later, Jelena netted a volley to make it 4-1. Well played holds from Dokic and Pullin advanced the score to 5-2. Yoshida valiantly tried to keep the match going in Game 8, another see-saw multi-deuce affair. However, after three match points went by the boards, Dokic ripped a big backhand off Yoshida's racquet to complete the 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. Jelena Dokic and Amanda Hopmans got off to a very dodgy start on Wednesday morning, but were looking like a capable combination at the end of this come-from-behind win. Unfortunately for Jelena, her volatile father Damir made bigger news this afternoon. He became unruly (in a dispute over allegedly poor-tasting salmon of all things) and got himself banned from the tournament. Meghann Shaughnessy vs. Pavlina Nola Women's Singles: Second Round Court 13 With Gianluca Pozzi (a straight sets winner in the first match of the day on Court 13) still being interviewed by Italian reporters in the stands, Meghann Shaughnessy and Pavlina Nola arrived for their second round bout. Shaughnessy was impressive in her first round win and came out firing on all cylinders here. She launched an ace and two service winners in a hold for 1-0, broke at 15 for 2-0, and hit a monster forehand pass to close out a love hold for 3-0. Nola (who used to play under maiden name Stoyanova) is a scrappy player who moves well, but there was little she could do against this onslaught of Shaughnessy power. Nola snuck out a hold for 1-3, but Shaughnessy blasted three more service winners on her way to 4-1. A series of holds took the set to 5-3, with the Arizona native looking to serve it out. After taking a 40-30 lead, Shaughnessy sent a rocket forehand down the line to clinch a 6-3 win of the opening set. Nola held to open the second set, but Shaughnessy thumped her fourth ace of the afternoon on her way to 1-1. Game 3 featured the best rally I've seen all week. Nola whiffed swinging at an overhead, but scrambled back and flicked the ball over her shoulder, with her back turned to the net. When that shot landed in, Shaughnessy ripped a forehand right at Nola, who answered with a defensive lob. That fell in as well! A few groundstrokes later, Shaughnessy finally ripped a wicked backhand down the line to win the thrilling point and take a 15-40 lead. It was an apt microcosm of the match thus far -- a resourceful Nola giving 100% but still coming up short against the Shaughnessy power. Meghann broke for 2-1, served huge in a love hold for 3-1, and earned another double break point situation. Nola hit a drop shot, but Shaughnessy ran it down and flicked in a backhand. Nola got the ball back, but her weak lob was smashed clear out of the court by Shaughnessy, who now had a 4-1 lead in the second set. Nola earned her first break point of the entire match in Game 6, but squandered it by missing a backhand. The Bulgarian simply smiled and shook her head. Shaughnessy saved a second break point with a smash and ultimately went ahead 5-1. Nola -- who'd been bravely attacking the net for much of this set -- made some wonderfully athletic volleys in the seventh game. She fought off two match points and held for 2-5. Pavlina still had not broken her tall opponent's serve, though, and she wouldn't do it now. Leading 40-0, Meghann Shaughnessy unleashed her eighth ace of the day to complete a 6-3, 6-2 triumph. Expect to see plenty of big serves on Friday when the intense young American takes on Venus Williams. Huber/Schett vs. Labat/Tanasugarn Women's Doubles: First Round Court 6 7th seeded blondes Anke Huber and Barbara Schett did not get off to the kind of start they would have hoped for in the women's doubles competition. Florencia Labat of Argentina and Tamarine "Tammy" Tanasugarn of Thailand were beating them by a 6-1, 1-0 count when I arrived. Schett had lost the second and third sets of her singles match against Chanda Rubin by that same 6-1 score, so this had not been her day at all. However, the Austrian held for 1-1 and teamed with Huber to break Labat's serve for 2-1. At 30-30 in the fourth game, a lunging lob from Labat landed right in the middle of the doubles alley but was incredibly called out. Labat and Tanasugarn looked absolutely stunned as they argued with chair umpire Cecil Hollins, who allowed the call (one of the worst I've ever seen) to stand. This all just seemed to fire up the underdogs, as they rattled off three strong points in a row to break for 2-2. Since they don't venture to the net very much in singles, you might think Huber and Schett an unlikely pair to be seeded so high in doubles. They take it seriously, though, and were employing some strategy here. Getting into the fancy Australian formation, Schett would crouch down in front of the net on Huber's first serves, ready to spring up and put away any weak returns. Anke and Barbara also did quite a bit of screaming in German, chastising themselves after every poor shot. However, the good shots started outnumber the poor ones as Huber and Schett won four games in a row to take the second set 6 games to 2. Their powerful returns and authoritative volleys had turned the tide in this match, which moved into a third set. At 1-1 in the third, Labat played a bad service game, foot faulting and netting a volley at 15-40 to surrender the set's first break. Huber then held for 3-1. Anke babbled at herself in German after missing a return in Game 5, but got a funny look from Schett and wound up chuckling at herself. Tanasugarn was the ultimate goat in that game, missing a couple volleys, including one on break point. A winning Schett lob eluded Labat to make it 5-1. Huber/Schet had won 9 of the last 10 games, completely turning the tables on the Labat/Tanasugarn upset bid. However, Labat held for 2-5 and Huber ominously double faulted twice in a row to open Game 8. Huber's service game went to deuce, but Labat then put a high backhand volley in the net. She shouted and looked absolutely furious with herself for having set up match point. Florencia couldn't have been much happier a few moments later -- she netted a forehand to finish the 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 Huber/Schett victory. I don't know what happened in that first set, but Anke and Barbara looked solid the rest of the way and are a team to reckon with. Eagle/Florent vs. Knippschild/Tarango Men's Doubles: First Round Court 13 Meanwhile, another seeded team was being pushed on Court 13. 10th seeded Australians Joshua Eagle and Andrew Florent lost a 6-3 first set to Jens Knippschild and Jeff Tarango. Despite having a rather sterling doubles resume (cracking the world's Top 10 last year and reaching the French Open final), Tarango is perpetually unable to hold together a long-term partnership. This latest experiment seemed to be working out well. Knippschild doesn't have any more hair than Tarango, but he does have a much bigger serve. He also has a nice overhead -- Knippschild clobbered a smash over the back fence to complete a Tarango hold for 4-4 in the second set. Eagle held easily for 5-4. Knippschild spanked an ace for 30-15 and appeared to hit another. After the big German fired a ball down the T, the umpire announced "40-15," only to correct himself when he saw that the linesman had called a fault. Knippschild didn't like the call, but of course it was Tarango who did the talking. Tarango eventually realized they weren't going to get the ace call, so he started arguing that Knippschild should get another first serve. "You called the score; that's a delay," Jeff reasoned. He lost that argument, too, but Knippschild eventually won the game with a service winner. Husky Eagle and flashy Florent then took a 6-5 lead and got to triple set point against the Tarango serve. The firery Californian found some first serves when he needed them, though -- he and Knippschild won five points in a row to force a second set tiebreak. It went as follows...
Adams/De Jager vs. Bryan/Bryan Men's Doubles: First Round Court 7 Our tour of seeded doubles teams now takes us to Court 7, where South Africans David Adams and John-Laffnie de Jager were sporting two of the ugliest shirts I've ever seen. They featured yellow and red horizontal stripes, giving the # 6 seeds something of a bumblebee look. Matching apparel (black shirts with black shorts) could also be seen on the opponents, Bob and Mike Bryan. Of course, everything matches on the Bryans, a pair of energetic young Americans who happen to be identical twins. The only way to tell them apart: Bob's a lefty and Mike is right-handed. They were NCAA champions together at Stanford, but have found only moderate success since turning pro. They always attract a crowd, though, and they opened this match with a break of the Adams serve. That one break kept holding up as the teams roared through mostly one-sided service games. The shots were powerful and the rallies were brief as the Bryan twins ran out a 5-4 lead. Bob launched a service winner for 40-0, getting the crowd excited at triple set point. Adams saved the first with a winning volley, but missed a backhand return on the following point to drop the set 6 games to 4. The run of successful service games continued in Set # 2. Some nifty, Pete Sampras-esque overhead smashes from Bob were the main highlights as the set went to 3-3. The Bryans did some great scrambling (and some great celebrating), but Adams and De Jager were staying dead even with them, making most of their first serves and virtually all of their volleys. The first tough service game in a long while came for De Jager in Game 7. Raindrops began falling, but the game and set were so dramatically poised that neither team wanted to halt play. After six tense deuces, Adams finally put away a backhand volley winner for 4-3. David raised his arms and exclaimed, "Yeah, baby!" The rain then picked up in intensity, as if realizing it was allowed to do so now that the critical seventh game was over. The players stuck around, though, and the delay was ultimately very brief. After the court was sufficiently dried off, Adams and the Bryans scored convincing service holds for 5-5. When Mike bounced his racquet after a missed return in Game 11, Bob told him "relax relax"...and then missed a return of his own for 5-6. Another eye-popping "Air Bob" smash came along in Game 12, which the Bryans won at 15 to force a second set tiebreak. Here's the point-by-point recap...
Husarova/Novak vs. McNeil/Blake Mixed Doubles: First Round Court 13 I open Wednesday's last match report with great news of Czechosolavkia's reunification. OK, not really, but it was Janette Husarova of Slovakia playing mixed doubles with Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic. These two weren't even supposed to be here -- only a late withdrawal by the Wayne Arthurs/Manon Bollegraf team got Husarova/Novak into the draw. Most of the largely African American crowd was there to see veteran Lori McNeil and shotmaker James Blake. What they saw early on were service holds from each player, taking the score to 2-2. Blake and McNeil were looking very serious and determined, while Novak and Husarova kept grinning from ear to ear. Husarova did seem to have a problem with the tension of her racquet, though. Twice in Game 5 she put the racquet face down on the court and stood on the strings. Maybe that made a difference, because Husarova ripped a forehand winner to earn a surprise break point against Blake's hard serve. Blake then netted a forehand volley and angrily smacked the ball right back into the net, nearly scaring the daylights out of Husarova. The Czech-Slovak team had a 3-2 lead. The men are supposed to have the easier time holding serve in mixed doubles, but Novak needed five deuces to finally reach 4-2. In Game 7, McNeil missed a couple volleys and double faulted on break point. Lori looks fitter now than she did a year ago, but the woman is closing in on age 36 and her reflexes are waning. Blake tried to overcompensate for her, shouting "I got it" for balls which were actually closer to McNeil. Things were just going rapidly downhill for the Americans and Husarova had little trouble serving out the 6-2 set. The second set went with serve to 2-2, but James Blake then found himself facing triple break point. Novak converted with a forehand pass that hit McNeil. "Sorry sorry sorry," Novak said immediately. As they approached the chairs, Jiri raised his racquet again. "No, it's OK," Lori assured him. The incident really did seem to shake up Novak. He lost his serve for 3-3 and seemed to play the rest of the match at about half-power, going particularly easy on his returns of McNeil's serve. Husarova was playing really well, but she couldn't do it all by herself and was broken for 3-5. Blake failed to serve out the set, but at 5-4 he and McNeil earned double set point against Novak. McNeil appeared to win the set with a lob, but it was called out. On the second set point, Blake hit a backhand in the direction of Husarova, whose reflex volley landed in the net. Blake didn't appear to be taking any of the sting off his one-handed strokes as he and McNeil won the second set 6 games to 4. At 15-30 in the final set's opening game, Blake chased a bad toss and double faulted. Two points later, Husarova struck a winning forehand volley to break for 1-0. The set went with serve for quite some time after that, Husarova/Novak maintaining their lead a 4-3. Husarova got to 40-30, but a Blake return at her feet made it deuce. Janette put a lunging forehand wide on the next point, giving Blake/McNeil the advantage. Husarova missed her first serve and Blake absolutely teed off on the second, whaling a forehand return down the line to break for 4-4. The crowd (almost filling the Court 13 stands to capacity now) erupted. Blake's service games were far from sure things, though. He got down break point yet again and sent a backhand volley long, throwing his racquet. Husarova/Novak had another winning lead at 5-4. "That's OK. Just bring it back," advised a woman in the stands who'd been shouting support to McNeil throughout the match. Bring it back they did. McNeil put up a winning lob for 15-30, Husarova shanked an overhead for 15-40, and Novak netted a volley on break point. The topsy-turvy set was even all over again at 5-all. Blake hit one of his patented overhead smashes in McNeil's hold for 6-5. Husarova whipped a forehand winner for a 40-30 lead in Game 12, but then sent in a relatively weak serve. Blake crushed his return, which glanced off Novak's racquet for Deuce. The game went to a second deuce, then a third. Husarova sent a backhand volley long to bring up match point. The Slovakian then hit a smash at Blake, who thought he had a winning reply lined up. However, his hard-hit forehand found the net -- Deuce #4. Novak got the ad with a winning volley and Blake lost the game with an errant return. This exciting, roller-coaster mixed doubles match would be decided in a third set tiebreak...
|