|
by Prip First match of the day saw the second casualty of the tournament. Iroda Tulyaganova, playing against Pavlina Nola after coming through qualifying, had to retire at 5-7 0-4 with a hip injury. The other match between Patricia Wartusch and Tina Hergold was a nightmare. The Austrian looked asleep in the first set, and Tina had come into the match knowing that she’d have to make a quick start and take all the chances she had. The Slovenian took the first set 6-3, before Patricia finally started to wake up, and looked like she was actually aware of being on a tennis court, let alone playing in a WTA tournament. The set was closely contested by both players, but the points were coming mostly from errors than anything else. Patricia got lucky and took the set 7-5, but then totally spaced out again in the third. At one point, the Austrian served 3 double-faults in a row, and looked like she’d rather be anywhere else than on court. Not trying at all in the points, she totally gave up and bowed out meekly to Tina Hergold. Next up for her would be Martina Sucha, who had been in the stands for most of the first part of the match and then promptly left to book her practice court. Soon enough, Sandra Kleinova took to the court against Joanette Kruger. The match wasn’t particularly exciting, both players playing a bland baseline game. Joanette managed to avoid any errors long enough towards the end of the sets, doing a better job of keeping her head on straight, and took the match 7-5 7-5 despite coming off with a slow start and having to work her way back into the match. Joanette played a much smarter game than the Czech girl, and her experience got her through the match this time. She’ll have to clean up her game considerably in her next match, probably against Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, to have any hope of getting through that one. She simply cannot afford to make so many silly unforced errors against the hard-hitter. A much better match was instead going on next door. Another South African, Liezel Horn, was playing against Jana Nejedly, and the Canadian found herself with a much tougher job than anticipated. She herself was coming up with a huge number of errors, and let the match drag on for longer than it should. Liezel didn’t play as aggressively she had in qualifying, in direct opposition to what she should have done. She stayed on the baseline more often, and engaged the baseliner in her own game. Jana took the first set 6-4, and got a good start in the following set as well. Liezel, however, soon realized that she wasn’t doing all that she could in the match, and went back to playing more aggressively. She made a good effort to keep moving forward, and got herself back in the match. Joanette, who had already finished her match and showered by then, came in to offer her compatriot support. The second set saw a much better effort from Liezel and even blander tennis from the Canadian, who looked either tired or disinterested in the match. She certainly wasn’t throwing the match away, but neither was she playing like she’d done much preparation at all. The set went into a tie-breaker which could have gone either way, but once again Liezel couldn’t handle the pressure, and unforced errors gave Jana the match 6-4 7-6(4). Meanwhile, top seed Silvija Talaja finally found herself in action after hanging around tournament grounds for 4 days now. Coming into the event injured and unprepared, she wasn’t expecting much at all. To make matters worse for the Croat, she was suffering from cramps today. The only word I can think of to describe her tennis is weak, and Corina Morariu, looking fully determined after her disappointment in the doubles the previous day, really took it to Silvija. Even after taking the firsts et 6-2 and leading 4-1 in the second, Corina didn’t let up, and finished the match off 6-2 6-2. Silvija didn’t look too concerned, as she hadn’t expected anything at all from herself. In fact, she had probably come into the match with a losing mentality. The first set saw her simply pushing the ball back across the net, but she gradually started hitting the ball with more conviction in the second set -- too little too late. As Asa Carlsson warmed up on court against Henrieta Nagyova, Maria Salerni and Tina Hergold were struggling in their match against lucky losers Sandra Kleinova and Anne Kremer. Iroda Tulyaganova had earlier withdrawn from her singles match with a hip injury, and even had she been fit to play the doubles match, tournament rules are such that she wouldn’t be allowed to anyway. In any case, that meant that the two teams would be playing against each other for the second time in the tournament. The match looked to be a repeat of the previous one. The youngsters came out blasting, and Anne and Sandra had hardly time to blink before they’d lost the first set 2-6. The second set was a different story, though. Salerni started to lose her concentration and became a bit dreamy at net. Her loss of focus soon started to infect her partner, and seeing the Achilles’ heel, Anne and Sandra played their percentages better. Just as quickly as the first set had gone, the youngsters found themselves even at 1 set all. It should be noted that Sandra had called for the trainer early in the match, with a problem with her right shoulder. The Czech had struggles with a shoulder injury more than a year ago, and I wonder if it’s not the same one plaguing her career in tennis. In any case, Maria and Tina snapped to the present, and slowly picked their games up against in the end of the first set. This is very typical of younger players, who need to learn to maintain their focus throughout matches. In the juniors, players on both sides have the tendency to fluctuate in focus, but among the professional players, there is no room to relax. Fortunately, most junior players are aware of this and the better ones are very aware that they have far to go in terms of mental stamina. Once the ball got rolling, though, and aided by a slight drop in performance from the more experienced team, Maria and Tina took the last six games in a row to chalk up their second victory in as many matches against Joanette Kruger and Sandra Kleinova, two very capable tennis players. Back to the Asa Carlsson vs. Henrieta Nagyova match. As the players finished the warmup, I got the feeling that the tournament would lose both its top seed and defending champion in the span of a few hours. Asa had looked very unmotivated throughout the tournament, and has played very little all year. Having played in only 17 tournaments all year, I’m not sure if she’s simply become complacent after winning her first singles title or is struggling with injuries. Her ranking’s actually improved from last year, but mostly from her third round showing in the Australian Open and fourth round defeat at Roland Garros by Mary Pierce. Nagyova carried a good attitude with her, exuding the aura of a player who knew that she had every reason to come out on top over the sixth seed and defending champion of the tournament. Henrieta had had a bad start to the year, but suddenly came through in Poland to take the title (she had gone into the tournament with a 1-6 win-loss record!). She then had another slow period, gathering a 1-4 win loss record before suddenly taking another title at Palermo. Since then, the Slovakian has had a pretty good time of it at tournaments, and most recently got through qualifying in Linz to reach the quarterfinals before finally falling to Chanda Rubin. Henrieta started strong, while Asa looked very dormant, and got the break easily to go up 2-0. Asa picked up her game from there, but played a very, very streaky game throughout the match. The match was full of fast and furious baseline rallies, both players fighting for control and neither one finding success. The rallies would start in favour of one player, and then the other would turn the tide around, and so on. Most of the rallies could have gone either way, and most games went the distance. The important ones, however, were going the underdog’s way, and she deserved them. She’d played harder, made the plays, and wanted it more than the Swede. Much to the delight of the crowd, who had started out cheering for the defending champion but turned to the other side when they saw how much more effort the other girl was putting in, Henrieta took the first set after a huge battle, and then had an easier second set, taking it 6-4 6-2. Would this be yet another consistency in inconsistency from the Slovakian, or would she suddenly find herself with another singles title? Not if Tammy and Dokic have anything to say about it. Besides, waiting for her in the next round is Corina, who has a mission to accomplish herself. Singles main draw first round:
|