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by Prip Day 4 of competition, and things were getting more interesting. As the day started, my picks for the final remained to be Jelena Dokic and Tamarine Tanasugarn. Both would see some action today, Jelena in her first match of the tournament in the evening match, and Tammy against Dragana Zaric, winner of the event at Cardiff. Dragana was sitting in the stands for most of the morning, and later had a practice session with Jelena Dokic, along with Sylvia Plischke, who hit against her doubles partner, Henrieta Nagyova. Tatiana Panova played in the first match of the day against Jana Nejedly. The Canadian looked just as bad in this match as she had in her previous one, and certainly wasn’t in form. In a match that was boring to say the least, the 5-foot Russian came through, moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-4 6-4 win. The other match was little more interesting. Sylvia Plischke and Henrieta Nagyova were in doubles play against Petra Mandula and Patricia Wartusch. Petra had been excellent about providing support for her partner, and is only playing in doubles here. The two have been pretty much inseparable all tournament, and you could not find one without the other. In the first few games of the match, Patricia played like she had in her singles, and it looked like she might as well not have showed up at all for her match. Her partner continued to push her on, though, and she picked her game up very quickly. The pair was no match for Sylvia and Henrieta, though, especially Henrieta who was playing very aggressively. Sylvia tended to do a much better job at the net than from the baseline, and was pretty fearless. She returned so many balls that were hit at her feet that I couldn’t believe it, and should have been very happy with her performance in the match. Henrieta played very solid tennis, and her doubles has certainly been good for her singles. As the match went on, I was increasingly impressed by her, and liked her chances at progressing in the tournament. She and Sylvia were certainly the much stronger pair, but totally fell asleep in the second set. They lost it 4-6 after taking the first set 6-1, and fell behind 0-2 in the third set, but finally woke up and took the last 6 games in a row to wrap the match up. Asked about what had happened in the second set, both of them could only smile sheepishly. Henrieta said that it was terrible and joked that she’d much rather forget about it, while Sylvia just shook her head and said that they totally fell asleep out there. Back on the other court was a much closer match. Martina Sucha, sole qualifier left in the draw, continued to do well here. I had come into the tournament expecting something from the 20-year-old, but certainly not this much. Tina Hergold had also risen to the occasion in the doubles, which I expected to carry over to her singles game. Both players were coming into the match brimming with confidence. To my delight, Martina came onto court back to her casual shorts and t-shirt. I have no idea what her sponsor thinks about this, or even if she has a sponsor, and will have to ask her about it the next time I get a chance. She got off to a bad start, and was broken in the very first game, but immediately broke back, much to the annoyance of Tina. Both players were playing well, but Tina was having a slightly easier time on her serve. At 3-all, Martina was in danger of losing her serve, but she kept calm, not rushing her serve, but her serve was still giving her trouble. Tina was taking full advantage of this, and her returns were putting her in control of the points. She got the break to go up 4-3, and this time managed to consolidate the break for a 5-3 lead. Sucha’s serving troubles continued to plague her game, and Tina got the second break to take the second set 6-3. Tina again got an early break in the second set, and was up 2-1, 40-love, serving. Martina had had a very slow last couple of games, and it looked like the match was Tina’s to take. However, I had underestimated the Slovakian, and she suddenly looked very determined to get back into the match. Despite facing 3 game, points, she played more aggressively, managing to keep the unforced errors way down. It took Tina all three points to hold serve, and the Slovenian got really upset with herself. She slammed the ball into the back of the court, and it obviously bounced back off it. At the same time, she had asked the ball boy for a ball, and found two balls coming at her. The ball the ballboy had thrown bounced off her shin, and all that confusion only served to annoy her even more. She finally got a ball from the kid, and held her serve for a 3-1 lead. Martina Sucha was starting to pull the momentum to her side, though, and kept her cool. Tina, on the other hand, was really starting to fall apart. In the span of one game, in which Tina still held a break of serve, the match totally turned around, and Martina now looked in control. She showed incredible maturity in keeping herself in check while Tina simply lost it. The Slovakian took full advantage of the opportunity that was presenting itself, which further drove her opponent nuts, and from a seemingly hopeless position, took the next six games in a row and eventually the match 3-6 6-3 6-2. A bizarre match to say the least, but certainly a good one for Sucha. As for Tina, it remains to be seen as to whether she will learn from this experience or simply lose all confidence in herself. Next on court were Tamarine Tanasugarn and Dragana Zaric. Tammy was fully expected to come through in this match and Dragana hardly put up a challenge in the first set. Her shots were flying everywhere, and her first serve percentage was worrying. Tammy quickly took the first set 6-2. All of a sudden, the Yugoslavian totally picked up her game, and her shots started to find their mark. She started slamming her first serves in, giving her easy service points. She ran the Thai from one side of the court to the other, hitting the ball hard and deep. All the players come into their matches against Tamarine with that sole intent, but few actually manage to do it, and the Yugoslavian was doing a heckuva job. She actually sent Tammy practically diving for the ball on one point, and Tammy ended up on the floor. Just as quickly as the first set had gone, Dragana took the second set 6-1, much to everyone’s surprise. Typically, though, Dragana couldn’t maintain her high level of play. Her brain took a break, and Tammy went in for the kill. She ended up taking the match 6-2 1-6 6-1, and headed off court for another marathon -- this time, with the press. Her press conference was cut very brief, as she had another 3 television features to do, and had to fit in her massage session somewhere in between. In fact, due to the high demand for her time, the accommodating Thai had to switch massage sessions with Anastasia Myskina, who had hung around for the whole match and is due to fly out to Thailand tomorrow. So far, Tammy has had two tough matches. The first match, of course, had gone a lot quicker, but the score is a lot more straightforward than the match actually was. Tammy had a lot of praises for her opponent, and admitted that had Dragana been able to sustain her focus, she would have been a goner. Always ready to give praise to her opponent, Tammy still sounded a bit flustered after her "narrow" escape, and said a couple of good things about her opponent in the brief interview. I don’t have too much to say about Dragana Zaric, as her performance had been too up-and-down to comment on, but I suppose as the winner of the event at Cardiff and having taken a set 6-1 against the hard-hitting Thai, she must have a bright future in the tennis. She didn’t show too much variety in her game, and neither did she show any signs of having a plan B to revert to if plan A didn’t work. Hopefully, we’ll see a bit more of her around the tour next year. Although Tammy wouldn’t put too much emphasis on it, she had let her guard down and lost her concentration in the second set as well. Having seen this match as well as how Henrieta Nagyova was doing in the doubles, I must say that if both of them come through their next matches, I’d give the edge to the Slovakian to get through the match. Henrieta has had an extremely bizarre year, starting with a split with her Pavel Slozil in December last year, and suffering from a slew of injuries in the beginning of this year. She entered the tournament in Warsaw, Poland with a 1-6 win-loss record, and suddenly took the title there, defeating Kristie Boogert and Tathiana Garbin on the way. She then played 5 matches, losing 4 of them, and suddenly won the title in Palermo, defeating Rita Grande and Silvia Farina on home ground, as well as Justine Henin, Nuria Llagostera and Pavlina Nola. She is now working with Thomas Malek, who once worked with Jana Novotna, and appears to be full of confidence in herself despite having had such a shaky year. Taking one match at a time, no one has paid much attention to the Slovak who started the year in the thirties and is now in the sixties. When asked about what performance would make her happy, she said that she would love to take the title here, and believed that she is fully capable. I certainly believe so, looking at the level of tennis she is capable of and her ability to maintain her concentration. She has set high goals for herself, but in full knowledge that she is perfectly capable of reaching them, which I think is an excellent mentality to have in a game like this. She certainly could take the title here -- the only player I can see standing in her way is Jelena Dokic. On the other court, the first set between Liezel Horn / Vanessa Webb and Angelika Bachmann / Eva Dyrberg was just over. The South African - Canadian pairing had met almost no resistance in taking it 6-1, and were on the same track in the second. They jumped to a 5-1 lead in the second set, and held one match point which was miraculously saved by Angelika and Eva. That seemed to boost their confidence a little, and the German-Danish team suddenly came alive. Little by little, they fought their way back, and actually brought the second set into a tie-breaker. Both teams were playing hard by this point, and the tie-breaker was pretty close. Liezel and Vanessa took the lead, though, and held several match points, all of which were saved. 6-all, and the tension was incredible. For the first time, Eva and Angelika took the lead, and had an opportunity to extend the match into three sets, but an unforced error from Eva lost it. 7-all. Horn/Webb took the next point on a forced error from Bachmann, and once again held match point. The crowd which was concentrated at the far end of the court, was now watching this match on the edge of their seats. No one could believe it then when Eva double-faulted to give the match away. The girl slammed her racquet, which consequently broke into several pieces, before shaking her opponents hands at the net. She headed straight for her chair and buried her face in her towel, sobbing uncontrollably. Angelika tried consoling her partner despite feeling disappointed herself, and the crowd really felt for the Danish girl. Finally, Jelena Dokic came out on court for her first match of the tournament. On the other side of the court was Iva Majoli, tournament wildcard. The previous year, wildcard Joanette Kruger had done very well, and it would be determined if Iva could do just as well. In her interview earlier, Iva had expressed her belief that she belongs among the top players on the tour, and aims to re-enter to top ten. Later when asked about it, Silvija Talaja agreed that she believed her good friend could make it, but said that Iva would need to be serious about her tennis and put a lot of hard work into it instead of just playing 5 tournaments a year and expecting everything to fall into place. As the match started, the crowd became delighted that they’d be treated to a real match instead of a walkover. Iva showed no signs of intimidation and looked fully confident. In fact, looking at the players, both looked like they felt they were the favoured player in the match, each for different reasons. Both players held serve to open the match, and Jelena went up 2-1 before the changeover. At this point of the match, I unfortunately had to leave the stadium if I was to make it in time to catch my flight. I was already pushing it, what with the traffic jams that Kuala Lumpur is famous for, especially since it was rush hour on a Friday. I felt very tempted to stay and just cancel my flight, but my saner alter ego kicked in and I dragged myself away from the tournament grounds (not that I got very far -- there was a traffic jam right outside the entrance). I managed to receive match updates on my mobile phone as I made my way to the airport, and was told that Jelena had taken the first set 6-1. All looked well for the Aussie, and I didn’t bother calling back for score updates until I had checked my luggage in (just in time) and was making my way to one of the cafes to grab a bite before boarding the plane. To my surprise, I was told that Iva Majoli had taken the second set 6-4 and was up 4-1 in the third! A million thoughts went through my head, and it looked like the Croat was indeed serious about her tennis now. Of course, she had been talking like she was serious about her tennis, but anyone who knows Iva knows that she is a genuine party girl, and isn’t exactly the hardest worker on the tour. She ended up taking the match 1-6 6-4 6-2 just as I boarded the plane, and that gave me a bit of food for thought for the flight. Things were starting to look interesting, and while just 9 hours ago, I was sure that the final would be played between Tamarine Tanasugarn and Jelena Dokic, I was now thinking that it would be Henrieta Nagyova and Iva Majoli. Taking a look at the schedule of play for the next day, I decided never to plan to go to a tournament and miss the ending of it ever again. In any case, it had been worthwhile taking the break for Kuala Lumpur, and I really felt that a lot is going to happen during the upcoming break to make the start of 2001 very interesting. Singles main draw second round:
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