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by Prip Monica Seles (USA) [3] vs. Dominique Van Roost (BEL) [8] Monica won the toss, and opted to serve. The conditions were a little windy, and that gave a huge advantage to Monica. Monica's serve was also working very well, giving her a lot of free points. On the other hand, Dominique's serve was dismal, with a low first serve percentage and double faulting on big points throughout the match. Dominique's flat shots give her very little margin for error. For the benefit of people who don't actually play tennis or are new to the game, when a player hits the ball with topspin, the ball's path of flight curves downwards, allowing it to clear the net and still land inside the court despite high speeds. With a flat shot, the ball pretty much keeps a straight path of flight, which makes it very difficult to keep it over the net and yet make sure it lands inside the court. In fact, in the same way people describe getting the down-the-line passing shot as "threading the needle", hitting hard flat shots is like aiming at a thin horizontal line, which is difficult enough without having the wind swirl around you, affecting the trajectory of the ball. Monica was having no trouble with her lateral movement, and Dominique just wasn't trying to get her off the baseline. Not surprisingly at all, Monica took the first set without dropping a singles game. The second set looked a little better for the Belgian, who started hitting the ball harder and with more conviction. Monica was actually standing right on the baseline by now, hitting the ball early, and had a little trouble when the balls were landing deeper and landing a little heavier on her racquet. Dominique finally managed to get a game by holding serve in the second game of the second set. Monica soon adjusted, though, and went back to business. She took another three games in a row. A sudden string of errors off Monica's racquet gave Dominique her service game, the second of the match, but that was all. Dominique served to stay in the match, and put up a good fight at the end, but lost the match on miserable attempt at a drop-shot which nearly didn't even make it to the net before the bounce. Jelena Dokic (AUS) vs. Amanda Coetzer (RSA) [7] Out on Centre Court, Jelena Dokic was up against a real challenge. Amanda Coetzer has not seen the best of form in the last couple of months, and Jelena had a very good chance of coming out of this match on top. Before the match started, two elderly men in yellow shirts and green treks (one in what looked like a newspaper hat) went around the stadium, coaching the spectators. Section by section, they led cheers of "Aus-sie, Aus-sie" while getting the people to wave their arms in unison. Finally settling down where the audience participation was best, they waited for the players to come out. When Jelena and Amanda appeared, the man in the paper got 2 sections of the crowd to yell in perfect unison, "Let's go Jelena". Only in Australia. Jelena won the toss, and of course elected to serve. She found herself in trouble despite getting an ace, and Amanda got the break. The two men led cheers of "Aus-sie, Aussie" with the waving of the arms at every chance, sometimes even when players were ready to serve, and the umpire had to caution the audience several times to respect the players' need for concentration. Surprisingly enough, the cheers worked. In fact, they worked very well indeed. Jelena played much better tennis, playing aggressively to get 3 break points in the very next game. It took all 3 for her to get the break, though, and even then it was on a lucky netcord. For some reason, Amanda looked very unnerved by the whole occasion. One would have thought that Jelena would have been the one to come out nervous, but Amanda looked quite nearly petrified by the whole scenario, and played extremely nervously. In fact, Amanda got a number of double-faults, and looked listless in losing 7 games in a row. Even Jelena looked a little surprised at the ease with which she was winning the match. She stuck to her guns, keeping the ball deep and going from corner to corner. Jelena was looking her usual confident self, and played with her characteristic tenacity, but there was one slight difference that I felt from her. She was a lot less tense, taking a little time during the changeovers to pay attention to the atmosphere around her, soaking up the energy of knowing that nearly every single person in the stadium was rooting for her to carry the flag of her adopted nation to the podium. Jelena continued to go for her shots, but didn't look as uptight as she usually does after lost points. In a very strange and sudden turn of events, though, Amanda's backup tank of energy and adrenaline must have kicked in. She started running for balls that she'd let go in the first set, and did a much better job at being a human wall. On the other hand, Jelena's complacency looked to be doing her in. One major difference between the top players and the rest of the field is that they never let up, and have the capability to keep a high level of concentration throughout the match. The momentum had very definitely shifted to the South African, who took her turn to win 6 games in a row. Jelena's shots were consistently landing out by inches, probably exactly what Amanda was waiting for. Jelena was playing her own match, though, concentrating on herself and not finding the need to look into the stands at her teammates for support. The beginning of the third set was a struggle for control. Jelena once again had the advantage of serving ahead, and held serve easily to break Amanda's streak. Playing a cleaner match, she quite nearly broke Amanda's serve, but just fell short, and held serve again in the next game. Once again, Jelena set up break point with a beautiful touch volley from the service line, and got the break on a cross-court winner. It is very refreshing to see her making an effort to play a more complete game, no doubt thanks to Stubbsy's influence and her increased doubles activity. Jelena has arguably found more success in broadening the range of her game than most other strictly baseline players, with the most obvious exceptions being the Williams sisters. One again, the tide shifted, and Jelena took 4 games in a row to go up 5-1. Serve-and-volleying her way to 3 match points, she lost the first on a double-fault, but got the service return error from Amanda to take the match 6-1 1-6 6-1. Woodbridge/Woodforde (AUS) [1] vs. Kucera/Hrbaty (SVK) Over on Court 1, the Woodies campaign rolled on, this time against the Slovaks, Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty. Dominik and Karol who had taken out the eighth-seeded Italians Massimo Bertolini and Cristian Brandi in a tough three-setter. While the main concern for the Woodies at the start of the tournament had been the Indians, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi -- whom they had managed a good straight-set win over -- the Slovaks were certainly going to pose just as much of a threat. The first set had just gone into a tie-breaker. The Woodies weren't playing the best tennis, and Karol was doing a very good job of it, making his presence at net felt. The tie-breaker was too close for the crowd's comfort, and everyone was very relieved when the Woodies took it 7-5. The second set looked a lot better for the Aussies, despite occasional communication problems. Karol was still doing a very good job, but Dominik was the obvious weak link. The Woodies picked on the weaker player, making him more and more frustrated, but Dominik was really doing a bad job. His shot execution was suffering, either ending up in errors or giving the Woodies easy winners on nearly every ball he hit. Karol didn't get too frustrated with his partner or give up either, and he ran after every shot, no matter how dubious his chances of turning the point his way. There were 2 Aussie guys with Aussie hats who were entertaining everyone around. During changeovers, they sang songs like "We love you Woodies, we do" and "We love you 'cos you're Aussie". Of course, they had taken a page out of the Swedish supporters that they'd met in Melbourne, but the crowd didn't know or at least didn't mind, and they were pretty creative with the lyrics. During one changeover, after serenading the Woodies yet again, they turned to Patrick Rafter who was sitting in the stands, keeping as low a profile as he possibly could with sunglasses and a towel draped over his head, yelling "And we love you too, Pat!" much to the amusement of the crowd. On the next changeover, a group of guys in the stands opposite the umpire's chair yelled, "Hey Pat, give us a wave!" to which Pat complied, a big grin on his face. Needless to say that went over very well with the crowd. Todd and Mark finally got the break and the match, and were happy to have been able to finish the match without letting it go to three sets. They waved to the crowd and the two guys in hats, thanking them for their support. Elena Dementieva (RUS) [10] vs. Barbara Schett (AUT) [12] Elena won the toss, and elected to serve. Both players had trouble starting their matches, and 4 errors in a row lost Elena her service game at love. Babsi had less trouble, though, dropping only 1 point in the first two games of the match to go up 2-0. For once, she looked like she was going to start the match well. Or at least not as badly as the Russian was. Elena's troubles continued, double-faulting to open her second service game. Babsi just held steady, playing it a bit safer and just waiting for her opponent to make the error. Elena had her right wrist taped up, and it must have been giving her a lot of trouble, from the looks of the way her shots were missing so badly. Babsi held 2 break points, but Elena saved the first with an ace. 2 errors from Babsi gave the Russian a chance to get her first game, but another double-fault brought it back to deuce. A service return error from Babsi set up game point #2, and Elena managed to keep the error at bay long enough to hold serve. Babsi continued to get the errors off Elena, holding serve at love again. The Austrian made an attempt at a dropshot, but fortunately for Elena, it didn't work too well, and she just managed to hold serve for 3-2. Once again, Babsi had a strong service game, opening with an ace. Down 4-2, Elena must surely have known that she was in trouble when Babsi actually started coming in to net every couple of points and throwing in a couple of dropshots. Babsi got another break to go up 5-2, and held 2 set points in the next game. A gutsy service return winner down the line saved the first, and a good solid aggressive point saved the second. Appropriately enough, another wild shot off the Russian's racquet set up set point #3 for Babsi, but Babsi lost that when a deep inside-out forehand landed both long and wide. Another error from Elena set up set point #4, and Babsi finally took the set when Elena totally mishit a forehand. Elena continued to hang on, and moved on to the next point instead of getting worked up over the unforced errors. After all, it was probably only a matter of time before the unforced errors would present themselves in Babsi's game. Both players held serve to open the second set, and at 2-1, Elena called for the trainer. While w aiting for the trainer to get to the court, Elena unwound the wrapping on her wrist, revealing quite a striking tan line. Of course, you can expect the skin to be a little whiter when it's been under wrap, but it definitely looked like she's been having wrist problems for a while now. Anyway, the trainer soon came on court, and after a bit of flexing and massaging, taped the wrist back up and the players went back out on court. The treatment certainly had an effect on the Russian. Her shots were a lot more controlled, and Elena got the break of serve within the next 5 points. She couldn't consolidate the break, though. She opened her service game with a double-fault, hit an unforced error, lost the next point on a down-the-line winner from Babsi, and pushed a backhand long to give the break back. For some odd reason, Babsi had been foot-faulting at least once in all her matches so far in the tournament. Her first foot-fault of the match came at 2-3, 30-all. The next few rallies could have gone either way, but Elena ended up getting the break again. Now the unforced errors really started to present themselves in Babsi's game, and Elena got the next two games to take the second set 6-2. Walking to the chair for the break, Babsi slammed the ball and for some reason was given a code violation. She didn't pay any attention to the umpire, though, and acted as if she hadn't even heard the warning. The errors continued to come off Babsi's racquet, and Elena got the break to go up 2-0 in the final set. A double-fault helped Babsi get the break back, but she couldn't consolidate the break either, and Elena got the break again with a down-the-line winner on a full run. Both players slowly picked up their first serve percentages, which led to longer baseline rallies. Elena was showcasing some exquisite running, getting back as many balls as possible regardless of whether she could get the ball back offensively. Against Babsi, this wasn't such a waste of energy -- there was always a good chance of her getting the point on an unforced error. The games kept going in favour of the Russian, and Babsi started playing a very impatient game. One good thing was that she actually came in to net every couple of points instead of camping out on the baseline which simply wasn't working. On one point, Elena hit a pretty good dropshot, but Babsi managed to get to it and threw in a dropshot of her own. It proved to be a bad choice, though, as Elena ran it down from the other corner of the court, and popped up a down-the-line winner which kept just out of Babsi's reach and landed just on the line. That gave her a 5-1 lead, and it didn't look like the Austrian could stage a comeback. With the way both players play, the linespeople had been kept busy throughout the match. A lot of calls had been close, and some looked questionable, although neither player had shown any sign of being unhappy with the calls. I was rather surprised, though, when Elena, up 5-1, intimidated the linesperson at the baseline, kind of glaring at him. It seemed to work, and 2 close line calls immediately went in Elena's favour, and rightfully so. Facing one match point, Babsi showed true guts when she hit a beautiful down-the-line winner...only to smack the next service return into the net. Cursing herself for making such a silly error on such a crucial point, Babsi got a better return in. The rally was long and hard, both players scrambling for the ball, but Babsi came out on top, keeping herself in the match...only to smack an easy forehand into the net on the next point. Match point #3 for Elena, and third time proved lucky for her. Playing with nothing to lose, Babsi hit a gutsy shot, going for a down-the-line winner, but the ball landed just wide, taking Elena to the semifinals and giving her a good chance at coming out of her first Olympics with a medal. Dokic/Stubbs (AUS) vs. Boogert/ Oremans (NED) I decided to see how Rennae Stubbs and Jelena Dokic would do against Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogert, who looked like they were up to the challenge. Not only would they be playing against a recent #1 doubles player and an able young teenager who was brimming with confidence, they'd have to take on the entire crowd of spectators. The Dutch have always been good about supporting their athletes, though, and the orange shirts had a strong presence despite their limited numbers. They didn't spare the props either, armed with funny hats (including a couple with orange stuffed toy lions) and flags. Heavy clouds started to roll in as the players took to the court, threatening to pour. On one side of the stadium, blue skies stretched as far as the eye could see. Turn around, and the dark clouds stretched all the way to the horizon, not a patch of sky to be seen. The wind was also picking up, and the line at the coffee cart tripled in length immediately. The Aussies won the toss, and the Aussies decided that they'd play their stronger position first, as Jelena Dokic would serve to open the match. She managed to hold serve at love, and the Aussies looked like they'd have an easy time of it. They cruised along, and as the raindrops started to fall, quite a number of people headed out of the stadium, me included. The trains to the Olympic Park is free to all, and considering that I live about a minute's walk across a park from Central Station, I have been relying on the trains to get me to and from Olympic Park. The only problem is that the Olympic Park train station is a bit of a walk from the Tennis Centre, with no cover between the two venues, and I didn't fancy getting soaked (it was already cold enough), so I headed off hoping to get on the train before it started to pour. While it did pour as soon as I got on the train, apparently the tennis center hadn't suffered that badly. The match had not only continued, but had gone the distance. The Dutch had made a remarkable comeback, stealing the second set 7-4 in the tie-breaker. Only at the very last minute had the match been abandoned due to rain. In fact, Rennae was serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the final set, and the game was at deuce. I am definitely going to be there for the rest of this match tomorrow, if only to see how the players handle the pressure of starting play at such a crucial point of a match. |