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by Prip The final day of Week One's Federation Cup play. Spain was already through to the final round to be played in America, and with Croatia suffering losses to all three countries, Italy and Germany would battle for second place. Both teams chose to play their usual players, and the first match of the day would be crucial in determining whether Italy would have a chance at second place. Tathiana Garbin would take on Andrea Glass in the first match, and with Anke almost sure to take her match against Silvia Farina, it would most likely be up to the doubles match to decide it. While there had been several 30-second light showers in the previous day and a half, the morning looked like Circolo Tennis would see real rain today. Sure enough, there was rather heavy rain just over an hour before play was scheduled to start, and play was delayed for an hour. The courts are certainly well taken care of in Circolo Tennis, and grounds crew are quick to cover the stadium court, but it was inevitable that the court would get wet, and this would definitely favour the Germans. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) versus Andrea Glass (GER) Germany won the toss, and elected to serve, with the knowledge that breaking the Italian's serve is a very daunting task. While the umpire was having the usual few words before the start of the warmup, Tathiana had a good look at the clay, feeling the surface with her foot. The groundskeeper called from the side of the court, assuring her that the court was dry. Tathiana started terribly, and 4 quick errors gave the German her service game. Still slow to start, Tathiana struggled a little on her serve at first, but finally started to get into the match towards the end of the game, and managed to escape with her service game. What followed was by far the longest game of the four days, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the longest game of the year so far. Andrea's service game went to 8 deuces, that is, a total of 22 points were played with the advantage swinging to and fro before Tathiana finally managed to get the break on a winner. For some reason, Andrea had been making the mistake of going for the Italian's strong forehand. The few times Andrea did finally decide to hit to her backhand, the ball did not have enough on it, and the Italian who had gained momentum by then would run around the backhand easily to smack a forehand winner. Finally, after finding herself down 1-4, either something clicked in Andrea's head or Markus Schur drilled it into her head that she was playing the wrong side of Tathiana's. She started to hit everything to the Italian's backhand, but her shots didn't have enough on it to trouble the Italian much. With strong serving, Tathiana held serve without too much trouble. Andrea continued to play Tax's backhand with considerably more success, and the Italian found herself having to put in a lot more effort in the rallies. The game went to deuce, at which Andrea hit an ace. Tathiana questioned the call, but didn't get the overrule. Not satisfied with the call, she was about to continue disputing the call, when Rafaella Reggi told her to get on with the match. Somewhat unnerved by the call, she made an unforced error to give Andrea her second game of the match. Tathiana had another strong service game, and dropped only one point en route to taking the first set 6-2 in 38 minutes. The beginning of the second set was pretty much like the end of the first, with Andrea growing increasingly unnerved at the number of balls that came back across the net. Tathiana continued to serve well, and took full advantage of the short response from the German. Tathiana has worked on and improved her return of serve in recent months, but at times has a tendency to become a little sloppy. She needed 5 break points at 2-all before she finally managed to get the break. In the driver's seat for just about the whole match, Tathiana had grown a little over-confident, and was even running around serves going out wide on the ad side in favour of her forehand. While she did get a couple of good returns in, the move was more likely to result in a weak return or leave her out of position, nearly outside the doubles alley. Almost as if she were playing a game testing herself, she continued to run around the serve, and gave up the opportunity for a double-break. Similarly at the Aussie Open this year, Tathiana had served a game or two standing practically at the doubles alley in her singles qualifying match against Rennae Stubbs, giving Rennae the option of either catching her moving the wrong way on a cross-court return or an open court down the line. Anyway, the Italian powered and scrambled her way to a 6-2 6-3 victory, keeping the hopes alive for Italy. As usual, the crowd went wild for her, and a number waited in the stands while she did a television courtside interview with a camera. For the second time in as many days, one fan handed her a stalk of dried rose coloured entirely dark blue, while another took the opportunity to get her autograph. As she left the court, she was mobbed by adults and kids alike, asking for autographs and photo opportunities. She obliged, and pretty much found it impossible to get to the locker room which seemed miles away. Her teammates had long left for the locker room to see how Silvia Farina was doing in preparation for her match against Anke Huber.
Anke had so far steamrolled over her opposition, including world's No.8 Conchita Martinez, and there was little reason to believe that her match against Silvia Farina would be any different. Italy won the toss, and Silvia elected to receive. Anke started well, and took her service game on an ace to open the match. Anke and Jelena had by far been the hardest workers of the tournament, playing their maximum number of matches and being the pillars of their respective teams. Anke had especially surprised me in terms of how well she managed to keep a high level of concentration pretty much throughout her matches. Today was a different story, though, and Anke came up with a ton of errors. Anke obviously plays a very high-risk, hit-or-miss game, and would come up with breathtaking winners only to follow up with a string of unsightly errors. Silvia herself was doing well to keep the balls deep, running Anke corner to corner at every opportunity. While Anke had a dismal percentage, she was serving better, and actually got 2 aces in a row in her second service game. Silvia was also having a good day on her serve, despite knowing full well that she had to come up with nothing less than a decent serve. Both players didn't have too much trouble on their service games, until 5-6 in the first, when Anke herself felt that she shouldn't have to be playing a tie-breaker with Silvia after totally demolishing Conchita the previous day. She came on court looking fully determined to break serve, but couldn't keep her shots in. She got her first point of the game off a double-fault from Silvia, but Silvia got the next point for 2 game points. She threw the first one away on another double-fault, and Anke got a solid return in to save the second, bringing it to deuce. Anke got the advantage, setting up set point, but Silvia got a clean ace, Anke not even moving from the spot she was standing in. The ad swung a couple of times before Silvia finally got her game, taking it to a tie-break. By this time, Anke got pretty fed up, not happy to be having to go the distance when she still had a doubles match to go. To add to her stress, the Italian team, including Rita Grande and Giulia Casoni were by now ready for a post-tournament party, and were having a ball of a time, laughing, talking and cheering between points. Giulia was shaking a bottle of effervescent water as hard as she could at every opportunity, making as much noise as possible (perhaps also ready to douse Silvia should she come up with the victory), while in stark contrast, Rafaella Reggi sat very seriously, with her arms and legs crossed barely 5 feet in front of them. Anke held serve to open the tie-breaker and got a mini-break immediately, wanting to put a quick end to the fiasco, but was promptly broken back. At 3-all, Anke broke again, and this time managed to hold on to both her service points to go up 6-3 and hold 3 set points. The crowd sighed when Silvia netted her first serve, expecting Anke to jump all over her second serve. In a very brave move, Silvia went for a very strong second serve, getting the weak response, and followed it with a beautiful dropshot to stave off one set point. An unforced error from Anke gave away the second set point, but Anke made no mistake on her serve, and finally took the tie-breaker 7-5. The first game of the second set was a struggle for Silvia, but she managed to hold on anyway. Anke also had to work really hard in her service game, but she didn't have as much success as Silvia and found her serve broken to start the second set. Silvia had an absolutely dismal service game, though, hitting 3 doubles faults to give the break back. Anke held serve to even it at 2-all, and got her second break in a row to go up 3-2, but a double-fault of her own helped Silvia get the break back. Silvia got her service game at love to finally consolidate the break, but failed to capitalize on a chance to get a double-break in the next game, and Anke narrowly escaped having to either get three breaks or play three sets. Not playing as urgently as before, and taking her time throwing in deep loopy topspin shots, Anke came from behind to get the break back, going up 5-4. By this time, the Italian team were increasingly vocal, and Rita and Giulia orchestrated a Mexican Wave through the crowd. Spurred on by the excitement around her, Silvia got in some very good return of serves, and broke Anke back to even it up at 5-all, to the delight of the crowd. Their joy was short-lived, however, as the thought of having to play 3 sets gave Anke the boost she needed to finish off the match. Anke dropped only one point in each of the next two games to take the match 7-6(5) 7-5, keeping her country in contention for second place. Now the final match of the tournament would decide the standings, and who would win an extra $35,000 for their effort.
After Barbara's disappointing effort the previous day, Markus Schur had originally intended to play Andrea Glass instead. But halfway through Anke's match, Barbara had left courtside (unnoticed by me) and I was surprised to see her warming up on the practice court. I headed back to find out what was going on, and found that he had changed his mind, and would play Barbara against instead of Andrea. On the opposite team, Rafaella decided to replace Giulia with Silvia Farina (rather appropriately, since Giulia had played the first singles match for Italy on the first day), hoping that this would improve their chances of winning. If the Italians had been acting more like they were at a party instead of a tennis match during the singles match, things were about to become considerably louder - Tathiana Garbin was in the house. She was pretty quiet at first, unable to clap her hands because of her broken finger, but she soon got restless, desperate to join her teammates and the cheering spectators in urging her compatriots on. Barbara Rittner was thankfully awake on court today, and was doing a very good job for her team and serving a lot better than she had the previous day. With both German players active on court, the Italians were going to need all the cheering they could get, and they lost the first set 6-3 before long. At first simply yelling encouragements at her best friends, Tathiana soon found a better way to make noise - finding an empty ball can, she started bashing it against the rail in front of her when applause roared from the crowd. The can got pretty bent out of shape, and she looked at it, very amused at herself. By the time several rounds of applause had gone by, the can was totally mangled, and laughing and giggling, her teammates were looking at it in amusement. With it no longer effective as a noisemaker, they soon found another empty can sitting nearby and handed it to her. Needless to say, that can soon became as mangled as the first, and the German team jokingly offered her another can, but she decided that the can was not a very good idea. The second set looked better for the Italians. Anke by now looked very tired, and was making quite a number of unforced errors. On the other hand, Silvia and Rita were working better together. Both teams held serve to open the set. Anke had grown increasingly sloppy as the match went on, and after her unsatisfactory performance in the singles match in which she had grown increasingly annoyed with herself, Anke continued to become frustrated with her tennis. At 1-all, Anke actually netted a reasonably high volley standing 2 ½ feet away from the net, and kicked the ball in frustration. But instead of kicking it hard, she juggled it with her right foot, to the delight of the soccer-crazy residents of Bari. She got a fantastic round of applause from everybody, including the Italian team and her teammates. With Rita and Silvia growing comfortable with each other's games, the Italians found themselves up 5-4, with a good chance to take the match to 3 sets. With the noise the crowd was making between the points, the match might well have been a soccer (or football, if you will) match and not tennis. Sitting on metal bleachers, spectators were stamping their feet, causing the stands to rattle loudly. Of course, it didn't help that Tathiana was giving them the thumbs up for their show of support, and she soon led the cheers of "Allez, O-oh, Allez, O-oh," during the changeovers. Anke had enough experience to maintain her composure, though, and I suppose Barbara either couldn't care or had gotten used to the crowd. By now, Barbara Rittner was calling the shots and was doing well to keep her team going. Anke walked out on court looking very composed despite the ruckus around her, and picked up her percentage, blasting the ball like she had earlier in the tie. The Italians put up a brave fight, but couldn't keep up with the German pair, and Anke and Barbara took the match 6-3 7-5, earning their team $110,000 for their effort. The crowd gave both teams a hearty round of applause, and after some celebration and lots of autograph signing, headed off to the locker rooms, thinking about the long week ahead of them. The Germans would head off on the next flight to Hamburg for the Betty Barclay Cup. On the other hand, the Italians, who had just earned themselves $75,000 would have the week off, with the exception of Silvia Farina who will play in the Croatian Bol Open. As the temporary facilities were being taken down, and staff were relaxing and watching football on the huge TV in the bar, the German captain congratulated organizers for their wonderful effort in running the event. The ballkids, linesmen (yes, they were all men) and umpires were having a small gathering of their own, and VIPs milled about, talking amongst themselves. I felt reluctant having to leave the cozy place, and for a relatively small (and unimportant to some) tournament, things were run very well (thanks Monica and Max "Recchio di Gomma"!), and every effort was made to ensure that players, team members, officials and media were well taken care of. Meanwhile, the last day of play in Group C saw Belgium complete its improbable run to November's Final Four. Russia looked to be the spoilers and got off to a good start when Elena Likhovtseva scored a 6-4 6-4 win over Laurence Courtois. However, Belgium evened the tie when the ever-impressive Kim Clijsters upset Anna Kournikova (winless in her singles matches this week) by a 5-7 6-2 6-4 count. The Belgians won the deciding doubles match, with Courtois and Els Callens defeating Kournikova and Likhovtseva, 6-4 6-3. Even without Dominique van Roost (mourning the death of her mother), Sabine Appelmans (opting not to play Fed Cup this year), and Justine Henin (still recovering from an injury), Belgium knocked off Australia, France, and Russia to advance. Belgium will be joined in the semifinals by Spain, the Czech Republic, and the defending champion United States. With the Czechs having already clinched their invitation, Group B's fourth day was anticlimactic. Switzerland's 2-1 record gave them second place, so the only business left was for winless Austria and Slovakia to battle for third. The Austrians prevailed by scoring a pair of straight set singles victories. Marion Maruska won the opener 6-4 7-6(1) over Daniela Hantuchova and Barbara Schett beat Karina Habsudova 6-4 7-5. |