Hingis vs. S Williams
by Prip
Serena Williams had apparently been struck with food poisoning a
couple of days ago, but didn't look any worse for it as she started
the match. Martina, however, looked like she was more than ready to
go, and played absolutely amazing tennis to get the break to open,
and take an early lead. Martina was absolutely brilliant, playing
perhaps the best tennis seen from her ever, and totally blitzed
Serena, who could hardly do anything to hurt her opponent. Martina's
first serves were landing in, she was getting huge returns off
Serena's serves, and her shots were all landing just on the baseline.
Dropping the set 6-2, it looked like Serena would soon find herself
cheering her sister on instead of taking her on.
Serena found herself serving ahead once again, and managed to hold
serve to open the second set. This was partly due to a drop in the
quality of returns Martina was putting in. Throughout the first set,
Martina's mentality had been all or nothing at all on the returns,
and took a huge gamble in taking the ball early. The first set went
fine, but as the match progressed, Martina found herself having to
move a little further back.
Her downfall came on her serve, which really started to let her down.
Barely getting half of her first serves in, Martina's second serve
was simply being killed by Serena. Serena got the break to go up 2-0,
but couldn't hold on to her own service game, and lost the advantage.
Nevertheless, Martina's returns got shorter and shorter, while her
first serve percentage went lower and lower, and that combined to
give Serena the crucial break to take the second set 6-3.
Interestingly enough, Martina was actually hitting the ball harder
than Serena in the baseline rallies. Serena had started to look dazed
in the second set, sometimes even standing in the middle of the court
after a point and looking like she didn't know what she was supposed
to do next. A little boost in energy and nutrition from some "pink
stuff" the trainer gave her soon remedied that, though, and Serena
looked her usual self in the third set.
Things could simply not get any worse for Martina. Serena was now
blasting both her groundies and serves, leaving Martina very few
options to turn things to her favour. With her own serve letting
her down miserably, Martina soon found herself down 1-4, and minutes
away from an early exit from the tournament. She can always count on
the Aussie crowd, though, and as she stepped out on court, the cheers
of encouragement in the closed stadium was remarkable. Engaging
Serena in big rallies, she somehow managed to keep her game together,
although there were errors coming from both sides, and got one break
back to at least put some sense back in what was happening. The real
task would be to hold. And a huge task it ended up being, too. Serena
quickly went up 40-0, with three break points, and once again, it
looked like the mach was all over. However, Martina played absolutely
fearless tennis, saving all three break points and going on to
actually hold to bring it to 3-4.
Featuring fierce rallies that kept the crowd ooh-ing and aah-ing,
the players showcased absolutely brilliant tennis at times, and
shocking errors other times. Martina got the break back for 4-all,
finally getting herself out of trouble, only to be thrown back in it.
She promptly lost serve, put on the defense right from the beginning
of each point. After all her hard work, she would be staring
down the gun barrel, with Serena, arguably the best server on the
tour, serving for the match.
Serena's service game went to deuce, partly due to a double-fault.
Martina held 2 separate break points, and both players sent each
other running all over the court, throwing in drop-shots and lobs,
but Martina finally got the break on a forced error from Serena.
Martina played 2 quick points to go up 30-0, but threw the lead
away for 30-all, pushing an easy volley long. At this point, she
finally got a first serve in, getting a service return error off
Serena, and threw her hands up in the air in celebration. An unforced
error threw away game point, though, and Martina had to struggle
really hard to hold serve for a 6-5 lead. Serena herself had a hard
time on serve, but was always ahead, thanks to Martina alternating
good points with unforced errors. She eventually did manage to hold,
though, taking the match to 6-all.
After all the effort the previous games had seen with both players
struggling to hold on to their service games, Martina suddenly had a
ridiculously easy service game. Finally getting the first serves in,
Martina held serve at love, going up 7-6 and once again putting the
pressure on Serena to deliver the goods. The first point went to
Martina, with a line call on Serena's shot coming very late. Serena
got a big serve in on the next point, but Martina came up with an
even bigger return, and really attacked Serena's backhand side,
drawing her to one side and then going for the angled shot in the
open court. Serena managed to get to the ball, but couldn't do
anything with it, putting Martina 2 points away from the match.
Only luck prevented Serena from having to face 3 match points. Once
again, she had put a big serve in, with Martina coming up with a
great return. Serena just managed to get to the forehand, and her
shot caught the tape and dribbled over the net, making it impossible
for Martina to make a return. Spurred on a little, Serena played a
very strong point, running Martina around the court before finishing
it off with a winner. Trying to get the point wuickly, Serena threw
another big serve in, but Martina was ready and waiting, and her
return landed just inside the baseline. Serena's service motion was
still taking her in the court, and she found the ball about to land
behind where she was standing. Match point for Martina Hingis, after
being 1-4 down in the final set.
Once again, Lady Luck shone on Serena. Engaged in a baseline rally, a
forehand of hers barely skimmed over the net, and Martina came in
behind the short ball. With Martina barely leaving any space to be
passed, Serena threw up a fantastic top-spinned lob, and Martina
could only just barely get to the ball. Serena was waiting, though,
and had wisely come in to net. Not taking any chances, she hit a
beautiful drop volley, saving match point to a huge ovation.
All her hard work was soon undone, as her 54th unforced error of the
match gave Martina match point #2, and this time, Martina made sure
not to let opportunity slip away and come back to haunt her. You
could hear the crowd hold their breath as she saw the high ball
coming across the net, and charged forward, racquet back, to take a
huge swing at the double-handed backhand volley. She got the shot,
but Serena (as only she and Venus can) got to the ball, and threw a
high lob up. While lesser players would probably have choked at
having to play two such big shots, Martina coolly slammed the
overhead to take the game, set, and match.
The exchange at the net was pleasant, but immediately at the back of
everyone's minds would be the match tomorrow, between Martina and
Venus. After such an emotionally and physically exhausting match as
this, Martina would definitely have a hard time tomorrow, despite
Venus displaying such erratic tennis. In the meantime, the tennis
world can only wait in anticipation.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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