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by Christopher Gerby Tarango/Vacek vs. Humphries/O'Brien Doubles: Second Round Court 2 Opening Thursday's play on Court 2 was a match featuring three Stanford guys and a Czech. There's a bit of bad blood in the backstory. Jeff Tarango has alleged that Scott Humphries cheated him out of a point in a doubles match last year and bragged about the deception afterwards. According to Tarango's story, Humphries claimed a ball didn't touch him, then showed off the mark it actually left later on in the locker room. No big deal in the grand scheme of things, but enough to land Scott on Jeff's list of grudges. Granted, it's not a very exclusive club. The first set was a collection of successful service games and unsuccessful line call arguments. After a slow moving Tarango volley landed near the baseline in Game 2, Alex O'Brien screamed "Right there! Right there!" as he pointed at a mark. The man they call "O.B." dropped his racquet and even removed his hat, but couldn't get an out call. Daniel Vacek faced the match's first break points in Game 6, but Humphries missed a return and a volley to squander the chance. There was a third break point in the same game, after a Tarango volley was called wide. "Oh come on!" the fiery Californian exclaimed before reminding the linesman "If it hits any part of the line, it's good." Vacek chipped in with some advice of his own, telling the shades-sporting official "Take off your glasses so you can see the volley." Vacek displayed more energy there than he had for much of the match, in which he was looking strangely slow and distracted. He finally did manage to hold serve, though. Trailing 5-6 (but still on serve), Tarango had a would-be ace called out. He slowly approached the net and searched for a mark. Alex O'Brien came over and pointed one out, but Tarango just gave him a "yeah, right" smile. O'Brien then held his fingers slightly apart to show how much the ball missed by, but Jeff still wasn't buying it. "Yeah, I know, if I don't hit the ball 100 % in, it's not in." A woman in the crowd yelled "Play tennis!" to which Tarango replied, "That's what I'm doing, sweetie." He held serve and forced a tiebreak. Vacek missed an overhead to fall behind 0-2, but an excellent return by Tarango got the mini-break back. Tarango double faulted at 3-3 and got hit with a verbal abuse warning for swearing in Spanish. An errant volley by Humphries put the teams on serve again at 4-4. Vacek hit an ace for 6-5, but his defensive lob went long on set point. Humphries and O'Brien had a set point of their own at 7-6, but Tarango saved that with a service winner. Vacek put away a volley for 8-7, earning set point # 2. The Czech then put in a good return, drawing another volley error from Humphries. First set to Vacek and Tarango, 9-7 in the tiebreak. Frustration was mounting for the all-American team. After once again failing to convert a couple break points against Vacek in the opening game of Set 2, O'Brien slammed his racquet. Later in the set (which continued on serve) he threw his cap, yelling "You've got to be kidding me, man!" over another questionable line call. At 5-5, Tarango fell behind 30-40 and had to put in a second serve. He did...and O'Brien's return went long. Yet another chance gone by the boards for Humphries and O'Brien, who nonetheless worked their way into a second tiebreak.
Gustavo Kuerten vs. Andy Roddick Singles: Third Round Centre Court Without a doubt, the marquee match of the day was Thursday's first-ever showdown between world # 1 Gustavo Kuerten and 18-year-old sensation Andy Roddick. Both players are ranked either first or second on the ATP in three serving stats this year: service games won (where Roddick is first at 91% and Guga follows at 88%), break points saved (tied for the top with 73%) and second serve points won (another tie for the lead at 56%). Therefore, it shouldn't have been a surprise to see both players hold serve easily throughout the first set. It was actually fairly dry, one-dimensional tennis up to 5-4, when Kuerten suddenly faced a set point. He saved it with an ace and Roddick sportingly applauded with his racquet. Soon after, it was tiebreak time.
Kuerten blamed his poor third set showing on fatigue, but gave credit to Roddick, who "played very well...did a little bit better than me, deserve to win." There would be no repeat of Kuerten's attempt to speak French in this press conference. Grinning sheepishly, Guga labeled his command of the language "not so good, man, and especially right now. If I have a win, my inspiration would be better. I'm sorry." Roddick was humble in his post-match comments. "I have a great deal of respect for Gustavo. He's still a better player, you know, by far, but I was just fortunate today... It's a big win for me, obviously." As for those massive serves in the final game, Roddick said "I told myself I'm going to go for it on the first point. And then I just started feeling it after the first point -- alright, let's go for it again. And by then I was kind of in a groove. I think that's the way you have to close out matches." He'll try to close out Andrei Pavel (who already suffered a loss at Roddick's talented hands in March) in the quarterfinals. Nicolas Escude vs. Bohdan Ulihrach Singles: Third Round Court 1 Nicolas Escude may suffer from the same multiple personality disorder Goran Ivanisevic is fond of discussing. The lanky Frenchman is one of the ATP's most baffling enigmas, capable of greatness and hopelessness, sometimes within the same match. Bad Nicolas showed himself in the second game of this match, unbelievably hitting four double faults in a row. That was all the help required for Czech veteran Bohdan Ulihrach, who won the opening stanza 6-3. Good Nicolas took over in the second set, whipping impressive forehands and handling the windy conditions. He won five games in a row, closing out the 6-1 set with a service winner. Escude continued that strong play in the early stages of the third set, but Ulihrach cut down on his own unforced errors and gained a 3-2 lead, on serve. Game 6 was a nightmare for Escude. Trailing 0-30, he badly missed a backhand volley. He then missed his first serve, giving Ulihrach a look at a second. All Bohdan had to do was stand there, as Escude was called for a foot fault on the second serve. Furious with himself, Escude flung his racquet down, completely destroying it. I thought Andy Roddick did quite a number on one of his racquets in yesterday's win over Carlos Moya, but Escude topped him. This racquet looked like a piece of surreal modern art. Nicolas was determined to get the break back and had a chance, but just missed with a backhand down the line. Doing a steady job of keeping the ball in play, Ulihrach held for a 5-2 lead. Escude fell behind 0-30 in the next game and Ulihrach earned triple match point with a sizzling cross-court pass. Escude temporarily stayed alive with an ace, but at 15-40 Ulihrach hit a lunging return for a clean winner. The even-keeled Czech's expression barely changed, even though this 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 win put him in the quarterfinals of a Masters Series event. (He even has a beatable opponent next in Fabrice Santoro.) A disgusted Escude, on the other hand, left the court in a hurry. Patrick Rafter vs. Todd Martin Singles: Third Round Centre Court A match between Patrick Rafter and Todd Martin is always worth checking out, if only to get a glimpse of their significant others. Todd's wife Amy has a girl-next-door beauty which is actually enhanced when she wears glasses; Pat's longtime girlfriend is stunning model Lara Feltham. Of course, Rafter and Martin are also capable of some good looking tennis and tend to bring the best out of each other. Rafter entered this encounter with a 6-3 lead in their head to head, one of those wins being a five-set Davis Cup thriller in Boston. Martin surrendered the match's first service break, double faulting for 1-3. Rafter handed the break right back, but had a 4-3 lead when rain began falling. The light, steady drizzle delayed play for nearly an hour, but didn't faze the Aussie. He went ahead 5-4 and then clawed his way to a 0-40 lead on Martin's serve. Rafter only needed one of those three set points, immediately taking the frame 6-4 when Martin sent a backhand long. At 1-1 in the second set, Martin smoked a winning return to get himself a big break point opportunity. Rafter responded with two consecutive aces, though, and held for 2-1. A winning drop volley got Patrick to 30-40 in Game 4. He then lined up a passing shot and had Martin moving the wrong way, but drove the ball into the net for deuce. Rafter kept his cool, though, and got the break two points later with a cross-court backhand winner. Rafter serve-and-volleyed his way to 5-2, clearly playing his sharpest tennis of the week. His 31-year-old opponent had a 40-30 lead in the following game, but threw it away with a double fault and two unforced errors. It was an ignominious end to Todd Martin's tournament, but a very satisfying 6-4, 6-2 win for Patrick Rafter. "I think after we had the rain delay...everything came off the middle of the racquet. I moved very well, volleyed well, did everything well." Next up for Skunky is a quarterfinal encounter with Juan Carlos Ferrero, the highest ranked player remaining in the field. "I'm just gonna try to play the same style. He knows what I'm gonna give him and I know what he's gonna give me. It'll just be the better man, better player on the day." |