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by Ed Zafian After an evening of rain, the skies cleared for the first day of main draw action and the final round of qualifying at the State Farm Tennis Classic. With temperatures remaining in the low 60's, crowds were a little sparse for early action on Monday. As mentioned in yesterday's report, most serious tennis fans would agree that the best first round match-up was between Justine Henin and Magui Serna. So without further ado… Justine Henin (#6) vs. Magui Serna (First Round) Head to Head: Serna leads 1-0 (2000 Knokke-Heist, R16, Clay) Without a doubt Justine Henin has been one of the hottest players on the Sanex WTA Tour in 2001. The Belgian won her first two tournaments at Gold Coast and Canberra and came into Scottsdale with a 14-2 record with only one loss (to Seles at the Australian Open) on the hard courts. But Magui Serna is no stranger to upsets (most notably taking out Mary Pierce in two different Slams). Serna got off to a quick 4- 1 start on one break of Henin's serve. But Henin battled back with her trademark one-hand backhand and got the set back on serve with a forehand clipping the baseline much to Serna's dismay. The players held serve easily and brought about our first patented On The Line tiebreak breakdown: S: Henin stretched wide on a backhand that lands into the net, Serna 1-0. H: Serna hits very low and deep to Henin's backhand, landing into the net, Serna 2-0. H: Backhand service return of Serna goes long, Serna 2-1. S: Henin nets a backhand volley, Serna 3-1. S: Henin's backhand hits a net cord stretching Serna reply, which she nets, Serna 3-2. H: Henin forehand lands in the net, Serna 4-2. H: Serna backhand sails long, Serna 4-3. S: Serna forehand winner, Serna 5-3. S: Another Serna forehand winner, Serna 6-3. H: Serna sails a forehand long after a nice slice backhand from Henin, Serna 6-4. H: Serna sends a backhand wide, Serna 6-5. S: 107mph ace from Serna, Serna wins first set 7-5. Both players started the second set strongly on their own serves. Serna was particularly impressive in her first service game of the set, serving two aces (95mph and 103mph) along with a service winner. The first break of service occurred in the fifth game with Serna going up thanks to a beautiful backhand drop shot. Serna's lead was short-lived as Henin's backhand kicked into gear and evened the match at 3-3. Things remained tight between the players, with Henin threatening to break in the tenth game. Henin went up 0-30 on Serna's service game and in a particular long rally, Serna had to scramble back to the baseline from the net to throw up an incredible defensive lob. Henin handed the "gimme" made a "crowd-moaner" as her smash attempt bounced on her side of the net. Deflated by this somewhat embarrassing shot, Serna went on to even the match at 5-5 and go up 0-40 on Henin's serve in the next game. Nevertheless, Henin hung tough and went on to hold her serve. Henin had a set point after Serna's double faulted at 30-30, 6 games to 5. A somewhat questionable smash to the sideline was called good bringing the score to deuce. Serna set up another tiebreak with a 109mph ace on her advantage. H: Henin forehand winner off of a weak service return, Henin 1-0. S: Backhand winner down the line for Henin, Henin 2-0. S: Henin sends a forehand long, Henin 2-1. H: Serna hits a forehand winner which clips the baseline, 2-2. H: A shrieking Henin after a forehand hits the net, Serna, 3-2. S: Backhand service return goes long for Henin, Serna 4-2. S: Henin backhand lands in the net on a Serna approach, Serna 5-2. H: Backhand cross-court winner for Henin, Serna 5-3. H: 97mph service winner, Serna 5-4. S: Serna double faults, 5-5. S: Henin nets a high forehand, Serna 6-5. H: A Henin backhand hits the net, Serna 7-5. So Serna knocks out the first seed at the State Farm in 1 hour and 33 minutes, evening her win-loss record at 5-5 for the year. Serna and Henin could not gloat or stew over the result too long as they were scheduled to play doubles together later in the afternoon. In the post match press conference, Serna was of course pleased with her victory but also hinted that despite being a Spaniard she longs to return to the grass courts where she has had good success. I asked Serna how she hooked up with Henin for doubles in Scottsdale. Apparently amused by the question, the Spaniard laughed and said that her usual partner, Patty Schnyder, was not here so she just asked Henin and she said "Yes." So with no need for a good segue… Henin/Serna vs. Jeyaseelan/Po (First Round) Despite what players may say, it must be difficult to team up in doubles with someone you just knocked out a tournament (and the first round no less). While Serna was bubbly after victory, I just happened to cross paths with Henin around the grounds and her facial expression can best be described as a scowl. Though not particularly chatty as they entered the court, there was some camaraderie evident between the two combatants from earlier in the day. I do not know if the WTA keeps statistics on this kind of stuff. But as the players were warming up, I imagined that this could possibly be the shortest doubles match ever, and we are talking player height here, not match length. Henin and Serna both stand at 5'5" tall, while there opponents were even more diminutive -- Kimberly Po at 5'3" and Sonya Jeyaseelan at 5'2". A nice reminder that the WTA Tour is not solely made up of Amazon women. Servers were having little luck at the beginning of the match. In the first seven games, only Serna was able to hold her serve. Henin, perhaps still reeling from her loss to Serna, was having particular problems tossing in three double faults on her first service game. The "break"-fest continued and lead Serna/Henin to their third tie-break of the day, thankfully this time they were on the same side of the net. The Canadian Jeyseelan was the link in the tiebreak, double faulting once on her serve and sending a forehand long to give Henin/Serna the first set tiebreak at 7-2. With some regained confidence, Henin did not lose serve in the second set, and the team was able to break Po and Jeyaseelan one time each to take the second set and the match at 6-2. After the match, Henin told Serna "Not bad for the first time" for debut as a doubles team. Meghann Shaughnessy (#8) vs. Elena Bovina (WC) (1st Round) First Meeting With the top four seed receiving byes into the second round, it was no surprise that the first night match was handed to hometown girl, Meghann Shaughnessy, and the only player on the Tour hailing from Arizona. A wildcard into the event last year, Shaughnessy is currently enjoying her best string of results that has lifted her to a career high ranking of #26. A slim, but vocal, crowd warmly welcomed Shaughnessy as she entered the court. The cheers would not last for long. Shaughnessy got off to an awful start with two very wide serves (one out wide, one off the tee) and was broken at love on a second double fault in her opening game. Bovina also broke the Arizonan easily in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead. The crowd tried to encourage Shaughessy and she was able to break back in the next game with a crackling forehand winner down the line. But the Russian (who at 6' 2 1/2" clearly fits the "Amazon" bill mentioned about), was able to maintain the one break lead to win the set at 6-4 in 40 minutes. Though clearly aided by Shaughessy's service problems and cold start, one could only wonder why Bovina is currently ranked #138? Well, that question was answered in the second set. With Shaughnessy tightening up her game, the Russian simply could not keep the ball in the court for the remainder of the match. The beginning of the end for Bovina began in the second game as she lost her racquet after a service and could only stand and watch Shaughnessy's next shot zip by her. Bovina would only win seven points in the first six games of the second set. So fortunately for the biased fans, Shaughnessy came back in the next two sets 6-2, 6-3. An interested spectator in the crowd was Kim Clijsters who Shaughnessy would meet in the quarterfinals if the seeds hold. Qualifying Update The final round of qualifying finished up this morning with Shinobu Asagoe, Nadejda Petrova, Tina Pisnik, and Pavlina Nola advancing to the main draw. With Mary Pierce's late withdrawal, Jana Nejedly also enters as a lucky loser. Alexandra Stevenson (the subject of yesterday's report) withdrew from her match with a lower back strain versus Tina Pisnik at 3-6, 2-2. All the qualifiers are in action tomorrow: Asagoe vs. 7th seed Lisa Raymond, Petrova vs. Daja Bedanova, Pisnik vs. Kveta Hrdlickova, Nola vs. Cara Black (winner to meet Monica Seles), and Nejedly vs. Osterloh (winner to meet Jennifer Capriati). |