Elena Bovina vs. Andrea Glass
by Prip
Elena Bovina and Andrea Glass were already deep into the match when I
arrived at the court. The German had taken the first set 6-4, and was
receiving serve in second at 4-all. The Russian at this point kept
making unforced errors, and it looked like the match would be over
soon. Andrea broke to go up 5-4, and the trainer who had been on
standby for Elena asked if she needed medical attention. The resilient
Russian said that she wanted to wait until the third set before
getting treatment.
The energy drink she had during the changeover certainly must have
helped, as Elena came out on court looking as determined as she
always does, and played inspired tennis, dropping only one point on
the way to breaking back. The tall girl continues to amaze me with
how much strength she has, and can turn things around from seemingly
hopeless situations. Elena held serve comfortably, blasting
everything: her serve, her groundies, her swinging volleys. She went
up 6-5, and Andrea served to keep the match from going into the
deciding set. The German went ahead on her service game, at which
point Elena decided to take her time getting into position to receive
serve. This had two effects: first, it succeeded in frustrating her
opponent, and second, it gave her a bit of time to cool down and
catch her breath. It turned out to be a smart move, and she got the
break to take the set 7-5.
The Russian finally had the trainer on court, who had to stretch and
massage her hip and side. It might have been just a niggling injury
that the youngster was worried might become crippling as the match
went on, as she showed absolutely no signs of any discomfort at all.
Of course, she is a very determined and focused young lady, and could
very well have been putting up a brave front in the last few games.
She didn't take very long with the medical time-out, and was soon
back on court blasting the tennis balls. With sheer power, she can
hit winners from defense, or at least turn from being on the defense
to being the aggressor in the blink of an eye. As she blasted ball
after ball over the net, I could only marvel at the amount of power
this girl has, sort of like a younger Mirjana Lucic, only more consistent and
patient. She also manages to get away with a rather late backswing.
Andrea found herself down on her service game at 0-1 in the third,
and suddenly started hitting very low slices at her opponent. That
seemed to put a halt to the runaway train, and games went on serve.
The Russian finally got the break to go up 4-2, and both players were
fully pumped up by this time. Apparently, they weren't the only ones.
Andrea's coach, who had been sitting at the outside corner of the
court, had a problem with one of the Russian coaches who was sitting
with Elena's coach, and came over to tell him about it. The argument
got heated as the players went to the changeover, and the two nearly
came to blows. The players did a good job of ignoring the commotion,
though, and went on with the match. Tatiana Panova, who had been
sitting with her compatriots from early in the match, had left for
some reason when Elena took the medical time-out, and had returned
later to a seat at the other half of the court. She looked on with a
very amused look as the argument went on, and laughed at the display.
Nothing like a little drama to keep the tour interesting.
Elena held on to the break to serve the match out, after which the
two guys had more to say to each other. Andrea was pretty quick to
head to the locker room, disappointed with her loss. Elena looks set
to reach the main draw, as she should come through against Alena Vaskova
in the next round.
|
|
The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine.
http://tennis-ontheline.com/01sydf.htm © 2025
Last updated 26 September 2015
// -->
|