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by Christopher Gerby Barbara Schett (19) vs. Selima Sfar Women's Singles: Second Round Court 8 Coming off a 6-1, 6-3 dismantling of Alexandra Stevenson in the first round, Barbara Schett had to be considered a pretty heavy favorite over 80th ranked Selima Sfar of Tunisia. Schett arrived a few minutes late for the match, but got off to a very strong start, taking a 3-1 lead. You could see Sfar itching to approach the net, but Schett was pinning her to the baseline with deep groundstrokes. Schett kept her break advantage all the way to 5-3, but her play was becoming more erratic and she was (like doubles partner Anke Huber) beginning to yell at herself over it. Game 9 went three deuces before Sfar snuck out the hold, putting away a backhand volley to stay alive at 4-5. Schett took a 3-minute injury timeout as WTA trainer Laura Eby attended to a minor problem on one of her hands. "Babsi" reached double set point when play resumed, but Sfar smacked a forehand winner for 40-30. Set point # 2 was a long baseline rally with a very strange ending. Sfar's skirt suddenly began to come undone and -- rather than lunge for a ball Schett had driven into the corner -- Sfar grabbed her waistband instead. The ball bounced past her, ending the 6-4 first set. Selima must not be terribly modest, though, because she did change her skirt right there on court during the break between sets. Schett opened the second set as strongly as she'd begun the first, taking a 3-1 lead. However, Sfar held for 2-3 and Schett made three unforced errors in a row to end a Sfar break for 3-3. They went with serve from there, ending up in a second set tiebreak.
Iroda Tulyaganova (22) vs. Jana Nejedly Women's Singles: Second Round Court 17 Iroda Tulyaganova followed up her decisive win over Marta Marrero on Tuesday by taking a 6-1 first set from Jana Nejedly of Canada. Nejedly is a player who looks utterly unwilling to get dirty out there. She throws none of her body into her serve (it's all arm) and stands very upright on her groundstrokes. That said, Nejedly is much fitter than she was a few years ago and her forehand became a true weapon in the second set of this match. With fellow up-and-comer Anastasia Myskina looking on, Tulyaganova had to serve well and do some great scrambling just to reach 3-3 in the second set. However, Iroda was becoming frustrated and she lost the next two games at love. Nejedly twice reached set point in Game 9 and lost both of them on unforced errors. Tulyaganova then got a break chance, but netted a backhand and let out an ear-piercing scream. Two points later, a service winner gave the set to Nejedly. Jana went ahead from there to score a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset. Jeyaseelan/Krasnoroutskaya vs. Basuki/Prakusya Women's Doubles: First Round Court 17 After taking in a set of the Dementieva-Habsudova singles match on an absolutely packed Court 10, I made my way back to 17. Nejedly's match was over, but a very intriguing doubles bout was just getting underway. Tireless dynamo Sonya Jeyaseelan and fiery Lina Krasnoroutskaya were locking horns with the Indonesian duo, Yayuk Basuki and Wynne Prakusya. Basuki was one of the best doubles players in the world before the desire to become a mother called her into a temporary retirement. She has made sporadic appearances since then, serving as a mentor to the steadly improving Prakusya. If nothing else, Wynne was in for a learning experience here. Jeyaseelan and Krasnoroutskaya were putting on a doubles clinic in the first set. Sonya scurried around blasting two-fisted winners while Lina (who looked like a giant compared to the other three players) displayed good form at the net. Jeyaseelan put away a smash to complete a 6-1 win of the opening set. The Indonesians tried to wrestle control back in the first game of the second set. After three deuces, they finally succeeded, with Basuki firing an ace for 1-0. Krasnoroutskaya was quickly broken for 2-0. Game 3 featured the best rally of the match: after a Krasnoroutskaya shot clipped the tape, Basuki flipped a sharply angled backhand cross-court, but Jeyaseelan darted over and ripped a winner down the line. It wasn't enough to save the game, which ended with a defensive Krasnoroutskaya lob landing wide. Prakusya fought off a break point to 4-0, Basuki served up another ace on the way to 5-0, and a love break of Krasnoroutskaya ended the second set bagel. This match of wildly shifting fortunes would have to be decided in a third set. Jeyaseelan was acting as the obvious captain of her team, barking out instructions like "go go go!" and "got it!" during the rallies. Krasnoroutskaya proved an able pupil, blasting two winners and a huge return in a love break of Prakusya. Jeyaseelan held at love, taking the very strange overall score to 6-1, 0-6, 2-0. Successful service games from each player made it 4-2. Basuki had been serving well ever since the start of the second set, but she hit a snag in Game 7, double faulting for 30-15 and again on break point. Yayuk threw her racquet at her bag on the changeover, now just one game away from elimination. Shortly thereafter, an unreturnable serve by Krasnoroutskaya gave the Canadian-Russian alliance a 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 victory. Prakusya missed her share of volleys, but the keys to this result were powerful returns and passing shots by Sonya Jeyaseelan and Lina Krasnoroutskaya. Damm/Prinosil vs. Braasch/Heuberger Men's Doubles: First Round Court 6 Bespectacled, chain-smoking 34-year-old Karsten Braasch underwent a bit of a doubles renaissance this summer, winning two challenger titles with regular partner Jens Knippschild. Jens missed this year's Open, though, so Braasch found himself paired with Ivo Heuberger, famous only for romping in the surf with then-girlfriend Martina Hingis when she would have been at Wimbledon two years ago. Heuberger's got some game, though -- he and Braasch won a 6-4 opening set over seasoned pros Martin Damm and David Prinosil. A break of Prinosil gave the underdogs a 2-1 lead in the second set. Early in Game 4, Heuberger's ball toss was blown so far off course by the wind that the serve he shanked hit the side fence on the fly. A few points later, Ivo's racquet flew out of his hand on a serve and skidded all the way around the net post. Despite those unintentional antics, he held for a 3-1 lead. Braasch did some of his patented deep-voiced bellowing in the middle of the second set as things finally got away from him. He blew a 40-15 lead on his (unusual as ever) serve as Damm/Prinosil tied the set. Damm then held easily for 4-3. Martin and David were still unhappy with the quality of their returns, but they made enough of them to challenge Heuberger throughout a three-deuce Game 8. Heuberger saved one break point, but double faulted to fall behind 3-5. Prinosil uncorked a pair of service winners as his team took the 6-3 set. There's nothing fancy about the serve-big-and-ask-questions-later game Damm and Prinosil play together, but it was good enough to eventually earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Braasch and Heuberger. Dokic/Bhupathi (7) vs. C Black/W Black Mixed Doubles: First Round Court 6 After sampling some other action around the crowded grounds (including an obstructed view of Anke Huber's second round win on packed-to-capacity Court 11), I returned to Court 6 for a doozy of a mixed doubles matchup. Mahesh Bhupathi and Jelena Dokic joined forces against the brother/sister pairing of Wayne and Cara Black. Bhupathi and Dokic looked like an ideal combination early on. Mahesh served big in a hold for 1-0 and Jelena (looking happy and relaxed without her infamous father around) cracked a couple winners to open up a 0-40 lead on Wayne's serve. The Blacks are both very solid doubles players, though, and they weren't holding anything back. The set quickly went to 3 games all. Cara Black hit a volley at Bhupathi's feet to earn a break point against Dokic, which her brother immediately converted by way of a winning backhand volley. The Blacks reached double set point in Game 10. Mahesh dodged the first with a winning forehand, but on the second, Cara hit an immaculate lob which landed square on the baseline. She grinned from ear to ear and Jelena smiled back, even though that highlight of a shot ended the set at 6-4. In an indication of just how ordinary a serve Wayne has for a man, it was Cara serving first for her team in the second set. While she took care of her serve, it was brother Wayne giving up the second set's initial break to fall behind 2-4. Cara had a chance to break right back, but with a wide open court she needlessly pushed a backhand long. A winning return by Wayne gave his team another chance and they made good, getting to 3-4 when a running Dokic found the net with a forehand. Wayne hit an ace in holding for 4-4 and the Zimbabweans set out to break Mahesh's big serve. They reached 0-30, but Bhupathi hit an ace and Cara missed a return, sticking her tongue out as the score became 30-30. At 40-30,the Black sister redeemed herself with a winning lob. Wayne hit a winning return to bring up break point. With the sun setting, Dokic complained that some lights should be turned on above the court. Play continued, though, and Cara drilled a backhand return down the line which handcuffed Jelena. The Blacks had their break and a winning lead of 5-4. The lights remained off and, even though she looked annoyed, Dokic said nothing about it. It was lights out for the 7th seeds four points later, as Bhupathi sent a forehand return long to end a 6-4, 6-4 win for Cara and Wayne Black. |