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by Christopher Gerby Dispensing first with the information you could get anywhere else -- Jennifer Capriati, Jelena Dokic, and Martina Hingis all won their 3rd Round matches on Centre Court. (Biggest news I retrieved about anyone from that trio today: Hingis will be playing doubles with Anna Kournikova at the US Open. Spice Girls live!) Since we'll be hearing from them over the next few days, let's instead focus on some of the day's less widely reported action... (8) Daniela Hantuchova vs. Amanda Coetzer Singles: Third Round Centre Court 24 hours after ousting Elena Dementieva, little Amanda Coetzer faced another uphill battle against one of the sport's rising stars. Although seeded just one spot higher than Dementieva, Daniela Hantuchova is emerging as a far more complete player. Coetzer was her usual battling self in the opening set, but just could not win the big points against her taller, stronger, younger opponent. Absolutely pummeling a cross-court forehand return on set point, Hantuchova took it 6-1 in just 24 minutes. Continuing to dictate play from the baseline, the Slovakian charged ahead 4-1 in the second set. Some untimely errors cost her a break opportunity in Game 6, keeping Coetzer's hopes alive. A tension-filled seventh game saw a string of errors and winners off the dangerous Hantuchova forehand. After six deuces, one more unforced error from the 19-year-old got Coetzer back on serve at 3-4. But the rally was short-lived. Hantuchova came out from the changeover with a renewed sense of purpose and played lights-out tennis. Pushing the scrappy South American around at will, she broke at 30 and held at love, firing an ace on the final point of her 6-1, 6-3 victory. A very strong first serve percentage of 71 was key to Hantuchova's quick win. "I was trying to go for it also on the second serve because I knew that I can put her with it under a lot of pressure," Daniela added in her press conference. Unlike your intrepid reporter, Hantuchova didn't prefer Thursday's milder weather. "Actually, I like it when it's really hot, but today was OK. I mean, I really like it when it's really, really hot." (The grin on her face while she was dragging out those words almost convinced me she was flirting. Hey, let a guy dream.) Hantuchova confirmed that Nike will continue its tradition of giving players special new outfits to debut at the U.S. Open. "I haven't seen what it's going to be like, but hopefully it's going to be something nice," she said with another smile. Ah, Daniela, we hope so too. (4) Kim Clijsters vs. Barbara Schett Singles: Third Round Court 1 Court 1 held mixed blessings for Barbara Schett on Wednesday. She scored her best singles victory of the year over Chanda Rubin in the afternoon, but squandered a huge lead in an evening doubles match with Anna Kournikova. "We were both shocked," Barbara said of that loss (extensively covered by your friends at On The Line) to Rika Fujiwara and Ai Sugiyama. "6-1, 3-love, we thought, I mean, this was it. We were a double break up and were not aggressive anymore. It was a bad loss. Shouldn't have happened. We were not very happy about it." Schett would get an immediate chance to vanquish those demons on Thursday, facing Kim Clijsters on the very same court. Coming out very flat after playing six sets of tennis on Wednesday, Clijsters fell behind 0-4, winning just five points along the way. Three separate cries of "c'mon Kim!" from fans in the stands seemed to wake up the Belgian, who hit some very strong groundstrokes in breaking Schett for 1-4. Schett would extend the lead to 5-2, but not before facing another break point against the gradually improving Clijsters. Kim finally did get the break in Game 9, hitting an impeccable drop shot and a massive forehand winner in the process. Understandably frustrated, Schett managed to bounce her racket four times on the walk from the baseline to her chair. Just as quickly as she got back into the set, Clijsters put herself in trouble, committing three unforced errors to give Schett a set point. The Austrian then struck a return which appeared to land an inch or two over the baseline, but no call was forthcoming. "See the mark? No, it's not!" bellowed a livid Clijsters at the sunglasses-sporting linesman. Asked about that call after the match, Kim gave one of the run-on, motormouth dissertations we're coming to know and love from her. "It's hard for linesmen because the balls come quick and I took it quite fast, because it was really deep and I took it straight after the bounce and that makes it hard for the linesman to see and to correct straight away, but on the other hand, you know, it was a big point and I had two bad line calls which the chair umpire overruled already and that happened on set point. But you know something? Like, during the match, it can be frustrating, I think, because we're trying to do best and we're trying to be professional and we sort of expect a little bit the same from the linespeople and everybody else." Rather than lose focus after that incident, Clijsters seemed to come out more determined in the second set. She was holding serve comfortably, but Schett was staying even with her, continuing to do damage from the backcourt. The players became more intense and competitive as the set went on. When Schett began to argue a fault call in Game 7, Clijsters ran up to the line and churlishly banged her racket on the mark. Schett survived a multi-deuce battle in that game and won her next service round at love for a 5-4 lead. Clijsters opened Game 10 with a serve out wide that was called a fault, but then ruled an ace by the chair umpire (a man named Chavez). Convinced that she deserved to play a let at worst, Schett went off on the umpire: "That's unbelievable! You cannot do that! Really great. If I lose this match because of you..." She never finished that thought, but Chavez almost seemed to take her up on the threat. Kim's very next serve was another fault overruled by the umpire, prompting Schett to ask, "Are you doing this on purpose now?" Perhaps too angry to get nervous, Barbara played well for the rest of the game, taking a 15-40 lead. On that double match point, Clijsters drove a backhand long. Practically before the ball even landed, the # 4 seed stormed off the court, having lost a surprising 6-4, 6-4 heartbreaker. While giving Schett credit for her performance, Clijsters blamed the loss on fatigue. "I had to play my best tennis if I wanted to beat her and I didn't, so I felt a little bit tired, I think, and maybe not as fresh as I should." Meanwhile, I asked Schett about her old penchant for struggling to close out big matches. "I always tended to play a little bit less aggressive when the match was getting closer, towards the end. I worked on that. I'm still working on that. I think I'm still not as aggressive as I should be at the end, but yesterday and today it turned out to be good and I'm happy about it." Of course, matters at the end were complicated by those back-to-back overrules. "Of course at that point in the match you are a little bit more nervous -- especially me, I'm very emotional. And then I was complaining a little bit, but it turned out to be good at the end." It's become quite a renaissance week for Schett, whom most observers would have pegged as being in the twilight of her career by now. Trying to explain where she's been since her brief stint in the Top 10, Barbara said, "I just lost my confidence and there were some personal reasons, like three years ago, and this year I just didn't really have lots of confidence." (The personal problems in question would be her breakup with former coach/fiance Thomas Prerovsky, who sold salacious stories about their relationship to a London tabloid.) "This feels really good and I think this could be a turning point." (5) Dementieva/Husarova vs. Clijsters/Dokic Doubles: Quarterfinal Court 2 Another weird, brief rain delay hit Jarry Park before the day's marquee doubles matches could get underway. Finding absolutely packed stands at Court 1 (where Capriati/Navratilova fans did The Wave while waiting), I headed to Court 2 instead. It was a fortuitous turn of events, as I wound up catching what should hold up as the match of the week... An upset win over top-seeded Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs on Wednesday apparently brought Kim Clijsters and Jelena Dokic closer together. The new (and staggeringly successful thus far) partners tripled the communication efforts of their first round win. Facing Elena Dementieva and Janette Husarova, Clijsters/Dokic engaged in many between-point strategy conferences, had the little hand slaps going, and seemed to enjoy each other's company during the changeovers. Maybe they're getting too close: Clijsters sneezed early in the opening set, making me wonder if she caught the flu bug which dogged Dokic last week in Los Angeles. Dementieva was the only player to avoid having her serve broken as the # 5 seeds grabbed a 3-2 lead. In the next game, Clijsters and Dokic flew off the handle about a person in the stands who was somehow distracting them. "I saw it! That's the second time," Kim yelled, putting her fingers to her lips in a smoking gesture. "He does it all the time," a scowling Dokic chimed in. To this moment, I still have no idea who they were referring to or exactly what his objectionable behavior was. After Dokic held at love for 3-4, Clijsters gave her a very enthusiastic, ticked-off looking high five. Continuing to argue about the distracting spectator, Clijsters asked chair umpire Carolyn Cramer, "Why do you think he always sits there?" (Remind me to ask Dokic about this tomorrow.) Clijsters came out like a house on fire in Game 8, putting away an angry smash, calling a ball out with one of those raised fingers from juniors tennis, and pumping her fist when a Dementieva error brought the score to 4-4. Dementieva used a sterling backhand pass to break right back...before dropping her own serve for 5-all. It was very exciting, topsy-turvy stuff, with three of the players mostly whaling away from the baseline while Husarova buzzed around the net looking for opportunities to poach. Holds by Dokic and Husarova forced a first set tiebreak...
Game 7 ended with Husarova missing a forehand on break point and glaring in the direction of whoever Kim and Jelena had been complaining about. Dokic took that as vindication and laid into umpire Cramer again: "The whole match it's been like that, but you won't do anything about it! It's a joke!" Clijsters would then consolidate the break, but Dementieva staved off elimination with a love hold for 4-5. Elena and Janette steamrolled through the Belgian's attempt to serve out the match, using great angles and court coverage to break Clijsters at love. Two games later, a correct, undisputed overrule on a Dokic backhand ended the set in favor of Dementieva/Husarova 7-5. They immediately departed for a bathroom break, leaving Clijsters and Dokic to ponder what might have been. The deciding third set was as wild and wooly as they come. Clijsters went into what Mary Carillo calls "smoke 'em if you got 'em mode," with big swings and bad intentions on every point. In her overaggressiveness, she hit one overhead off the frame of her racket, which she kissed after the ball fluttered in for a lucky winner. The power hitting intimidated her opponents so much that Dementieva started standing on the baseline whenever Husarova would serve to Clijsters. (At first I thought Elena was just gunshy after being hit by the ball a few times, but then I saw that Janette was actually ordering her back there as a strategy move.) A whopping seven service breaks in the set's first nine games left Dokic and Clijsters within a game of victory at 5-4. During the changeover, they clasped hands and raised them like running mates on election night. The celebration was premature. Dementieva, arguably the most awkward doubles player of the quartet, smoked a couple winning passes on the way to yet another break for 5-all. The players were all completely throwing their hearts into the match now. Game 11 saw Clijsters make a great lunging stab and a scrambling save off the net cord in the same rally, only to lose it when Husarova angled off a delicate winner. Clijsters drew a huge ovation for her efforts and went right back to tomahawking every ball as if she could get bonus points for knocking the cover off it. Dementieva and Husarova fought off two break points in the game, but finally succumbed for 5-6. But if you think Clijsters then wrapped up the match with a tidy service hold, think again. Husarova was the star of Game 12, winning points with a drop volley and a clutch forehand winner. Clijsters netted a high backhand on double break point to force the inevitable third set tiebreak...
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