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by Christopher Gerby You never know who will saunter into the press room when the tournament gets down to its nitty gritty stages. This afternoon I found myself literally shoulder-to-shoulder with Mary Carillo as she hunted for interview transcripts and match notes. Carillo's been doing color commentary for Canadian TV all week -- entertaining as ever in the bits I've heard. Particularly amusing was her story about being the only non-French journalist interested in chatting with Amelie Mauresmo way back at the 1998 US Open. After introducing herself and asking Amelie if she could speak English, Carillo told the up-and-comer "You've got a great stinkin' backhand." Amelie would pick up an even more colorful expression tonight, but let's take the semifinals in chronological order... (2) Jennifer Capriati vs. (3) Jelena Dokic Singles: Semifinal Centre Court Somewhat milder conditions -- a pleasant 26 degrees Celsius in the stands, but still pushing 45 on the court -- greeted the players for Saturday's early semifinal. The WTA's extreme heat rule was not in effect...and neither Jennifer Capriati nor Jelena Dokic got off to an extremely hot start on serve. After three consecutive breaks marked by sloppy play, Capriati blew through an impressive love hold for 3-1. Dokic found a bit of a groove in her own right, staying just one break down at 3-4. Game 8 had the distinct look of a turning point, with Dokic stepping into some big forehands to reach break point three times. Some questionable non-calls on the baseline saved Capriati, however, and after five deuces she finally spanked a backhand winner for 5-3. Jennifer soon found herself at double set point, leading 5-4, 40-15. The Floridian's forehand really started to fly on her, though, and three straight unforced errors suddenly gave Dokic a chance to get even in the set. Jelena saw her chance and took it, rifling a beautifully placed forehand return to break for 5-all. An exchange of holds followed to force a crucial first set tiebreak...
"I was feeling OK at the beginning, but the more I played, the more I had to run and the worse it got," said Dokic. The unfortunate ending seemed almost inevitable, given the remarkable amount of tennis she's been playing on the hard courts this summer. "I think doubles this week was a mistake," she admitted after the 7-6, 4-0 defeat. "I don't think it was so much the whole year, how much I've played the whole year. I think it's the last few weeks that have done this. It was just since San Diego I have played so many matches and I haven't had time to recover." Capriati didn't feel the abrupt way in which the match ended took anything away from her victory. "I was pretty much on a roll and it was almost at the end anyway when she retired. So it was very important to get that first set in, and a very intense first set, so I mean I think that was the match right there." Gunning for her first Canadian Open title since 1991, Capriati has done an impressive, surprising job of varying her game this week. "I think as I get older and more experienced and, you know, realize that sometimes the way that these girls play now, it's just hard-hitting shots... I just tried to figure out or have been working on different ways to change the pace." (7) Amelie Mauresmo vs. (8) Daniela Hantuchova Singles: Semifinal Centre Court With some of the tournament's bigger names having fallen by the wayside, Amelie Mauresmo and Daniela Hantuchova had the spotlight all to themselves on Saturday evening. It was Mauresmo who responded well to the pressure early on. Cranking up some huge serves, the talented Frenchwoman blasted her way to a 5-1 lead. Hantuchova was struggling mightily, going for too much off the forehand side, missing half of her first serves, and even badly shanking an easy overhead. Daniela recovered in time to strike an ace and a delicate half-volley winner in holding for 2-5, but this set had gotten away from her. Mauresmo blasted two more aces (although the official scorer only gave her credit for one) in serving it out 6-2. While continuing to struggle against Mauresmo's mighty serve, Hantuchova did get her own game in order during the second set. Playing with effective aggressiveness and incorporating some of those little fist pumps we'd seen from her in the previous rounds, Hantuchova was dead even at 4-4 in the second set as the match hit the one hour mark. But the Slovakian then squandered a set's worth of good play in one horrendous service game, broken at love when she netted a backhand approach. Mauresmo quickly made her way to double match point, but a sudden case of nerves virtually paralyzed the 23-year-old. She lost points every which way (backhand error, double fault, forehand error) to give Hantuchova the ad. A great scrambling rally followed, with Hantuchova pushing a half-volley just wide. Mauresmo appeared to be sufficiently out of her funk now, celebrating with a very exuberant windmill fist pump. Hantuchova could still smell the service break, though. She blasted a backhand winner down the line to regain the ad, then drilled a Mauresmo second serve to break for 5-5. Hantuchova had "the big mo" now. She held for 6-5 and got a 15-30 window in Mauresmo's next service game. Amelie then attempted a drop shot, which Hantuchova ran down and sent back for a winner. Seemingly a split second after she'd held double match point, Mauresmo was facing double set point. She got some big serves when she absolutely needed them, however, and then drew a couple backhand errors from Hantuchova to bring up the tiebreak...
The highlight of Mauresmo's press conference came about after it was officially over, as a few mischievous local journalists got to teaching Mauresmo a versatile swear word from Quebec's version of French. She played along, practicing a phrase which can be roughly translated as "I f***ing played well." The same could not be legitimately claimed by baby-faced Daniela Hantuchova, at least regarding her performance in the first set. Giving all of the credit to Mauresmo, who "served very good today," Daniela claimed no problem with nerves in the semifinal. "I felt I had the momentum when I saved the two match points, but I didn’t manage to close out the set." Despite her preference for extremely hot conditions, Hantuchova didn't mind playing her first evening match of the week. "It was a great atmosphere. The crowd was great, so I enjoyed it." (5) Dementieva/Husarova vs. Fujiwara/Sugiyama Doubles: Semifinal Centre Court The winners of this week's wildest doubles matches squared off in the Saturday night special. Not the biggest stars in professional tennis, these four players apparently knew to come dressed in distinctive attire so the fans in the cheap seats could tell them apart. For the record, it was Rika Fujiwara in a pink ensemble, Ai Sugiyama in black, Elena Dementieva in her powder blue tennis dress, and Janette Husarova in a simple white top/black skirt combo. The first set was over in about half the time I spent writing that fashion summary. Dementieva/Husarova converted three of four break points, taking the set 6-1 with Elena blasting winners to end each of the last two games. Having fought all the way back from 6-1, 3-0 in their first round match, Fujiwara and Sugiyama knew not to abandon hope. They came out very strong in the second set, putting away anything near the net en route to a 4-0 lead. Fujiwara came back to earth in the next couple games, though, with Sugiyama getting broken and Dementieva holding to make it 4-2. Now down just one break, Janette Husarova absolutely sprang to life, dropping winners all over the court. Lobs, returns, volleys, serves -- everything in the arsenal was clicking. She struck three winners in a break for 3-4 and three more to hold for 4-all. Husarova nearly stole another break from the Japanese pair in Game 9, but would eventually throw her hands up in frustration after netting an important return. After three deuces, Sugiyama held on for a 5-4 lead. Momentum regained, Ai and Rika played their way to double set point on the Dementieva serve. Fujiwara lined up a forehand down the line, but drove the ball into the high part of the net. Husraova then clipped Fujiwara's racket with a volley for deuce. But a winning volley by the ever-dangerous Sugiyama earned set point # 3. This one was converted when Dementieva shanked a backhand wide to drop the set 6-4. On serve at 1-2 in the third set, Husarova's game utterly fell apart. Usually so comfortable camped out at the net, she missed three volleys as Dementieva dropped serve to 1-3. Strong returning got the Russian/Slovakian team to double break point in the very next game, but now it was 20-year-old Rika Fujiwara's turn to dominate. The last three points of the game were winning Fujiwara volleys (including a lunging stab on break point). Sugiyama was like a proud parent, bounding around and cheering on her partner. A poorly played Husarova service game put the Japanese pair within one game of another successful comeback win at 5-1. Waiting until she was facing match point to pick up the level of her game again, Husarova ripped a swinging volley at Sugiyama to stave off elimination. Two points later, Janette dinked in a drop volley which bounced twice before Fujiwara could get a racket on it. That service break was followed by an easy Dementieva hold, so we had a real match on our hands again at 5-3. The stands were more than half empty at this point, as the match had gone past 10 o'clock, but there was a fairly loud round of rhythmic applause as Sugiyama prepared to serve it out. Up 15-0, Fujiwara put away a roundhouse semi-overhead smash reminiscent of Jimmy Connors and celebrated with an almost Connors-esque fist pump. She then netted a sitter for 30-15, but earned double match point with an angled backhand volley and let out a happy squeal. There would be no more miracles from Janette Husarova, whose last forehand sailed well long to complete the 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 battle. Sugiyama and Fujiwara were visibly ecstatic over the win, smiling broadly and waving to the crowd with their rackets. Fujiwara was even hopping up and down with excitement. They'll now get a crack at # 2 seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez, who have efficiently carved their way through the bottom half of the draw, winning six sets in a row. It's the second consecutive appearance in the Montreal doubles final for Ai Sugiyama, who teamed with Julie Halard-Decugis in the last match of the 2000 event. Goaded by Halard into speaking French during the trophy ceremony that year, Sugiyama sheepishly limited her attempt to "Merci. Au revoir." We'll see if she has picked up a few more words in the interim...but hopefully not the one Mauresmo learned tonight. |