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by Christopher Gerby While the sport's established veterans toil away in the stadiums at the USTA National Tennis Center, fans can get a close-up view of the next generation on the outer courts. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Myskina, Fernando Gonzalez, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Ansley Cargill, and Ashley Harkleroad were among the youngsters attempting to make their mark on Wednesday. Janette Husarova vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova Women's Singles: Second Round Court 13 After reaching the juniors final at last year's US Open, Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her Flushing Meadows success in 2002. Built like Kim Clijsters with big, strong legs, Kuznetsova charged through the qualifying and upended # 19 seed Anne Kremer in the first round of the main draw. Her next obstacle would be Janette Husarova, a Top 10 doubles player having a very credible season in singles as well. Kuznetsova's forehand appears to be her best weapon, but it was erratic on Wednesday morning. Forehand errors and foot faults marked the early games as 28-year-old Husarova grabbed a 4-1 lead. Husarova had plenty of support in this one. A group of fans at the left end of the stands waved a Slovakian flag. To the right sat Janette's old doubles partner Tathiana Garbin and a pair of her Fed Cup teammates, Henrieta Nagyova and Martina Sucha. Their friend dropped serve to 4-2, but did some spectacular retrieving in Game 7, breaking right back. Mixing up her game and handling Kuznetsova's considerable pace, Husarova served out the 6-2 set at 15. Presumably having gotten over some early jitters, Kuznetsova thumped a pair of aces in the opening game of Set 2. Games went with serve quickly to 3-3, when Husarova earned a crucial double break point chance. The veteran gagged, netting her return of a second serve. A forehand winner from Kuznetsova shook off the second break point and sent the 17-year-old on an impressive run. Playing with power and control, she held to 4-3, broke at 15 for 5-3, and held at love to win the second set 6-3. After just 52 minutes of play, Kuznetsova and Husarova were even at a set apiece. After dropping serve to open the third set, Husarova said something to Henrieta Nagyova, who remained in the stands looking confused and concerened. My hunch is that Husarova mentioned a flare-up of the back injury which forced her to pull out of singles and doubles a few weeks ago in Los Angeles. Sure enough, after falling behind 0-3 in the final set, Janette called for the trainer. A diagnosis period was followed by a full medical timeout in which Husarova got some treatment that looked like reverse CPR, lying on her stomach as the trainer repeatedly pressed on her back. When play resumed, Husarova immediately made four straight errors, falling behind 0-4 and looking to be on the verge of retirement. She stuck it out, though, holding to 1-4 and choosing not to have any more treatment. After trading holds to 5-2, Kuznetsova attempted to serve the match out. She did so with relative ease, continuing to control the rallies with her mighty forehand. One last Husarova shot found the net on double match point and Kuznetsova recorded a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Waiting outside the court to congratulate her (while carrying a little dog and chatting with fans) was none other than Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who won a couple doubles titles with Kuznetsova this summer. (15) Anastasia Myskina vs. Denisa Chladkova Women's Singles: Second Round Court 6 Another of the 11 AM starts matched red-hot Russian Anastasia Myskina against the top seed from qualifying, Denisa Chladkova. An upset appeared to be in the offing when Chladkova took a 6-3, 5-3 lead, but Myskina is no quitter (as she proved in a come-from-behind upset of Martina Hingis the previous week in New Haven). "Nastya" ran off eight games in a row, taking advantage of numerous errors from an increasingly frustrated Chladkova. It took three deuces and some clutch serving for the Czech to finally stem the tide, holding for 1-4 in the final set. Already leading 40-15 in Game 6, Myskina got jammed but somehow managed to flick back an inside-out backhand winner. Now up 5-1, she raised an apologetic hand, admitting that was a lucky shot. Two points later, she absolutely killed a forehand return, closing in on victory at 0-30. Chladkova got the next point, but two consecutive forehand errors sealed her fate. Having saved herself from near-certain defeat, Myskina raised her arms to celebrate the 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win. Anastasia signed quite a few autographs while Denisa staggered off the court, looking downright bewildered. (28) Fernando Gonzalez vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu Men's Singles: First Round Court 7 Less than 24 hours after hosting Vince Spadea's crowd-pleasing comeback against Jerome Golmard, Court 7 featured another five set thriller. Two of the sport's talented young guns were slugging it out, with Paul-Henri Mathieu taking sets 1 and 3 while ultra-powerful Fernando Gonzalez battled back in 2 and 4. Doing their part to inspire Gonzalez were the near-legendary Chilean fans. They rocked the grounds on Tuesday night (rooting Nicolas Massu to victory over Nicolas Lapentti) and were back at it here with their patented chant of "Chi Chi Chi! Le Le Le! Viva Chile!" With his backwards baseball cap and habit of shouting "come on!" after big points, Paul-Henri Mathieu could have easily passed for one of the draw's many young Americans. While the 20-year-old still resides in Paris and plays under the French banner, he trained at Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida from 1996 to '98. While Gonzalez has some of the hardest strokes in the game today, Mathieu went toe to toe with him, battling for four deuces in the opening game of the final set. It was Mathieu coming out ahead, knocking off a high backhand volley and yelling "come on!" again. Game 2 was another display of mutal power and determination. Mathieu made some absolutely wicked forehand returns, but after two deuces, Gonzalez held on for 1-1. Gonzalez screamed "vamos!" after an incredible rally in Game 3, showing a remarkable ability to go from defense to offense in no time flat. On break point, Gonzalez hit a thunderous forehand which drew a defensive backhand error from the Frenchman. "El Gorilla" pumped his fist and marched to the chair with a 2-1 lead. A pitched battle of high quality, evenly matched play continued. Gonzalez needed a pair of deuces to hold for 3-1. Mathieu faced a break point in Game 5, but saved it with sharp reflexes, bunting an unlikely backhand winner down the line. Two points later, Paul-Henri ripped a winning forehand and sprinted to his chair with another "come on!" Gonzalez held for 4-2 with an ace, but Mathieu's daring serve-and-volley work paid off in a hold for 3-4. Again the young Frenchman made a brisk jog to his chair, riding a wave of adrenaline. With cloudy, milder conditions than we saw in the first two days, cramping would not be an issue here for either player. Facing break point for the first time in the set, Gonzalez banged a monstorous ace off the scoreboard. He double faulted his way to break point # 2, but a mis-hit return by Mathieu brought the score back to deuce. Gonzalez won the next rally with his vaunted forehand, shouting "vamos!" and pumping his fist twice. On game point, Mathieu netted a forehand and leaned back in anguish, a game away from elimination at 3-5. A booming "Viva Chile" chant followed from the stands. Not ready to pack his bags just yet, Mathieu finished up a love hold with an ace, forcing Gonzalez to serve for it at 5-4. Just 22 years old, looking for his second US Open victory ever, Gonzalez could have been expected to tense up and choke. He did not: ace, ace, ace, service winner. The love hold was highly impressive stuff and Gonzalez celebrated by whacking a ball to his supporters. They sang "ole ole ole ole Chile Chile" while Gonzalez shook hands with the very game Mathieu and soaked in a 2-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. It was an exciting way to start a magical run for the Santiago Slugger, who defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero on his way to the quarterfinals. (13) Rittner/Serna vs. Cargill/Harkleroad Women's Doubles: First Round Court 15 Not surprisingly, the USTA granted a wild card to two potential American stars of the future. Doing their best to take advantage of the chance were Ansley Carigll and Ashley Harkleroad, who impressively sprinted to a 3-0 lead over seeded veterans Barbara Rittner and Magui Serna. Game 4 saw Harkleroad win an eyeliner-to-eyeliner volleying duel with Serna, who was just not herself in this first set. The Spaniard dumped a volley two points later for 0-4. Scrambling all over the court and hitting a mature-beyond-their-years array of lobs and touch volleys, Cargill and Harkleroad needed just 24 minutes to claim a 6-1 set from their curiously flat opponents. The late afternoon air was turning decidedly chilly, but it didn't dampen the spirits of Harkleroad and Cargill, who shared many smiles as they continued to stun the German/Spanish pair. On serve at 2-3 in the second set, Harkleroad saved a pair of break points with a forehand winner and an unreturnable serve. She raised a clenched fist after whipping a forehand to get the ad, then held for 3-3 when Serna failed to put a return in play. Routine holds followed from Rittner, Cargill, and Serna, but Harkleroad found trouble again at 4-5. Ashley had been the star of the match to this point, but her backhand error on set point gave the 6-4 frame to Rittner/Serna. Another young American, Tanner Cochran (seeded 3rd in junior singles), was taking in some of the action courtside. She chimed in with an encouraging "go Ash, go Ansley" as her peers tried to turn things back around in the final set. At 1-1, 30-30, Harkleroad recorded a forehand winner and emitted a high-pitched cry of "come on!" On break point, Cargill drilled a forehand right at fellow lefty Serna, who deflected it wide to drop serve. The Americans were back in command, up a break at 2-1. Leading 4-3 in the deciding set, Harkleroad came up with three winners in a row, imposing her will on the match. Rittner missed a forehand on game point and threw her racket, now one game away from exiting the tournament. At 0-30 in Rittner's service game, Harkleroad made a great scrambling get and drew an errant Serna volley for triple match point. It ended there, with Cargill lacing a forehand winner down the line. Ashley Harkleroad was absolutely beaming at the end, having earned attention with more than just her looks on this day. Ashley's counterpunching has generally aided her more in singles than doubles, but the 17-year-old flashed commendable all-court skill in this 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 upset. Hadad/Qureshi vs. Hood/Prieto Men's Doubles: First Round Grandstand If Corina Morariu's return from life-threatening leukemia was the most inspirational story in the tournament, the doubles partnership of Amir Hadad and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi ran a close second. In the current political climate, it was remarkable to see a Jew from Israel and a Muslim from Pakistan winning matches together this summer at Wimbledon. The USTA took notice, giving the unlikely pair a wild card and an evening showcase on the Grandstand. While the match drew a relatively small crowd, it was an eclectic mix. Fans from Pakistan, others waving Israel's flag, and curious Americans were all united in their support of Hadad and Qureshi, who broke Mariano Hood's serve to take a 6-4, 2-1 lead. Game 4 saw Hadad show off a big serve and some Leander Paes-esque flash, hitting an over-the-shoulder forehand in the middle of one successful rally. His second ace of the game closed out a hold for 3-1. Hadad tried an absolutely crazy backhand in Game 5, picking a ball out of the hair with his back turned to the net. When it found the bottom of the net, Qureshi threw up his arms in an exaggerated "what are you doing?" gesture. He was just joking around, though, and would make some great shots of his own on the way to a love hold for 4-2. Mariano Hood and Sebastien Prieto put forth a united front with their matching gray outfits, but they just didn't have quite as much firepower as their newly famous opponents. Hadad stung a forehand winner to complete an easy break of Hood's serve for 5-2, then touched fists with Qureshi on their way to the chair. The obvious star of the set was Hadad, who finessed a touch volley winner for 30-0 and -- on triple match point -- executed a perfect drop volley for the 6-4, 6-2 win. Just two months after being anonymous journeymen, Amir Hadad and Aisam Qureshi found themselves signing a slew of autographs, posing for pictures together, and getting countless words of support from the New York fans. It was a very touching, satisfying note to end the day on. |