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by Priya Prasad First match of the day, and Silvia Farina Elia had a fright of a match against qualifier Cho Yoon-Jeong. The Italian barely made it through the first set in a tie-break, struggling to keep her backhand under control, and even finding her forehand a little errant. Cho on the other hand played relentless tennis, showing little intimidation at the prospect of facing a former top-15 player, and simply went for her shots with nothing to lose. In a match that could have gone either way, Silvia came through in the end, calling on her experience in tight situations to stay collected, and eventually came through 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3. With a performance like this, the finalist from last year will likely find herself falling short of a repeat performance. Titillated by the near-upset, the Aussie crowd looked forward to seeing Nicole Pratt in action against the final surviving qualifier in the draw, Anca Barna. The German had up to now exceeded any expectations of her, and went on court knowing exactly that. In a see-saw match that swung to-and-fro countless times, Nicole's stealth attacks failed to make a dent against the barrage of passing shots she faced, and the tournament lost its last Aussie, in a stunning 6-3 2-6 6-1 match. The disappointment soon was forgot as Venus Williams made her debut on center court, in yet another of her designs. Brandishing a design reminiscent of the logo American athletes sport on her back, the crowd had little time to witness the top seed's power and athleticism as she absolutely stunned former top-tenner Ai Sugiyama 6-0 6-4 without blinking an eye. With a short day of play on schedule, almost all who had come out to the Royal Pines Resort (tickets had been sold out that day) stayed for the doubles matches to catch four very talented players in action. Justine Henin, Meghann Shaughnessy, Elena Bovina and Daniela Hantuchova thoroughly entertained the crowd with their display of power and finess, and many in attendance were convinced that the future of women's tennis was present on court. Justine still had trouble with her serve, but her team got through 6-0 5-7 7-5, having to fight through to the very end. Formerly one of the best doubles teams around, Elena Likhovtseva and Ai Sugiyama struggled to get going against Joanette Kruger and Emilie Loit. The duo had split up in 2000 after Ai opted to play with now-retired Julie Halard-Decugis instead, and although both are excellent doubles players, they struggled to keep the errors down on their service returns, and both had dismal serving percentages. Patience and perseverance from the experienced duo paid off, and they finally got through 4-6 7-5 6-3. Fans hoping that the pair are staging a reunion will be disappointed to learn that Ai will be playing with Kim Clijsters this season, if not just up to the Australian Open. Quarterfinal day tomorrow, and not many Tier III events could hope for such a potentially glamorous affair: if all goes well, the semifinals should see the top seeds Venus Williams and Justine Henin pushed hard by Nadejda Petrova and Daja Bedanova respectively. In the meantime, all four players have one more hurdle before the big matches, and with the way things have been going, one just waits for the next surprise result. |