Venus Williams Makes Her 2002 Debut
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.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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