Hantuchova Loses Gracefully, Anna Wins Easily, and Queen Venus Moves On
by Alex Dimitrov
The Acura Classic in San Diego, California has been known to
consistently attract the top players on the WTA tour. This year the
field was no different. Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer
Capriati, and Kim Clijsters were all headlining the biggest Tier II
tournament on the tour. Among fan favorites were Anna Kournikova,
Mary Pierce, and Jelena Dokic. World #4 Monica Seles was also entered
but mysteriously pulled out late Tuesday afternoon citing the usual
foot injury that has plagued her career the last two years. Nevertheless the tournament went on as planned, welcoming record
crowds and staging dramatic hardcourt tennis.
The Wednesday day session began with a compelling matchup on Center
Court between Daniela Hantuchova and her doubles partner, Ai Sugiyama.
Sugiyama, who was wearing a light lime green outfit, looked to be in
fine spirits as she smiled and remained loose during the warm-up. As
play began Sugiyama's steady baseline game proved to be too much for
Hantuchova, who seemed to be a bit off as she was spraying forehands
and backhands left and right. Sugiyama comfortably took the first
set 6-4 despite some brilliant down the line backhands courtesy of
Hantuchova, who seemed to be the only player able to pull off Nike's
quite revealing white lacey outfit featuring a mini-skirt and a
cropped top.
In the second set Daniela pulled her game together combining
impressive strategy and mental toughness to take the second set 6-1.
Hantuchova showed great placement on her serve as she often swung
Sugiyama out wide while keeping her guessing with a few down the center
bombs. Her composure on court rivaled that of Graf, and her shot
selection was as intelligent as that of Hingis.
The real drama began in the third set with Hantuchova receiving her
first warning and time violation while serving down 0-1. Daniela
held comfortably for 1-1 despite the violation, while Sugiyama did
the same in the next game to take a 2-1 lead. In Hantuchova's next
service game Sugiyama broke at 15, and Daniela returned the favor in
the next game to get things back on serve at 2-3 and then 3-3 after
holding comfortably. All went with serve up to 6-5 in the third,
including a dramatic game at 5-5 where Hantuchova got a time violation
point penalty giving Sugiyama an ad to close out her service game and
lead 6-5.
During the change over at 6-5 Sugiyama called for the trainer due to
the fact that her calves were bothering her as she would later point
out in her press conference. After a three minute injury time out
Sugiyama was back on the court receiving serve. Hantuchova quickly
went down 0-30 on her serve but made it back to 30-30 thanks to a few
sloppy errors by Ai. Sugiyama forced an error out of Hantuchova to
give her her second match point at 30-40, only to blow it with a wide
return of serve leveling the score at deuce. Sugiyama would once
again get the ad and with it her third match point. Hantuchova missed
her first serve and stepped back behind the baseline for a quick
moment, as she approached the service line after bouncing the ball
only three times, Dennis Overberg (or Overule as he later became known
by fans) called a second time violation point penalty on Hantuchova
and with it the match.
Sugiyama had won 6-4 1-6 7-5, leaving Hantuchova in shock at the baseline as she stared at the umpire's chair with her
mouth wide open and tears beginning to weld up in her eyes. The crowd
booed the decision very passionately while Sugiyama stood in front of
the net looking up at the chair doubting whether the right decision
had been made. Hantuchova handled it all with class as she shook
hands with Sugiyama (who comforted her at net) and Overberg. In her
press conference Daniela said that she thought the decision was unfair
and was quite surprised at the three time violations she had received
as she never remembered ever getting one before. The decision set
off a frenzy around the grounds and Overberg had to be escorted off
the court by security due to the strong fan reaction. It was by far
the talk of the day.
Meanwhile the talk of the previous week had been Lindsay Davenport who
had come back after a nine month lay off. Davenport was facing
Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian in the second round. Mikaelian managed
to race off to a 2-0 lead taking advantage of a slew of unforced
errors off of Davenport's racquet. Davenport quickly got a hold of
the situation leveling the score at 2-2 after which she never looked
back. She took the first set 6-3 despite struggling with her groundstrokes
early on. At times Davenport looked confused as if she didn't know
what shots to hit or where on the court. Her serve was quite fast
yet not that very well placed, explaining the fact that she was broken
so early on. All the would change however as Davenport took the
second set 6-0 and with it the match. In the end she looked
comfortable and confident yet not overly emotional. Despite the fact
that she does indeed look like she has lost a lot of weight, Davenport
is not moving any better than she was before her injury. In fact, at
times she looked awkward in her movement along the baseline and up
towards the net. "I'm really happy about playing here," she said,
"though my serve isn't as consistent as it used to be."
Next to take the court was Anna Kournikova who had destroyed
Alexandra Stevenson in the previous round despite the usual talk from
the Stevenson camp. Kournikova was lucky enough to face lucky loser
Jennifer Hopkins rather than Monica Seles. Anna took the first
set 6-2 demonstrating a patient game based more on strategy than
power tennis. Kournikova was patient, calm, and collected while she
managed to hit 23 winners and 24 unforced errors in her 6-2 6-4, 53
minute victory. She got in 75% of her first serves and displayed
sharp returns as she converted on 4 out of 5 break points during the
match.
In her press conference Anna was bubbly and talkative. She
seemed to be very happy that the press was for once talking about her
tennis rather than her private life. She joked around about winning
a few more matches and talked about staying patient with her next
opponent Conchita Martinez. Despite her solid play the crowd was
still in awe of her low cut two piece Adidas outfit which she topped
off with a cyan visor and snazzy Adidas sneakers. Despite overwhelming
heat drenching her face in sun tan lotion, Anna won in style.
That left two-time defending champion Venus Williams to open night
session play versus Janette Husarova. Venus, as always, looked
poised, strong, and confident despite a slow start where she trailed
1-3 in the first. Williams looked to be in control during the entire
match despite being tested by constant drop shots by Husarova. When
asked had she ever seen that many drop shots in her life, Williams
joked "No, never." The 6-4 6-1 victory seemed to please Venus, who
was upbeat and funny in her press conference. "I'm trying to have
fun," she said, "even when I have to be serious in serious matches."
At the end of the day it was Williams who got the biggest round of
applause and deservingly so.
However the night wasn't over yet as Jelena Dokic took the
court versus Anastasia Myskina. The match definitely produced
the longest and most entertaining rallies of the day. Both girls
have a similar style of play, lacking a big serve yet harboring huge
groundies. Dokic looked to be her usual self in the 6-3 6-3 victory --
nothing flashy yet nothing terrible. In her press conference she was asked about the
Formula 1 race car driver in her friends box who she claimed "likes
tennis"...and obviously her.
In other matches Kim Clijsters prevailed in straight sets while
looking steady yet unimpressive, and Conchita Martinez fought off
tough Russian Tatiana Panova in three very tough sets. Later Martinez
would return on the same court to play doubles with partner Mary
Pierce. The pair easily defeated Cara Black/Elena Likhovtseva 6-1 6-1. Pierce
looked to be in a great mood as she laughed and joked with friends
after the match and was ever so gracious in signing autographs for
numerous fans. She might not be as fit as she used to but Pierce is
just as lovely and gracious, if not more. With that said, it was a
lovely Wednesday at the Acura Classic. The old and the new came
together to give us more drama, more fun, and even more excitement to
keep us coming back for more.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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