|
by Christopher Gerby (25) Elena Likhovtseva vs. Maria Kirilenko Women's Singles: First Round Court 6 Among the countless young Russians making an impact on the tennis scene these days is Maria Kirilenko. Winner of the US Open juniors title in 2002, the baby-faced Moscow native turned plenty of heads with her near-upset of Serena Williams at the French Open earlier this season. Overall, though, 2004 has been a bit of a struggle for Kirilenko. Having already fallen out of the Top 100, she was under real pressure to defend the points she earned by reaching the third round of last year's Open. Fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva came in with her own fair share of incentive. By finishing third in the inaugural US Open Series, Likhovtseva was guaranteed a 10% bonus on whatever prize money she earns playing singles at the Open this year. Needless to say, this was not a match either player would happily concede to her countrywoman. Likhovtseva started as badly as possible, opening the match with a pair of double faults (the first of the foot variety). Kirilenko broke serve there, but handed the break right back in Game 2. Likhovtseva used her hard, flat groundstrokes to regain control of the match, breaking for a 4-2 lead. The 17-year-old was undeterred. Stepping into a backhand winner on break point in Game 7, Kirilenko shouted "come on!" Momentum yo-yoing back and forth from game to game, Kirilenko was broken again for 3-5 and got that break right back as Likhovtseva's serving foibles continued. Elena reached set point in Game 10, but Maria staved it off with a winning backhand and survived five deuces to hold for 5-5. After holding for 6-5, Likhovtseva threw her racquet in frustration after missing a return in Game 12. Kirilenko held at love, forcing a first set tibreak...
Paul Goldstein vs. Takao Suzuki Men's Singles: First Round Court 10 A successful run through qualifying allowed scrappy Rockville, Maryland counterpuncher Paul Goldstein to reach his first Grand Slam main draw in more than three years. Just his luck, Goldstein rolled an ankle playing in the World Team Tennis semifinals on the same day he qualified. The injury was serious enough to keep him out of the WTT final (essentially costing his Delaware Smash a repeat championship). "Goldie" got a Tuesday start, though, and his ankle was ready for a showdown with fellow qualifier Takao Suzuki. Goldstein snuck out the first set in a 7-5 tiebreak, but Suzuki won 12 of 13 service points in rolling to a 6-2 win of the second set. The American battled back, converting 2 of 3 break points to snare the third set by a 6-2 margin. Goldstein's roll continued in the fourth set. The return of serve is one of the 155-pounder's real strengths and he used it to break the man from Japan's vaunted serve for 1-0 and 3-0 leads. It was all working now for Goldstein, who came up with a pair of absolutely sizzling backhand passing shots in an easy hold for 4-0. Suzuki launched his 13th ace of the day in Game 5, but Goldstein broke him yet again and raised a clenched fist, one game away from the second round. Playing with nothing to lose from so far down, Suzuki cracked some nice returns in a break back for 1-5. Facing a match point in Game 7, Suzuki saved himself with a service winner. But a few points later, Goldstein was again at match point. This time Paul passed Takao with a winning forehand, finishing a 7-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win. Goldstein's celebration was something to behold, as he spun around and did a high stepping backwards sprint to the net. It's been a long slog through the challengers circuit for the 28-year-old Stanford graduate, who was clearly savoring the moment as he stuck around for a long chat with his supporters. As one onlooker remarked, "This guy doesn't just sign an autograph, he tells you his whole life story!" Next up for Goldstein would be a high profile bout with another Asian star, Paradorn Srichaphan. (20) Chanda Rubin vs. Maria Sanchez Lorenzo Women's Singles: First Round Grandstand Oft-injured Chanda Rubin has endured a nightmare of a summer, losing several matches by lopsided scores in her run up to the US Open. Further struggles seemed possible when she drew one of the event's higher ranked floaters in the opening round. However, Maria Sanchez Lorenzo came in on a three match losing streak, possibly distracted a tad these days by her off-court romance with fellow Spanish player Feliciano Lopez, who took a reserved seat in the Grandstand to watch this match. Already leading 4-1, Chanda broke Maria for a 5-1 edge. Sanchez Lorenzo stubbornly battled through a long seventh game to extend the set, but followed it up with a miserable service game. Some close games and drawn out rallies had kept Chanda Rubin out there for 42 minutes, but she had a 6-2 win of the opening set under her belt. Sanchez Lorenzo's first service percentage was an absolutely dismal 35 in the first set, so she had to be encouraged when a couple well played holds kept her on pace with Rubin at 2-2 in the second set. Rubin upped the ante, closing out a love hold with an ace. Unable to keep her two-handed strokes in the court as consistently as her seeded opponent, Sanchez Lorenzo surrendered the break for 2-4. The judge's daughter from Lafayette, Louisiana took care of business the rest of the way. Rubin held easily to 5-2 and held a match point at 30-40 in Game 8. Rubin's backhand pass then clipped the tape, sailing past Sanchez Lorenzo to make the final 6-2, 6-2 result official. A very strong showing from the American, who would ultimately fall to Venus Williams in a tight third round affair. (21) Amy Frazier vs. Kelly Mc Cain Women's Singles: First Round Court 7 Longevity has been a buzzword at the 2004 US Open. Andre Agassi gets plenty of ink for his ability to play Top 10 ball at age 34. Todd Martin took his final bows at the same age on Monday night. Fellow retiree Wayne Ferreira appeared in his record 56th consecutive Grand Slam event. Lost in all the hype is a certain pale, polite Midwestern gal whose unassuming personality and steady-but-unspectacular results often leave her out of the spotlight. Believe it or not, Amy Frazier was playing in her 18th straight US Open, just three short of a record held by (who else?) Martina Navratilova. And this is no mere nostalgia show. Frazier continues to play some of the best tennis of her long career, having recently scored a big upset over Anastasia Myskina at Wimbledon. Her opponent here would be 21-year-old wild card Kelly Mc Cain, playing the main draw of the Open for the very first time. Frazier jumped all over the 5 foot 2 youngster from the outset, winning the first two games and forcing Mc Cain to save three break points for 1-2. Hitting the ball appreciably harder than when I saw her play in the qualifying a year ago, Mc Cain snuck out a break for 2-all. Forehand winners from Frazier and unforced errors off both Mc Cain wings dominated the rest of the set, however. A jam serve on triple set point allowed the 32-year-old to claim a 6-2 win of the opening set after just 29 minutes. More of the same followed in the second set. Mc Cain was getting a good chunk of the crowd support, with fellow American player Lauren Fisher shouting words of encouragement like "C'mon Kell!" Frazier was in a major groove on her groundstrokes, though, and she blitzed the Illinois native for a 4-0 lead in the second set. Mc Cain got on the board, holding to 1-4, but Frazier's serve heated up. Amy uncharacteristically blasted back-to-back aces in a love hold for 5-1. Mc Cain does compete well: she held to 2-5 and pushed Frazier to deuce in Game 8. However, one last backhand winner off the racquet of "Smokin' Amy" made it official. Frazier advanced to the second round 6-2, 6-2 and ultimately made a spirited run at # 9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third. Andreev/Ferrer vs. Labadze/Lopez Moron Men's Singles: First Round Court 17 In its endless tinkering to make the game of doubles more of a sell for the casual fan, the ATP made a change to the entry requirements, allowing players to use their singles rankings to participate in doubles. The thinking was top stars would take advantage of the free pass and play doubles more frequently. What largely has happened instead is a gaggle of little known clay court specialists have started taking over the doubles draws, usually playing from the baseline and crashing out as soon as they face a traditional doubles team. Something along those lines might well be on offer on Court 17 in a match featuring three decent singles players ranked outside the world's Top 100 in doubles. Alex Lopez Moron, who plays doubs exclusively, was the lone exception. Irakli Labadze, who quit his opening round singles match on Monday night due to a wrist injury, had his right wrist taped after the warmup. He and Lopez Moron proceeded to do a nice job taking care of their own serves, but the undisputed star in the early going was Igor Andreev. A rising star from Russia, Andreev was hitting serves and forehands at an absolute breakneck pace. Lopez Moron had to due some fabulous reflex volleying at the net to save Labadze's service game for a 3-3 tie. Two games later, Lopez Moron made the shot of the match, a seemingly effortless between-the-legs volley. However, Alex missed a forehand on double break point, losing his own serve for 3-5. Andreev had no trouble serving out the 6-3 set at love. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze seemed to lose a bit of interest in his tennis at this point, preferring to joke around with his partner, people in the sparsely populated stands, and the linesmen. After apparently receiving some kind of unofficial admonishment, Labadze replied, "There's five people watching. Tell 'em to f*** off." On serve at 2-2, Irakli hit a double fault and whacked a ball clear out of the court, but was not slapped with the mandatory code violation. Ferrer missed a return on the next point and swore loudly in Spanish, also avoiding a warning. The chair umpire, obviously in a lenient mood, joked, "That's OK. One there, one here, it's even." Labadze would ultimately lose the game by ripping a forehand into the net. Ferrer got to 4-2 in the second by putting away a smash that sailed over the backdrop. Labadze decided he wanted to retrieve the ball, so he hopped the side fence, ran around behind the court, and came back over the other side fence. Even though he didn't find the ball, he did succeed in cracking up his partner and most of the people watching. Lopez Moron regained his composure, but was broken for 2-5. With Ferrer serving for the match, Andreev got a lucky reflex volley to catch the baseline. Doing his best impression of Dr. Jekyll, Labadze good naturedly shouted "IGOR!!!" After that, a service winner by Ferrer clinched the 6-3, 6-2 result. Igor Andreev is definitely a player to keep an eye on. As for Irakli Labadze, hey, the guy's matches are never dull. |