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by Christopher Gerby Mild bits of controversy continue to pop up at Schenectady's inaugural challenger event. Word has it Nitty Singh only hired one person to do all of the racquet stringing for the entire tournament. The gentleman is feeling a bit overburdened and not all of the players are satisfied with his workmanship. Meanwhile, a "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" situation played out on Court 4, where they ran out of drinking water for the players but still had some water seeping up through the court surface. In happier news, Shikha Uberoi and Varvara Lepchenko (who both won their way into the main draw today) have expressed fondness for the Subway food being supplied free of charge to the players and officials. Your intrepid reporter, on the other hand, continues to subsist on homemade sandwiches. (1) Seiko Okamoto vs. (6) Ipek Senoglu Qualifying Singles: Final Round Court 6 Coming off impressive wins on Monday, Okamoto and Senoglu needed one more victory to book a place in the main draw. After opening the match with an exchange of service breaks, they settled into a pattern of well-played holds. Sitting down at the changeover with a 4-3 lead, Okamoto was informed by the chair umpire that she was in danger of incurring a code violation unless her ubiquitous coach stopped giving instructions from the sidelines. Undaunted, Okamto came right back out and took a 15-40 lead on Senoglu's serve. The Turk saved both of those break points, but was in trouble again later in the game, losing her racquet in the middle of a rally. Okamoto was able to hit an uncontested winner there and broke for 5-3 on a Senoglu error. At 30-30 in Game 9, with Seiko serving for the set, Ipek bent down to tie her shoe. Whether this interruption of play was necessary or not, it may have succeeded in throwing Okamoto off her game. She hit a forehand wide on the next point and surrendered the break when Senoglu poked a volley into the open court for 4-5. They were back on serve and stayed that way, forcing a first set tiebreak. The top seed in qualies seemed nervous now and her previously steady game came apart at the seams. Six groundstroke errors and a double fault flew off the lady from Japan's racquet as she dropped the 'breaker 7 points to 2. Senoglu extended her lead to 7-6, 3-1, but was all sorts of annoyed. She chided a lineswoman for allegedly missing fault calls by not even looking at the right service box and took herself to task with remarks like "Why are you so defensive when you're winning?" and "Seriously, hit the ball!" A double fault on break point got Okamoto back on serve, where the set continued to 4-4. Senoglu's mood was not improving. Her biggest outburst to date regarded the center linesman's tendency to run back into position while balls were being served. "Five freaking serves, it's killing me!" she screamed. Senoglu incurred a code violation for that, but pleaded with the umpire that she'd used no profanity. Surprisingly, the ump called a linesman over, got confirmation about the non-obscenity, and revoked the warning! Senoglu was still walking on thin ice, both in her game and her conduct. After burying a backhand in the net to surrender serve in Game 9 of the second set, she began jawing at the umpire and got another code violation. This one stuck, despite Ipek's cry of "It's not fair!" Fortunately for Senoglu, Okamoto fared no better serving for this set than when she'd tried to close out the first. Senoglu broke for 5-all and found her way into another tiebreak... After being agnoizingly close to victory, Senoglu fell into a 1-4 hole in the third set. The match was now nearing the three hour mark, but neither player would give up. Senoglu broke back for 3-4, but Okamoto responded with a terrific return game, earning a 5-3 lead. Ipek had every reason to wilt now, but she played some of her sharpest tennis yet, pulling ahead 15-40 on Okamoto's serve. Seiko saved the first break point, getting a backhand to clip the tape and hop over. Senoglu still had one more chance, though, and battled Okamoto in an absolutely epic rally, the longest I've seen in the tournament. It finally ended with an understandably tired Okamoto hitting a little chop forehand long. For the third time, she'd failed to serve out a set. Both players took the full amount of time and then some for the changeover at 5-4. Nonetheless, Okamoto still looked exhausted and she quickly lost the first three points of the game. At 40-15, Okamoto broke a string, but got lucky when a ball bounced over from Court 4, forcing a let to be played. All Senoglu could do was smile ruefully. Two Okamoto winners later, Game 10 was at deuce. Okamoto earned her first match point, but Senoglu fought it off with a forehand winner and pumped her fist. A second match point came Okamoto's way, but she made an unforced forehand error. Okamoto had a third match point, this one against a second serve, but Senoglu unleashed a winning forehand to stay alive. Okamoto did some superb scrambling to earn a fourth match point, following the game's fifth deuce. On match point number four, Okamoto crushed a return down the line. Senoglu got a racquet on it, but her lunging reply sailed wide. The match, which started at 10 AM, finally concluded at 1:36 PM with Seiko Okamoto gutting out an incredibly grueling 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 victory. She'll need whatever energy she has left when she meets American lefty Ansley Cargill in the main draw on Wednesday. Marie-Eve Pelletier vs. (WC) Raquel Kops-Jones Singles: First Round Court 4 Marie-Eve Pelletier is practically treated like a rock star when she plays in Montreal, where the few homegrown tennis heroes are revered (unless they're named Greg Rusedski and trade the maple leaf for the Union Jack). In Schenectady, on the other hand, Pelletier's cheering section numbered just three, including her coach and her doubles partner, Melanie Marois. Diminutive wild card entrant Raquel Kops-Jones took the first set 6-4, but could be heard shouting "that is HORRIBLE!" late in the second. Pelletier was moving confidently as she broke the American's serve with a sizzling backhand pass to sweep the second set 6-0. Marie-Eve hit a snag early in the third, committing two double faults in the opening game. Kops-Jones broke there and held for 2-0, but soon lost control of her forehand. Pelletier kept going back to Raquel's weak spot and won three consecutive games to take a lead in the deciding set. Kops-Jones held for 3-all, putting the pressure back on Pelletier's erratic serve. Two more double faults had the 22-year-old muttering to herself in French and shooting dejected looks at her supporters. She battled back, however, and came up with a rare service winner to hold for 4-3. This match grew tighter and more tense by the minute. Kops-Jones went two deuces in holding for 4-4 and Pelletier saw deuce three times before Kops-Jones bricked a sitter volley to make it 5-4. The first point in Game 10 saw what appeared to be a shot long of the baseline by Kops-Jones, but no call ever came. "Oh my God!" exclaimed Pelletier. "I mean, it's not even close, that's why I didn't hit it," she continued, to no avail. Pelletier shook off that incident, hitting some penetrating groundstrokes to earn a match point. Kops-Jones capitulated, sending a defensive lob long to fall 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. Afterward, I asked Marie-Eve Pelletier if this was the kind of match she's relieved just to get through. "Yes, because I started really not the way I wanted. I mean, I was making all the mistakes, so it took me a while to get my rhythm. And she was playing really well, so, yeah. My serve kinda was on and off, so I'm just happy I got through this one." The sketchy performance leaves her plenty to work on improving, such as "my serve, my footwork, my concentration -- probably the key things to focus on." With any luck, she'll peak in time for next month's Rogers AT&T Cup in Montreal, a tournament which understandably looms as a high point in her season. "I'm getting a main draw wild card. It's the home tournament, so I'm really excited about that." Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios vs. Nan-Nan Liu Singles: First Round Court 6 After a recent five-month absence, one of the WTA Tour's few mothers is back in action. Her daughter Ana (cute as ever) was taken for a walk around the park while mom opened up a 6-1, 3-3 lead over Chinese lefty Nan-Nan Liu. At this stage, it looked as if Neffa-De Los Rios would continue the hot streak that saw her reach a challenger final in Maryland the week before last. Liu was really striking the ball with authority, though, as she broke for a 4-3 edge in the second. A hold made it 5-3 and instilled major frustration in Neffa-De Los Rios, who violently thumped a ball off the backdrop. Two consecutive forehand errors from the Paraguayan clinched a 6-3 win of the second set for Liu. Neffa-De Los Rios opened the third set on a very positive note, breaking at 15. But the momentum swung back in Nan-Nan's direction as Rossana grew ever more furious with her erratic play. Sporting a pair of shorts with a cloudlike pattern that looked more suited for the beach, Liu won three close games in a row to take control of the deciding set. Neffa-De Los Rios, meanwhile, was having an animated chat in her native tongue, first with herself and then with her soccer player husband Gustav, who was looking on from a nearby bench. After blowing a 15-40 lead in Game 5, Neffa-De Los Rios went quietly. Nan-Nan Liu (who has a very nice demeanor on the court, often smiling and even chuckling after losing points) rolled through 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. Bethanie Mattek vs. (WC) Asha Rolle Singles: First Round Court 6 Nitty Singh has a proven eye for young talent and she may have unearthed a diamond in the rough by granting a wild card to Asha Rolle. The 19-year-old African American is a lowly 422 in the WTA rankings, but she's certainly fun to watch. Rolle possesses a massive first serve, a one-handed backhand, and a willingness to charage the net. She also has an instantly appealing live wire personality on the court, evoking thoughts of Jim Nabors by punctuating unforced errors with cries of "golly" (stretching the word out to three or four syllables). Blasting balls with all her might, Rolle quickly broke the serve of fellow 19-year-old American Bethanie Mattek. A scrappy player with years of pro experience, Mattek looked like a mere spectator as Rolle ended nearly every point herself with a winner or error. The errors starting to outnumber the winners, Rolle took to coaching herself: "Come on, focus, let's go. No more free points, OK?" Mattek was less verbose, simply shouting "come on!" when she broke for 1-1 with a backhand winner. Rolle slipped on the court in the middle of a rally in Game 3 and promptly took a seat on the baseline, wiping the soles of her shoes with a towel. Nice idea, but the execution took far too long and she picked up a time violation. Mattek started to get her teeth in the match, moving the ball around nicely and clobbering Rolle's pathetically weak second serve. Game after game went Mattek's way as she maintained a high level of intensity, repeatedly raising a clenched fist. For her part, Rolle simply wondered aloud, "Golly! Why am I makin' so many errors?" It was a run of ten straight games for Mattek, who stormed out to a 6-1, 4-0 lead over an amusingly exasperated Rolle. A point Rolle appeared to win in Game 5 of the second set had to be replayed because a ball from a neighboring court had rolled into play. Rolle went ballistic, sitting down in her chair, slamming her racquet down, and telling the ump everything from "this is ridiculous!" to "you can't do that!" to "that really sucks." Rolle finally got her composure and actually got on the board, holding to 1-4. Mattek still looked almost maniacal in her determination, though, and she was within two points of victory at 5-2, 30-15. With nothing to lose, Asha nearly took the cover off the ball, lacing passing shots past Mattek to break for 3-5. Alas, what she has in firepower, she lacks in consistency. Game 9 saw Rolle throw her racquet at the net after a botched half-volley and yell, "Golly, I swear!" after yet another error brought up triple match point. Rolle dumped a forehand in the net to end it, 6-1, 6-3. Bethanie Mattek was happy to take a few questions after her one-sided victory. I asked if it takes a while to find your rhythm against a streaky hit or miss player like Rolle. "Actually, yeah, it does," replied Mattek. "The first couple games were pretty quick, didn't really have any long rallies. It was pretty much a serve and return match. As soon as I got those in a groove, I started doing better." Even with the match well in hand in the second set, the Minnesota native never lost focus. "I just kept thinking one point at a time. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and I start thinking ahead, like, what will I do if I win. This match, I just concentrated on every point, every return. I wanted to place everything and that's what kept me in the match." A few more wins like this would help Mattek make a case for a main draw wild card at the US Open, but Bethanie has a more ambitious plan in mind. "I definitely wanna earn my way back into the Open. Hopefully I'll be able to get my ranking up to where I'd be able to get in, but we'll have to see." Elsewhere on Tuesday: The tournament lost its top seed when bespectacled Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz fell to Mi-Ra Jeon 6-2, 6-4. A nice win for Jeon, who may be best remembered for losing a Wimbledon juniors final to Martina Hingis many moons ago. 2nd seed Jenny Hopkins, 3rd seed Camille Pin, 5th seed Anne Keothovang, and 8th seed Jarmila Gajdosova were more fortunate than Foretz, all cruising in straight sets. Hopkins didn't rest on her laurels, coming back out to hit some practice serves in the afternoon. She even had a bit of impromptu fun, trading groundstrokes with Melanie Marois from opposite sides of two different courts! |