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by Christopher Gerby After rain early in the week, extreme heat in the middle of the week, and more rain on Friday, the weather took an entirely different turn on Saturday. Temperatures were only in the 60's when noon rolled around, but without a cloud in the sky, MVP Stadium was finally put into use for the Schenectady challenger semifinals. Ball boys and ball girls were even on hand for the first time in the touranament. Despite free admission, though, the tournament's utter and complete lack of promotion made for a very small crowd. As Maureen Drake and Janet Lee got underway in the day's first match, there were only about 50 people in the stands, not counting tournament officials, fellow semifinalist Marie-Eve Pelletier, Pelletier's coach, and Lee's doubles partner, Nan Nan Liu. (7) Maureen Drake vs. Janet Lee Singles: Semifinal Stadium Court Saturday's opening semi was a study in contrasts. Janet Lee has been on a destiny-tinged run, rallying from triple match point down in the first round and winning two close sets in the second. Maureen Drake has had it considerably easier, losing only nine games in three matches. Lee is incredibly low-key, going about her business very quietly, on and off the court. Drake is an almost larger than life character, frequently screaming her head off no matter how easily she appears to be winning. Lee put down her racquet bag and went for a jog a few minutes before she was due on court. Drake, who all week has made a habit of never being around the courts until her presence is required, almost literally stepped out of a car onto stadium court. Drake's serve has been an issue of some consternation all week and it betrayed her in the very opening game. However, she managed to overcome three double faults, holding after three deuces. Striking some nice, deep forehands, Drake followed with a break for 2-0. Leading 3-1, the veteran from Toronto got the service yips again and angrily launched a ball into the surrounding forest, earning an official "ball abuse" warning. (Ironic, given Drake's past charity work helping victims of real abuse). Lee had numerous chances to win Game 5, but couldn't pull the trigger on the break points. The game dragged on and on, with Drake letting out a thunderous "UNBELIEVABLE!" after another double fault brought up deuce number seven. After nine deuces and four squandered break points, Lee netted a backhand to make it 4-1. A series of routine service games took the score to 5-3. Serving for the first set, Drake missed a smash and tossed in another double fault for 0-30. Just when it looked like nerves might be getting to her, Maureen settled down, reeling off four points in a row. A cross-court forehand ended the opening set 6-3 in her favor. It wasn't a terrible performance from Lee, but her inability to convert break points had cost her dearly. "Gah, stop reaching!" Drake screamed early in set two, upset about her lazy footwork. With triple break point in hand at 2-2, Drake dumped a backhand in the net and had more advice for herself: "Go for it! What are you waiting for?" Lee put in some nice serves, battling back to deuce, but missed two consecutive backhands to give up the service break. Drake took further command, holding for 4-2. Even Lee's doubles partner, Nan Nan Liu, seemed to read the writing on the wall, ducking out of the stands at 0-30 in Game 7. Drake had another bout with poor footwork (shouting "C'mon, get away from it!" after a ball jammed her), but got the insurance break for 5-2. Looking to serve for a spot in the final, Drake suddenly got drop shot happy. She plunked one into the net for 30-30, double faulted to 30-40, and tried the dropper again on break point. This time Lee ran it down , whipping a cross-court backhand pass for her first break of the day. (Drake actually believed it was the first time she'd been broken in the entire tournament, forgetting a mishap late in her first round win over Yan Zi Xie). Serving to stay alive at 3-5, it was Lee who caught the double fault bug, missing a second serve to make it 30-all. The next point was the longest of the match, a well played rally ending when Drake rifled a backhand pass down the line and shouted "come on!" Match point in hand, Drake spanked a forehand return down the line to secure the 6-3, 6-3 win. No more miracles for Janet Lee, as Maureen Drake advanced to her second $50k challenger final of the month. After the win, Drake admitted she isn't entirely pleased with the way she served, especially in the first set. "Maybe a little bit of nerves played a factor. Sometimes you try to fix it and it's not going and then like, s***, you get a little frustrated," said Drake, very casually peppering her answers with profanity. "I'm just like, screw it, I don't care, I'm tired of getting upset about it. But when it keeps on happening and happening, I get a little frustrated." She was relieved to sneak out a service break at the end, when Lee was showing signs of life. "I was glad to get that last game, because she served a couple bangers there. I was like oh s***, because sometimes they have nothing to lose and start going for it even more and it's like s***, so I just tried to keep positive and keep hitting out." One of the great mysteries of the Schenectady challenger has been how Maureen, who hasn't come close to losing a set yet, can get so upset during routine victories. That tendency to freak out regardless of the situation is something she's aware of and doesn't seem to mind. "It really doesn't matter what the score is... Even if I'm up 3-love, if I'm still kinda making the same mistakes over and over, that's when I get frustrated... If you don't feel emotion, people are gonna be like, what the hell? People like emotion, I guess. They like Johnny Mac." Even as one of the oldest players on the Tour, 33-year-old Drake doesn't draw inspiration from what Martina Navratilova has been accomplishing at age 47. "I shouldn't put a judgment on that, but I think it's a little bit, OK, going overboard. I think maybe she had her own reasons for coming back. I don't know what the real intentions are. Everyone says she doesn't really say the real reason. I'm all for someone playing well into their 30's, like me, or late 30's, but I don't know, when you're hitting late 40's, it's like, I don't know, don't you have anything better to do?" (This quote was too juicy to leave out, but I hope it doesn't get Mo in any trouble. She said it in a good natured way, I swear!) For her part, Drake doesn't have any immediate retirement plans. "I haven't thought about it. I'll just see how it is... I definitely wouldn't play until I'm over 40, but as long as I'm training and doing what I'm supposed to be doing, then I enjoy it. I have fun out there, even tnough you see me get mad. It's good to be out there." Drake certainly will be out there on Sunday, playing for what would be the biggest title of her career. A champion at several $25,000 challengers over the years, Drake has never prevailed at the $50k level. Bethanie Mattek vs. Marie-Eve Pelletier Singles: Semifinal Stadium Court Passing by on her way to MVP Stadium, Marie-Eve Pelletier offered congratulations to countrywoman Maureen Drake on her semifinal win. Drake called back, "Good luck, Marie-Eve. Play well. Come on, all-Canadian final!" That scenario looked very realistic in the early going. Bethanie Mattek looked to be in a complete fog, absent-mindedly preparing to serve to the wrong box at one point in the opening game. Pelletier, meanwhile, came out on fire, breaking twice for a 3-0 lead. During the fourth game, Mattek was noticeably hobbling, taking ginger steps around the baseline. She kept battling, extending the game to a five deuces before calling for the trainer. The 19-year-old American was teary-eyed as she received a full medical timeout. After her left knee was sprayed and taped, she jogged around a bit and resumed play. Naturally, Mattek won the first two points of the resumption, breaking for 1-3 and pumping her fist. Mattek limped a bit after unsuccessfully chasing a lob in Game 5, but otherwise seemed to be operating at full power. She won a superb rally to break at 15 and let out a huge cry of, "COME ON!" Mattek got some more treatment during the enusing changeover, coming back out with the left knee fully taped. She was moving well, however, and had really warmed to the task mentally. Game 6 was a body language festival: positive Mattek doing more of her patented "come on" shouts and a frustrated Pelletier starting to talk to herself in French. This had developed into a fascinating, high quality match, with Mattek's net-rushing style matching up quite evenly with Pelletier's graceful counterpunching. After six deuces, Pelletier came out the winner of a nice side-to-side rally, holding for 4-2. The set went with serve to 5-4 and the brunette from Montreal attempted to serve it out. Pelletier did come up with one ace, but the rest of her service game was a mess. A backhand into the net got her broken at 15 and had Mattek -- who once looked as if she wouldn't even finish this set, let alone win it -- dead even at 5 games apiece. Just as quickly as the momentum swung over to the American side, it swung back. Double faulting on break point, Mattek trailed once again at 5-6. Pelletier served it out comfortably from there. After 72 minutes (including the time spent evaluating and caring for Mattek's injured knee), Pelletier took the opening set 7-5. As nice as Pelletier's steady baseline game can be, she still comes up lacking in the mental department. Marie-Eve got broken early in the second set and immediately got down on herself, babbling in French and shooting annoyed glances at her coach. Mattek, meanwhile, had toned down her verbal celebrations, simply moving from point to point with steely determination, taking a 4-1 lead in the second set. Even as the tape began coming undone around her knee, Bethanie remained focused an eager. A long service game at 4-2 had the look of a turning point, with Mattek saving four break points before Pelletier finally ceded the five-deuce battle on a pair of errant returns. Mattek spent a long time on the 5-2 changeover fixing up the loose tape job on her knee. Long enough, as it turned out, to get a time violation warning from the chair. There was no dispute from Mattek, who made her way back out to the court and played a sterling return game. At 30-40, the Wisconsin native ripped a winning cross-court forehand pass and pumped her fist. Mattek's 6-2 win of the second set meant this very mental battle would continue. Pelletier's bad mood from the second set grew worse in the third. She blew break points in the opening game and let out an anguished scream. She double faulted twice in the second game and bounced her racquet. She lost that game and angrily threw a ball at the back fence. Pelletier quickly lost the third game, as well, and decided to call the trainer out herself. She would end up taking a full medical timeout, having some cream rubbed on her right foot and lower right leg. Trailing 0-40 in the fourth game of the final set, Pelletier looked done for. She made a spirited rally back to deuce and got locked in another grueling battle with Mattek. After five deuces, Mattek scored a backhand winner. Pelletier disagreed with the call, however, and took the umpire to task for his low-key approach to the entire match. "You're not overruling? Not one call!" Pelletier missed a backhand on the very next point to fall behind 0-4. Sadly, given how well she'd played in the first set, Marie-Eve Pelletier was in full self-destruct mode now. She began making faces at the umpire and showing visible disgust at the amount of time Mattek was taking between points. Mattek won the last ten points of the match, with a swinging backhand volley being the last nail in the Pelletier coffin. By a final score of 5-7, 6-2, 6-0, Bethanie Mattek had spoiled the potential all-Canadian final. Pelletier's anger, probably caused more by her own erratic play than anything external, bubbled up one last time as she knocked a chair over on her way off the court. Of course, the big story on Mattek's side was her ailing knee. "The first few games, it was bothering me. I hit a backhand and I kinda twisted it wrong. The next few points, any pressure I put on it, it hurt real bad, so I had to call the trainer out." Mattek missed part of this season with tendinitis in her left knee, but says what happened today is unrelated. "This is the same knee, but it's not in the same place... It's a little more on the outside." It really didn't seem to be a problem for her after it had been fully taped, but she's planning to take good care of it before Sunday's final. "I'm gonna do a lot of stretching. I'll get some treatment and definitely ice it a few times today." As for explaining how she was able to mount that successful comeback, Mattek said, "I think I brought my intensity up. (In the first few games) I wasn't focusing each point as much as I thought I could. I was going for more of my shots, too, I think. I was being a little more aggressive and at the same time I was playing pretty smart, making her play." She'll try to go two-for-two against Canadians, meeting Maureen Drake in the title match. The two have never faced off in a tour event, but Bethanie says, "The past two days I've warmed her up. We've come in the car together, so it should be interesting. She's a good player, she can hit some good shots, but she can be a little temperamental." If nothing else, Mattek should give off the more positive body language. Even the slow nature of the MVP Stadium hard court doesn't faze the fresh-faced American. "Yeah, it is a little slower. Coming off of grass, it's definitely a lot slower, but, ya know, just gotta go with it." Dellacqua/Sewell vs. Lee/Liu Doubles: Semifinal Stadium Court Janet Lee and Nan Nan Liu practically needed a M*A*S*H unit during their quarterfinal doubles win over Cory Ann Avants and Varvara Lepchenko. Lee received treatment for a problem with her right shoulder and Liu needed a medical timeout to patch up a bleeding finger. Nonetheless, they came through in three sets, earning the right to face Australia's cheerful pairing of Casey Dellacqua and Nicole Sewell in the final. It was a fast-paced affair right from the start, with seven service games going by largely uncontested. Lee put Dellacqua in some trouble in Game 8, getting to 0-30 with a winning return and smash. Sewell eventually won the game with a volley. Matching holds from Liu (staying glued to the baseline) and Sewell (playing more traditional doubs) followed for 5-5. The Aussies made a spirited charge against Lee's serve in Game 11. A nice one-handed backhand pass by Sewell made it 30-15. Zaftig lefty Dellacqua followed with a forehand winner and a backhand volley winner, earning the first break point of the match. Casey just barely missed a return on that break point, but her team earned a second when Lee missed a volley. A four-player exchange on the second break chance ended with Liu badly missing a volley and letting out a little squeal. The Aussies had daylight now, leading 6-5. Dellacqua served it out at 15, winning the 7-5 set on a mis-hit Lee return. The competitive ending of the first set took the teams in opposite directions. Dellacqua and Sewell were in full flight, playing confident, aggressive doubles. Lee and Liu, on the other hand, looked ready to fold up their tent. Sewell knocked off a volley to break Liu in the opening game of the set and did likewise to wrap up a hold for 2-0. Dellacqua dominated the next two games, spanking a couple key returns in a break of Lee's serve and holding her own serve at love. At 15-15 in the fifth game of the second set, Liu committed a foot fault on a second serve. The call was so loud, it startled Liu, who began laughing uncontrollably. Even the line judge who made the call joined in the laughter. Unfortunately for Lee and Liu, the match itself had become a laugher. A brilliant stop volley by Dellacqua clinched yet another break and a 5-0 lead. The Asians put up no fight in the final game, as Sewell served out the 7-5, 6-0 victory at love. The stage is now set for a potentially very entertaining doubles final, with Casey and Nicole facing top-seeded Ansley Cargill and Julie Ditty. The American southpaws, who advanced to the final on Friday, have yet to drop a set in the tournament. |