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by Christopher Gerby With sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 80, tournament director Nitty Singh couldn't have asked for much better weather as the USTA Schenectady challenger entered on its final day. Nitty has been something of an "absentee landlord" this week, but stepped up her visibility once weekend play began on the stadium court in Central Park. The crowd topped out around 175 in MVP Stadium (which can seat 2,400), but at least the media presence picked up. The Albany Times Union, which sponsors the local Team Tennis franchise but had ignored the challenger to this point, finally sent a reporter. The Schenectady Gazette, which has been providing daily coverage, even had a photographer on hand for the finals. All in all, it was finally feeling like big time professional tennis. (7) Maureen Drake vs. Bethanie Mattek Singles Final Stadium Court In her prime, Maureen Drake developed a reputation as one of the WTA Tour's leading fashion plates, frequently appearing on court in unusual, sparkly outfits. She went conservative on us this week, however, and for the final was decked out in a plain red shirt, red visor, and black skirt. Stealing the sartorial spotlight was young Bethanie Mattek, who broke out a sleveless light pink top and darker pink skirt. A pink cap topped off the outfit, because WTA Tour rules forbid the Wisconsin native from wearing a hat bearing the logo of her beloved Green Bay Packers. "I thought I was a little girly," Bethanie would say after the match about her pink ensemble. "I just couldn't wear the same thing. I can't wear the same outfit twice in one tournament, so I had to pick something else." As for the Packers, Mattek is eager to catch their act in person. "I've been to the Lambeau Field a couple times, but this year I've gotta get to a game, 'cause Brett Favre might not be playing too much longer. He's my idol." Showing the form that has seen her roll through four consecutive wins in straight sets, Maureen Drake opened the match by holding at love, raining down big serves and thumping a forehand winner. Mattek matched her with a love hold of her own and went up 2-1 when Drake was too cute with a drop shot attempt, pushing it wide on break point. Drake was still striking her groundstrokes with authority, though. She broke right back for 2-2 and held easily for a 3-2 lead in the opening set. Mattek's second love hold of the day tied the score at 3-all. Game 7 featured the first real flareups of Drake's infamous temper. Drake swiped at the court with her racquet after missing a backhand to trail 30-40. Maureen saved the break point, but later lost the game on an unforced forehand error and slammed her racquet on her bag upon the reaching the chair. Even though Drake's form in the tournament hadn't been especially overwhelming, this was the first time she'd lost four games in a set. Mattek stepped on the accelerator, holding easily for a 5-3 lead. Drake needed to hold serve to stay alive in the opening frame. Instead she played a miserable game, tossing in a double fault and two forehand errors in a love break. First set to the scrappy American, 6-3. Drake appeared to spend the entire changeover between sets seething with anger. Mattek, meanwhile, received a bit of medical attention. The left knee she'd injured on Saturday was fine, but she'd managed to give herself a little scrape on the other leg. "I just slipped and scratched myself," she explained after the match. "You can't have anything bleeding on the court. Just one of those little nicks that bleed forever." Suitably patched up, Mattek continued her impressive run, notching her fifth game in a row in holding to 1-0. Drake's frustration boiled over in the following game. The 33-year-old was screaming at herself and knocking balls around at will between points. Mattek came up with a superb little half-volley drop shot to earn a break point and Drake followed with a forehand error. Now trailing by a set and 2-0, the Toronto native whacked a ball clear out of the stadium and picked up her first code violation warning of the afternoon. In a virtual repeat of the final set from her semifinal win, Mattek was maintaining her focus and playing well against a Canadian who'd lost all composure. Drake just started wildly hitting out on everything. The approach got her one spectacular looking forehand winner in Game 4, but accounted for far more errors. Mattek held to 3-0, broke for 4-0, and held yet again for 5-0. Bethanie wasn't attacking the net as much as she had in previous rounds, but there was really no need for such an aggressive strategy. Maureen was giving her all the help she needed by failing to keep the ball in the court. Drake nearly squandered a 40-15 lead in Game 6, but held to 1-5 on a shanked Mattek return. Serving for her first title since early 2003, Mattek may have let a little bit of nerves creep in as she committed her first double fault. A nice drop shot got her to 30-30, but Drake hauled off on a monster forehand winner for 30-40. Drake finally had a chance to break the 19-year-old, but missed a return and promptly threw her racquet in disgust. Another forehand Drake winner earned another break point, but Mattek saved it with a beautiful lunging volley. On the second deuce point, Drake missed another return and cried out that it "could not be worse." Finally at match point, Mattek followed a good serve into the net and angled a winning volley into the opening court. Maureen Drake gave her racquet one last vicious slam before shaking hands with Bethanie Mattek, the 6-3, 6-1 winner of the inaugural Schenectady challenger. In a brief post-match ceremony, Nitty singh awarded Mattek a check for $7,700 and a "trophy." Said trophy was actually a plaque that looked darn near identical to the one Drake won as runner-up, but it's the thought that counts. (The ranking points and automatic entry into a Tier IV event in vancouver are nice, too). Singh's biggest snafu may have been announcing to the crowd that Drake's career has spanned three decades. That may not have been what "Mo" wanted to hear, judging by her post-match behavior. Still very angry, probably just about her own poor play and missed opportunity, Drake brusquely shrugged off questions from the assembled media, charging by while grunting something that sounded like "I'm going home." An unfortunate exit from the emotional veteran, who had much to be proud of this week. Needless to say, Mattek was in a much more accomodating mood. "I was pretty pleased with how I was playing. I was just sticking again to the same game plan I've been all week." Even the left knee she'd tweaked the previous day was cooperating. "It felt a lot better. I took a nice ice bath yesterday," said Mattek. "I was happy with how I was moving today." Another thing Betahnie was happy about during the match was looking across the net and seeing an opponent go through roughly six stages of agony. "Yeah, it's great, it means I'm gettin' to her. It means I'm doin' somethin' right. I'm not gonna think about it too much. I'll let her stew in her own misery or whatever she's doing." Mattek's last singles title came at the Fullerton challenger in January of last year and she regards this one as a nice building block in her career. "It's awesome. It's good for my confidence. I haven't been playing that many tournaments, so to come off with a few good wins at this tournament is really good." What the American teen is proudest of was how consistently she maintained the focus and intensity I asked her about way back on Tuesday. "I've played five matches in a row and I was able to keep it up. That's been the most difficult part for me, keeping the intensity up... You don't wanna play a couple loose points and I think that's a big difference between some of the top players." Next up for Bethanie is a 6 AM flight to Lexington, Kentucky for another $50k challenger. Further down the road is the US Open, where she's a likely candidate to receive a wild card. (1) Cargill/Ditty vs. Dellacqua/Sewell Doubles Final Stadium Court It's been a memorable week for the doubles finalists, as either team could easily have been sent packing in the opening round. Top seeds Ansley Cargill and Julie Ditty had to come up with Grand Slam caliber tennis to survive two long tiebreaks against Antonia Matic and Liga Dekmeijere. Meanwhile, Casey Dellacqua and Nicole Sewell were griding out their own fun, spirited 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 win over Claire Curran and Natalie Grandin. Neither squad had dropped a set since then, so they didn't lack for momentum going into Sunday afternoon's final. I'm pleased to report that the majority of fans stuck around for this entire match, which is more than can be said for the local press. The top seeds first blood. A nice forehand return winner by Duke alum Cargill earned a break point against Dellacqua. Ditty converted it, punching home a forehand volley for a 3-1 lead. Sewell had to survive five deuces just to remain within striking distance, finally holding to 2-3 with an ace. Rapidly emerging as the stronger link on her team, Sewell deftly put away a forehand volley to complete a break of Cargill's serves. It was an impressive comeback by the Aussies, but this momentum swing proved short-lived. Game 7 was a tense affair in which every lucky break seemed to go with the Americans, including one mis-hit Ditty overhead that turned into an accidentally perfect drop shot. Dellacqua let out an anguished scream after her forehand error gave Cargill/Ditty the break and a 4-3 lead. Dellacqua was really letting her team down now and she knew it, bouncing her racquet after sending a forehand long for 3-5. Cargill and Ditty put the set away in short order after that. A big Cargill forehand on triple set point deflected off Dellacqua's racquet to wrap it up 6-3. The second set was dominated by the servers. Frustration was growing on the Australian side, with Dellacqua telling herself to "make the bloody return" in Game 5 and Sewell chiding herself over "the worst return ever" in Game 9. They were taking handy care of their own service games, though. Dellacqua/Sewell got the second set to 5-all by prevailing in the best rally of the match, winning an all-court duel when Dellacqua rifled a backhand pass down the line. The quality of play really took a step up late in the second set. cargill and Ditty had to come up with some clutch shots to stave off a double break point situation in Game 11. Ditty threw a winning lob over Dellacqua's head to earn the ad, but missed a lob on the very next point. The Americans got back to game point, but were put through their paces in another highlight film rally. This time it was Cargill hitting two overhead smashes, Ditty hitting one, and the Aussies getting the returns back until Sewell just barely missed the baseline with a lovely backhand pass. It was a 6-5 lead for the Americans, but an easy Dellacqua hold forced a second set tiebreak... Dellacqua and Sewell weren't merely still alive -- they had the momentum going into the decisive third set. Cargill, meanwhile, was getting fed up with her mistakes. She scowled and told herself to "stop making so many errors" midway through Game 2. A big return from Dellacqua, almost completely out of Cargill's reach, secured the break for a 2-0 lead. Sewell held serve easily, starting to dominate the match with her rock solid net play. Still down a break at 1-3, Cargill and Ditty had a real chance against Dellacqua. They opened up a 0-40 lead, but Cargill missed the next return and puncutated it with a frustrated groan. As she's done throughout the week, Ditty smiled at her teammate and got her to calm down. Nevetheless, two more break points went by the board. Sewell dominated a nice rally on game point, eventually putting away an overhead smash for the 4-1 final set lead. Holds by Cargill and Sewell made it 5-2. Time was running out for the Americans and Ditty was even having trouble taking care of the service game they needed to extend the match. After two deuces, Ditty pushed a backhand volley long, bringing up match point. Cargill, who never really got it together in the third set, then netted a reflex volley to make it official. To the mild disappointment of the Schenectady crowd, the $2,800 winners check is going Down Under. Casey Dellacqua and Nicole Sewell are your champions -- 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. It's the second title of the year for the Dellacqua/Sewell combo. They claimed a $25k title on home soil in Bendingo back in February. Sewell was the real star of the match, but Dellacqua was the first member of the winning team to make her way off court, so I grabbed her for a quick interview. "We just sort of worked our hardest, like, every point. It just came together in the tiebreak in the second set and, yeah, we went on from there. Yeah, it was a good momentum swing." Even the prospect of facing a pair of lefties didn't bother Casey. "Throughout the week we've actually played another pair that have both been lefties and we've played a fair few, so we're actually quite used to it, so it's been good." The lefties in question were Leanne Baker and Francesca Lubiani, beaten 6-3, 6-2 by the Aussies in the quarterfinals. Dellacqua had lost a heartbreaker to Lubiani in singles qualifying, so I asked if it was nice to get a bit of revenge. "Yeah, I had a tough singles there. I tried my hardest, but couldn't get through in the singles, so to get through in the doubles was nice." Sewell, who was standing nearby but didn't jump in with any answers of her own, will remain paired up with Dellacqua for the rest of the summer. "We're going to Kentucky next week and playing there," said Dellacqua. "We're gonna hopefully try and play US Open together, so that's our goal." |