Not a Good Day for Spain |
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Not a Good Day for Spain |
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Deceptively frail-looking Dominique van Roost's rise from obscurity culminated in a first ever appearance at the WTA Tour's year-end tournament. While Van Roost was cracking the elite field of 16 for the first time, Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez
Possessing one of the toughest return games in women's tennis, Van Roost opted to receive in the opening game. Not looking as nervous
as she could well have been expected to be, Van Roost got to 30-30 and then broke serve with a blistering forehand winner and a deftly placed backhand lob. Martinez struck right back, gamely moving her opponent around the court and eventually breaking he
Van Roost came up on the short end of what she believed to be a bad call early in Game 3, exclaming "out!" after a non-call on her baseline. She gave the lineswoman a long look and then turned to chair umpire Anne Lessere-Ullrich, indicating with he
A supportive cry of "Allez Dominique!" echoed from the stands. Although the crowd was about as sparse as it generally is for a 5:30 start at MSG, a number of the fans were quite vocal and enthusiastic. Martinez's backers cheered her to a hold for 3
Conchita got down 15-30 in the following game, but reeled off three consecutive points to hang on for a 5-4 edge. When a winning backhand pass put Martinez ahead 15-40 in the tenth game, you could almost feel her less experienced opponent's chance sl
It was Martinez who faced a break point in the eleventh game. Dominique squandered it by going for a little too much on a backhand, but Martinez gave her a second chance with an error of her own. This time the 25-year-old would not be denied -- she
The set was now on the racquet of a player whose serve has failed her time and time again in close matches. She fought her way to 40-30, but was unable to handle the Martinez slice in the ensuing rally and committed an error for deuce. Van Roost hit
The first four points of the breaker went with serve. The fifth was a dandy, with Martinez making a terrific get and Van Roost sprinting forward to knock off a winner. Mini-break in hand, Van Roost nailed a pair of clutch service winners to go ahead
An exchange of forehand errors evened the tiebreak at 7. Martinez then sent a forehand just wide, going down 8-7 on a late call. A disgusted Martinez stared at the umpire in disbelief, but the call stood. On the following point, a Van Roost forehan After 61 minutes of play, the #7 seed was down a set and not happy about it.
During the changeover, the public address announcer corrected the mistake he made during the introductions. He asserted that Dominique van Roost is in fact a native of Belgium -- not Belarus, as he had said earlier. As a matter of fact, Van Roost re
Losing the first set the way she had clearly took some of the wind out of Martinez's sails. Meanwhile, Van Roost's confidence was on the rise. She was honing her imposing ground game, cutting down on the unforced errors which nearly cost her the open
The Belgian's serve went awry in Game 7. A second serve ace got her back to 15-40, but Martinez scored an impressive inside-out forehand winner to secure the break. 5-2 was still a mighty deficit, though, and Van Roost was out to end it here. Big r
For once, the statistics accurately tell the tale. Van Roost hurt herself with seven double faults and 33 unforced errors, but the real difference was in the winners category: a whopping 39 from Van Roost, compared to 8 from the Spaniard. It may no
Detained at the Martinez and Van Roost press conferences, I missed the opening set of #4 seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario's bout with Romania's enigmatic Irina Spirlea. However, I can tell you that Sanchez Vicario fought off four set points before finall
At 30-30 in the second game, Sanchez Vicario flubbed a routine forehand volley. Spirlea took full advantage, blasting a forehand return winner to break for a 7-6, 2-0 lead. Midway through the next game we got a brief glimpse of vintage Arantxa as sh
Down 4-1, Sanchez Vicario was looking even more sluggish than her compatriot had in the evening's first match. From 15-15, she missed a forehand, missed another forehand, and erred on a backhand. Just like that, another break in the books and a 5-1
It was a water-logged night for the "Spanish Armada", as straight set losses by Martinez and Sanchez Vicario robbed the draw's bottom half of two seeds. Advancing instead to meet in the first confirmed quarterfinal: Irina Spirlea and Dominique van Roost, a fiery duo whose potent but erratic games make for a compelling, hard-to-predict matchup.
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