Qualifiers determined! |
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Qualifiers determined! |
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Nathalie Dechy vs. Kvetoslava Hrdlickova
Singles Qualifying: Final Round
Court 6
I only got in for the end of this match, but it was
exciting enough to merit a report. Big-hitting Kvetoslava
Hrdlickova took the first set 6-3, but French fan favorite
Nathalie Dechy came back to win the second 6-1. When I
arrived, Dechy was serving for the victory with a 5-4 lead
in the final set. At 30-30, Hrdlickova drilled a forehand
winner to earn a break point. An errant Dechy groundstroke
on the next point cost her the game -- suddenly the match
was dead even at 5-5. Hrdlickova subsequently took control
with an easy service hold for 6-5.
Hrdlickova was within two points of victory at 30-30 in the set's twelfth game, but Dechy won the next two points and forced the match into a third set tiebreak. Here's a point-by-point recount of that winner take all 'breaker...
It obviously wasn't easy, but Nathalie Dechy lived up to her #6 qualifying seed by earning a spot in the main draw. Canada has been good to the youngster so far, as she pulled a big upset win over Venus Williams last year in Toronto. She'll hope to duplicate that success against Ai Sugiyama in 1998's first round
Rachel McQuillan vs. Larisa Neiland
Singles Qualfying: Final Round
Court 1
Veteran doubles demon Larisa Neiland's hair has
magically turned blonde since I last saw her. The new 'do
was no help in the first game of this qualifying match --
she was broken at 15 by Rachel McQuillan. After struggling
mightily with her serve on Saturday, McQuillan opened with
an ace. However, she ended up facing two break points, the
second converted when Neiland guided a backhand return up
the line. Neiland solidified it with her first hold of the
day, taking a 2-1 lead.
McQuillan and Neiland each fought off break points in their next service games. McQuillan had her first run-in with the umpire in Game 5, exclaiming "no no no no no no" when she gave Neiland credit for an ace on an overrule of a fault call. McQuillan quickly regained her composure, however, and scored a hold and a break for a 4-3 edge. Neiland bounced her racquet in disgust, lost another quick game for 5-3, and got down 0-40 on her serve. She warded off the first set point with an ace, but lost the next on a backhand error. First set to the Australian: 6-3.
Neiland utilized some very nice passing shots to score an early break in the second set and went up 2-0 on a service winner. With momentum and calls going against her, McQuillan became increasingly agitated. When the chair umpire failed to catch what Rachel said in one of her pleas, she replied, "Don't worry about it" and gave the umpire a disgusted little wave.
McQuillan was broken again for 3-0 and this time it was her bouncing a racquet. A trio of quick holds followed, leaving Neiland with a 5-1 lead in the set. McQuillan saved a pair of set points in Game 7, the first with a stab volley even Neiland had to applaud. The Latvian kept the pressure on, however, and finally did win a 6-1 set when McQuillan missed a backhand volley. Neiland went on to take the first game of the third set in spectacular fashion. On game point, she ran down a drop shot, grunting along the way, and somehow flicked back a perfect lob which landed right on the baseline.
McQuillan held easily for 1-1. With doubles partner Anna Kournikova looking on from the bleachers, Neiland committed a pair of untimely double faults in Game 3 and lost it on a McQuillan smash. Larisa angrily smacked the net post with her racquet between games, but battled right back to break for 2-2. At 30-40 in Game 5, Neiland couldn't do anything with a McQuillan passing shot. She picked up the ball and smacked it into the net. McQuillan then took control with a love hold for 4-2. Neiland was the one unhappy about a call here, asking "What's happening? You think or you know?" when no call was made on a ball she thought had landed long.
Neiland kept on double faulting -- two more in the set's seventh game -- but she rallied to hold for 4-3 and was visibly pumped up. Holds for each made it 5-4 and set the stage for McQuillan to try serving out the match. She fell into a 0-40 ditch on another questionable call, crying out "Ai-yi-yi! Ai ai ai! Oh man." Neiland broke at love and McQuillan faked smashing a ball into the stands. She got some positive energy going, though, and drew a Neiland error on break point to secure a 6-5 lead.
Angry again, Neiland slammed her racquet down by her chair on the changeover. Neither player was called for a code violation in this match. However, I happened to see the official list of possible infractions yesterday and figured I might as well pass it along. Here are the types of behavior which can get you in trouble on a tennis court: audible obscenity; visible obscenity; ball abuse; racquet abuse; verbal abuse; physical abuse; unsportsmanlike conduct; unreasonable delays; and coaching. If you plan on pulling any of those no-no's, don't claim you weren't warned!
Back to the match, where McQuillan threw up a great lob for a 30-0 lead. Neiland once again applauded with her racquet. She did no such thing a few points later, though. With two match points in hand at 40-15, McQuillan served what appeared to be a fault. Neiland got nothing but deafening silence, though. No fault call ever came. She stood by the service line in utter disbelief for a while. Neiland did engage McQuillan in a pretty warm handshake, but snubbed the umpire and slammed her racquet one last time. A 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 loss would never be easy to take, but I'm sure it's even worse when you're a 32-year-old whose singles ranking could use a boost. McQuillan, on the other hand, moves ahead to a first round main draw encounter with 14th seed Sandrine Testud.
Florencia Labat vs. Catalina Cristea
Singles Qualifying: Final Round
Court 1
As the last singles match of the day, this qualifying
battle drew an impressive crowd. They were on serve when
I arrived, Florencia Labat leading Catalina Cristea 2-1.
It became evident in the next game that Labat was sticking
to the strategy that worked for her on Saturday -- take
pace off the ball and keep it in play. She won a series of
long, low-risk rallies to break serve for a 3-1 lead. Both
players even resorted to moonballing in Labat's next service
game, which she finally won after sidestepping five break
points.
Although she had some tape on her right knee, Labat seemed to be moving well and was doing enough to win. Patiently waiting for opportunities to be aggressive, she squeaked out another break for 5-1 and easily served out the stanza, clinching her third consecutive 6-1 set of the weekend when a Cristea backhand sailed long. Little was going right for the Romanian, who was even slapped with a time violation warning for being too slow with a racquet change.
Cristea was quite adamant about a service line call which went against her in the opening game of the second set, even asking Labat what she thought and demanding she point to a mark. Cristea was unnerved enough to lose that game and the next, falling behind 2-0. However, you could not fault her for a lack of effort. Cristea continued to run down everything in sight and was starting to go for more with her replies. Taking all the moonball action out of her game, Cristea settled down to hold and break, rendering the set tied at 2.
Labat got another break of her own to regain the lead, but squandered a 40-15 edge in Game 6 and was right back even again. Still returning well, Florencia jumped out to a 0-40 advantage in the next game and won it with a nifty forehand pass down the line. The lead was again merely temporary -- Cristea fought hard to break for 4-4. When Labat got down 40-0 in the set's ninth game, nobody could have anticipated that it would become an epic battle with "turning point" written all over it. That's precisely what happened, deuces piling up as Cristea blew an amazing eight game points and Labat squandered two break chances.
After missing a backhand to set up break point #3, an exhausted Cristea sat down on the court and smiled broadly, to the crowd's delight. Labat didn't even acknowledge the moment of levity, staying focused on the task at hand. On the very next point, Catalina missed a fairly routine overhead and gave Labat the critical 5-4 lead. Both players were then treated to probably the longest ovation of the tournament thus far.
The end was, almost by necessity after that game,
rather anticlimactic. Cristea fought from 30-0 to 30-all,
but she ended long rallies on the next two points with
errors. Florencia Labat gave her very game opponent a pat
on the back when they met at the net. It had been a good
workout for the Argentine, but she can look forward to an
even stiffer test in the main draw, as she's slated to
face fellow lefty Patty Schnyder.
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