French Toast in Montreal: Vento-Mauresmo, Frazier-Halard, Dragomir-Sidot  Canadian Open, Monday, August 17 By Ed Toombs

  Everywhere I went on the grounds today, I seemed to see a Frenchwoman plying her craft on the courts of the Canadian Open. Not entirely a coincidence, as France has been sending many talented youngsters to the ranks of both the WTA and ATP.

  Today I had the chance to see two of the young hopefuls, Amelie Mauresmo and Anne-Gaelle Sidot, as well as veteran Julie Halard-Decugis, who is on the comeback trail after injury woes. Alas, they all lost....

Maria Alejandra Vento (#35) def. Amelie Mauresmo (#32), 6-3, 6-4
1st round
1st career meeting

  Our first French player, Amelie Mauresmo, was eagerly awaited on tour after a stellar junior career, which saw her win the French Open and be named World Junior Champion in 1996. Mauresmo is a broad-shouldered 5'9", 145-pounder with a musculature which, while it might never make Serena Williams envious, is fairly impressive. She broke onto the pro scene with a splash at the 1998 German Open, where as a qualifier she beat three seeded players and reached the final.

  Maria Alejandra Vento, like Mauresmo, has joined the top 50 during the last year. However, the 24-year-old was a surprising late bloomer. A smaller 5'6" with a serious, almost scowling on-court countenance, this Venezuelan relies on her consistency from the baseline and an effective forehand which she can either blast deep or hit shorter and at sharp angles for winners.

  This match was totally controlled by Vento. Mauresmo attempted to dictate play with her more aggressive shots, but her timing was off and she often missed badly. It should be noted that this was Mauresmo's first hard-court event of the summer, and her first match play of any kind since Fed Cup in July. So some rust might be expected from this young woman whose best results have come on clay.

  Vento was not content to wait for errors, however. She usually used her two-handed backhand as a defensive weapon, but was capable of creating havoc with her impressive forehand. Mauresmo, less quick around the court than her Venezuelan opponent, was often forced into scrambling errors by Vento's well-placed inside-out forehands.

  Both sets were similar, with Vento taking big early leads. By the time a brief shower caused a brief rain delay, Vento had coasted to a 5-2 first-set lead, and closed out the set 6-3 after an hour in the locker room.

  In the second set Mauresmo tried limiting her errors and outsteadying Vento with higher-percentage shots, but Vento was better at that game and dominated most baseline points. Mauresmo finally found her timing late in the set, but by then Vento had sped to a 5-1 second-set lead, Mauresmo's improved play and Vento's sudden nervousness allowed the Frenchwoman to close the margin to 5-4. But Vento finally served out the match, as Mauresmo netted a backhand on the first match point.

  Vento's solid 6-3, 6-4 win earns her a chance to knock off 16th-seeded Ai Sugiyama in the second round. Meanwhile, Mauresmo, whose great potential is obvious, will hit the practice courts and attempt to build on the positive signs she displayed in the late stages of today's match.

Ruxandra Dragomir (#38) def. Anne-Gaelle Sidot (#55), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
1st round
Previous head-to-head: Dragomir leads 2-0.

  Our second Frenchwoman is, like Mauresmo, a 19-year-old baseliner with ambitions, Anne-Gaelle Sidot. Unlike clay-loving Amelie, however, Anne-Gaelle enjoys the hard courts.

  One thing Sidot doesn't enjoy, however, is playing Ruxandra Dragomir. The speedy Romanian veteran rarely beats herself, and is a good barometer for the progress of a young player. Sidot is getting closer -- she at least forced "Drags" to a tie-break this time, but is yet to win a set from her in three matches.

  Sidot is fairly slender, but still steps into her shots with considerable power and has a harder-than-average serve. She more than held her own with the Romanian after a disastrous 0-5 start, at least making the first set close (6-3). She continued her fine play in the second set, hitting some fine forehand winners and taking a 4-2 lead. The veteran Dragomir weathered the storm, however, drawing even and eventually playing the important points better down the stretch.

  On the fashion front, Dragomir, auburn-haired every time I have seen her before, is now a blonde! She also sported a stylish tennis dress in the backless Pierce-Serena tradition.

  By virtue of her 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win, "Drags" now advances to the second round where she will have to battle with one of the tournament's main attractions, Anna Kournikova. The two have never played in singles and doubles: tomorrow, they face each other in both disciplines!

Q-Amy Frazier (#77) def. Julie Halard-Decugis (special ranking # 15), 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5)
1st round
Prevous head-to-head: Frazier leads 2-0

  Our final Frenchwoman is a veteran on the comeback trail, the ebullient and talented Julie Halard-Decugis. Last year the former top-twenty player sat out virtually the entire year, a victim of knee, wrist and shoulder injuries. But she showed she meant business in the first tournament of her comeback, reaching the quarterfinals at Gold Coast, Australia, and later won at Rosmalen in June.

  Her opponent, Amy Frazier of the US, is also trying to recapture past glory. A former top-twenty player herself, Frazier has seen her ranking drop to #77 and had to qualify to enter this tournament. The 25-year-old American won a nervously-played, tense encounter, fighting off two match points before finally converting her third match point in a patchy 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) triumph.

  "Bageled" in the first set, Halard was just not in the match in the early stages. Frazier was stroking her trademark deep groundies like clockwork, and firing penetrating returns. Meanwhile, Julie was generously spraying wild shots out of play.

  Halard improved her play in a spirited second set, showing us her rather eccentric baseline game that featured wild scrambling runs, high-risk shotmaking, and a unique stroke that uses virtually no backswing and a wristy, whippy acceleration. Still, with Frazier serving at 6-0, 5-4, Julie looked ready to go down. But Halard, ferociously determined, would not die, and produced her best play of the match to win three straight games and level the match at one set all.

  The third set was a baseline war in the high heat and stifling humidity, with both women producing alternately poor and excellent play. Halard had the first match points, two of them, on Frazier's serve at 5-6. Frazier saved the first with a strong baseline rally, but Halard blew her second match point when she sent a routine backhand into the net.

  In the tie-break, Frazier took the first point against Halard's serve with a blazing backhand winner down the line, and never trailed after that. Halard's frustration mounted as she continued to alternate the sublime and the ridiculous. At 3-5 she left an offensive lob too short, and screamed in agony as Frazier put away the overhead. Leading 6-3 and holding triple match point, Frazier suffered an attack of nerves and gave two of them away with an unforced forehand error and a double fault. However, when Halard sent a forehand long at 6-5, Frazier had finally won the tautly-contested match.

  Next for Amy: 6th-seeded Conchita Martinez  

Finally we should note that on our "French day" France's representatives were 1-6. Only Nathalie Tauziat, the 11th seed, saved the nation's honour with a laborious three-set triumph over Sandra Cacic.
 

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