Tara Snyder breaks though in Quebec: The 1998 Bell Challenge By Ed Toombs November, 1998

    Most of the women on tour love coming to the Bell Challenge. The players have voted this event several times, including this year, the best Tier III tournament on the circuit. Taking place in a tennis club with temporary seating for 2,000 fans, the Bell Challenge has a cozy atmosphere and the locals are very hospitable. "It's sort of like returning to my club after a long year on the tour", commented the eighth seed, Nathalie Dechy. The players also appreciate the fine dining and lively night life in the picturesque and historic downtown area of "la vieille capitale". The indoor carpet is fairly fast, and attacking players are usually rewarded.

    With none of the previous Bell Challenge winners in the field, including defending champ Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, a new champion would be crowned in 1998.
 

Early round seed-slaughtering

    When the draw was announced, most observers felt that the top two seeds, the 1997 Bell Challenge runner-up Dominique Van Roost and Sandrine Testud of France, were the class of the field and would waltz through to the final. But fresh off the plane from the European indoor circuit and weary at the end of a long season, neither player seemed on her game, and both were upset in the quarterfinals.

    Van Roost's loss to talented American Chanda Rubin, seeded 5th here, was not a complete surprise, but the decisiveness of the 6-2, 6-2 score certainly was. Rubin had barely squeaked through her first round tilt, fighting off match points to win a tight three setter against American qualifier Mashona Washington (yes, MaliVai's little sister). But Chanda came up with a dominant performance against Van Roost, who was on the defensive and error-prone throughout.

    The shock of the tournament, however, was Sandrine Testud's ouster at the hands of a relatively undistinguished qualifier from the United States, 25-year-old Jane Chi. Chi took out Testud in a quarterfnal surprise, earning the right to battle a young, fast-rising countrywoman, seventh-seeded Tara Snyder, in the semis. 

   The carnage also extended to the third and fourth seeds, as they met a similar fate in the early rounds. Julie Halard-Decugis (#3) was surprised by the small but dynamic Canadian, Sonya Jeyaseelan, in the first round, while #4 Maria Alejandra Vento of Venezuela was ousted in the second round by Catalina Cristea of Romania.
 

The semifinals

    Chanda Rubin continued her impressive run in the semifinals, taking out the eighth seed, Nathalie Dechy of France, 6-2, 6-4 in a match that was closer than the score suggests.

    This was Dechy's first appearance at the Quebec tournament. Nathalie is a tall 19-year-old who relies more on precision and finesse than power from the baseline. She has some Quebec blood coursing through her veins, and was supported by an uncle and a group of cousins who made the trip from the province's Eastern Townships. The French teen earned quite a following this week, thanks to her fine tennis as well as her unaffected, modest demeanour.

    This was an interesting battle, with Dechy trying to work the points by creating angles with precision baseline placements, and Rubin making use of her superior speed, power and aggression. Chanda's game, probably better suited to the fast indoor conditions, won out. But Dechy's lack of experience was also a factor. It was the Frenchwoman who made the more nervous errors on big points: for example, in the first set when she netted an easy forehand to concede a break and a 5-2 lead to Rubin.

    The second set was tighter, but it was again Dechy who faltered in the clutch. Serving at 4-4, she sent a routine overhead wide on break point. Chanda then calmly served out the match at love to seal the straight-set win.

Nathalie Dechy, losing semifinalist

    Earning the right to play Rubin in the final was Tara Snyder, aged 21, who has risen this year from outside the top 100 into the top 50. The hard-hitting former US Open junior champion from Kansas was in her first tour final, having reached the quarterfinals at Amelia Island and Madrid earlier this season. Tara had also come into the tournament with plenty of confidence, having won a Challenger event in Houston the week before Quebec. The 7th seed moved her way quietly through the draw in Quebec, sweeping aside Nicole Pratt, Barbara Rittner and Catalina Cristea in straight sets before putting an end to Jane Chi's fairy-tale run, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.

    Chi, a dogged retriever who reminded many observers of Michael Chang in his glory years, was able to outsteady Snyder in the early going. But Snyder pulled herself together and used her superior power to eventually subdue the tournament's upset woman.
But it was assuredly a splendid week for Chi, who was ranked only #128 coming into the tournament and played the Challenger circuit for most of the year. The 25-year-old from Idaho had been a university star at the University of California at Los Angeles, but never made much of a dent in the pro tour until this week. Her astonishing win over Sandrine Testud and honourable showing in the semifinals should give a needed boost to both her ranking and her morale. 


The dramatic final
 
    The Rubin-Snyder final was a rematch of their only previous career meeting, a tight Wimbledon encounter earlier this year that was won by Rubin, 11-9 in the third set. So another close match was anticipated. And was it ever close!

    Tara Snyder got off to a nervous start, falling behind 1-5 early in the match. Tentatively sending balls down the centre of the court, the tall, slender blonde let her opponent dictate the points, and Rubin did so effectively. Snyder fought back to make the set competitive as she started to drive the ball deeper and closer to the lines, in particular flashing a lethal down-the-line two-handed backhand. Rubin held off the challenge, however, to take the first set 6-4.

    Snyder continued her streak of dominant play in the second set, keeping a suddenly passive Rubin on her heels and punctuating her heavy groundstrokes with high-volume grunts. Rubin came on stronger after falling behind 1-4 in this set, but Snyder kept the pressure on and took the set 6-4 to level the match.

    The third set was a thriller. Snyder continued her fearless baseline play to take an early lead, 4-2. But Rubin, competing hard, raised her game, going to the serve-and-volley style with positive results and taking advantage of Tara's second serves to clock some impressive forehand return winners. The deciding set was now tied 4-4, and the stage was set for a dramatic climax.

    Serving at 4-5, Snyder fell in trouble on her own serve, and was obliged to fend off two match points. Tara was solid on these occasions, saving one of them with a service winner and the second with a clean backhand winner off a short ball by Rubin. After four deuces, Snyder finally took the game on a forehand error by Rubin, and she was still alive.

    In the decisive tie-breaker, Chanda started strong, ripping a backhand winner to go up a "mini-break" and eventually take a 5-3 lead. Two points away from victory, Chanda saw the tide start turning against her when she lost a point after what appeared to be a blown call by the linesman on a Snyder shot that looked long. Rubin rarely argues calls, but she was furious, and asked the linesman rhetorically: "What are you looking at, the match or the lines?" Apparently flustered by the call, Rubin blew a volley, and then made a tentative forehand error to hand Snyder a 6-5 lead and match point. Rubin saved the first match point with a clean forehand winner. But at 7-6, Snyder made good on her second match point, painting the outside of the line with a perfect backhand passing shot to seal her landmark triumph.

    Snyder was as radiant as one might expect after her first tour title: "I've got to pinch myself to make sure it's real." The young Kansan impressed all week with her court movement, power, combativeness and mental toughness under pressure. Tara is very demonstrative on court, which makes her enjoyable for the fans to watch. She has set a goal to reach the top 20 in 1999, and she certainly appears to have the tools to do so. I got the impression that she should improve her serve -- a tall, strong woman like her should be able to serve faster than 156 km/hr, her top speed this week -- and her volley lacks firmness. But the basics are there, and this is a talented, dedicated young athlete who is not afraid of hard work. We should be seeing a lot more of Tara Snyder in years to come.

    As for Chanda Rubin, this was a very disheartening loss for her. She was visibly devastated, and her voice broke as she made her post-match speech to the crowd. Indeed, Chanda's inability to put away this match was almost tragic. She is still lacking confidence at the important points of big matches. Still, the likeable, soft-spoken Louisianan should have some positives to take away from Quebec. She is pleased to see flashes of her top-ten form returning: she was ranked as high as number six before wrist surgery two years ago. "I'm playing the best tennis I've played in a long time," Rubin enthused after upsetting Van Roost. She is definitely on the right road. If she can succeed in cutting down her unforced errors a bit more, improve her first serve percentage and, especially, believe in her chances when the matches get tight, she might once again pose a consistent challenge to the elite players.
 

    The 1998 Bell Challenge offered some memorable moments. It was nice to see breakthroughs by Snyder and Chi, and the tense three-setter between Testud and Capriati in the first round had the fans on the edge of their seats. The Quebec crowd enjoyed the return to form of Chanda Rubin, and discovered talented and engaging new faces such as Nathalie Dechy and Alexandra Stevenson. Stevenson, an effervescent 17-year-old American who reached the quarterfinals and is tabbed in some quarters as a future star, charmed the press corps all week. She even turned the tables on the reporters in one press conference, asking the startled media: "What are you all wearing for Halloween? I'm going to be dressed as Scary Spice!"

    Fortunately, the superb final helped wipe out the lingering disappointment over the lethargic showings by Testud and Van Roost, the tourney's big draws. But not before the debate about the long, busy tennis season had again been stoked. Sandrine Testud was the most vocal in her bitterness about the grueling effect the schedule has on the top player. "I can't take it any more. We play 11 months out of 12, but we don't have any choice if we want to improve our ranking. They talk about doing something about it, but nothing ever happens." Er, don't hold your breath either, Sandrine....
 

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