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by Michelle Chuang Morning Session Lindsay Davenport vs. Amy Frazier Lindsay came into the match not too happy with her last two matches. Amy Frazier’s last three matches have been really impressive. Their head to head record is Davenport 5-0 with their last meeting in Madrid with Davenport cruising 6-0, 6-2. Davenport felt like she needed to serve well since she thought that Frazier had a good return of serve. The first set was just a blow out for Lindsay 6-0. Amy came out looking uncomfortable and hitting too many unforced errors. She didn’t look nearly as sharp as she was in her last three matches, but obviously her opponent being Davenport had a lot to do with that. It looked like Frazier was going to get demolished when Lindsay went up 5-1 in the second set. The only game that Frazier won was when she held for 1-2. At that point, Frazier had all crowd support because they paid good money to be there , and they wanted the match to be prolonged. Frazier served up a second serve ace to hold for 2-5. Then in front of a surprised crowd, Frazier broke Lindsay’s serve at love for 3-5. Lindsay served impeccably throughout the match. Whenever it looked like she was in a little trouble in her service game, Lindsay would just hit a service winner. Amy saved a match point to hold 4-5 with a great cross-line forehand passing shot. On Lindsay’s service game, Amy could only save one more match point before falling to the #1 player in the world 6-0, 6-4. After the match, Lindsay seemed to be very happy with her performance except for that brief lapse in the second set. She says that she would prefer to play the best player to win the title, so she is counting on Venus to beat Coetzer later tonight in the other semifinal match. A 1998 Bank of the West rematch final looks to be in place with Lindsay and Venus again, but the "Little Assassin" (Coetzer) probably has other ideas. Other Morning Session Match Davenport/ Morariu defeated Fernandez/ Raymond 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 This match was a fun match with four friends playing with/against each other. It was highly competitive also, and it produced some very good points. I was surprised that Davenport was trying so hard since she does have that noon singles final tomorrow. Davenport looks to be striving as the leader of the doubles team. She will be looking for her fourth straight Bank of the West Classic doubles title tomorrow with Morariu. Evening Session Venus Williams vs. Amanda Coetzer Coetzer fought and struggled through the tournament to reach the semifinals. Venus, on the other hand, had a fairly easy time in both her matches. She was "practicing" in the second set of her second round match against Strebotnik. Venus and Amanda’s head to head record wasn’t something Coetzer could use as confidence since she is 0-3 against Venus without taking a set. After two gutsy matches where Coetzer faced a match point against each opponent, one would wonder if she had anymore miracles left in her. One thing is for sure though- playing against Coetzer is no picnic. Her opponents cannot let up at any point in the match because Coetzer will take advantage. Venus looked unbeatable in her match against Kournikova last night, so there was definitely a tough task ahead for Coetzer. Venus got off to her usual quick start. Coetzer looked helpless. She seemed like just some person out there holding a tennis racquet. Venus was that good in the first set. Amanda came out with a game plan which was to mix things up. The problem was that her backhand slice kept sitting up, and Venus would just crush it for a winner. Venus stomped on Coetzer like a bug to take the first set easily 6-1. The second set started out badly for Coetzer also. After Venus broke her in the first game, fans pleaded with Coetzer to, "Pump it up." The turnaround began at 4-1 when Venus broke Amanda for the second time of the set. Venus seemed to be having a temporary lapse in the second set much like her previous matches. She called it having, "too much fun," in her post match press conference. Back to the match, Coetzer broke Venus for 2-4. I don’t think anyone really ever thought Coetzer could pull it out, but she held for 3-4 then she went on to break Venus again for 4-4. Then Venus just picked up her game to break Amanda for 5-4. Amanda had her chance to break back, but she failed to convert. The match ended when Coetzer hit a backhand into the net. Final score 6-1, 6-4. Venus was extremely confusing in her press conference. She seems to always contradict everything she says. Nevertheless, tomorrow should be a very interesting final. Other Evening Session Score Kournikova/ Likhovtseva defeated Coetzer/Po 6-2, 6-1 |