Play
was supposed to start at 10am, and I got there at 10.10 while my original
plan was to get there by 9.30 (okay, so I slept in a little. Sleep is somewhat
of a luxury nowadays). The players were still warming up, and I headed
straight to the courts without stopping by the tournament office to get
the schedule of the day, so that I wouldn't miss the start of the matches.
To my dismay, the two featured matches of my day were the first matches
on their respective courts. Raluca Sandu would take on the third seed in
qualifying, Ludmila Cervanova, and Magdalena Maleeva would be playing against
the Indian girl, Nirupama Vaidyanathan. My only consolation was that the
two matches would be played side-by-side: they were scheduled on adjacent
courts.
I figured that
Raluca needed the support more, since everyone was on the other side of
the bleachers to watch the Indian in action. The first few games went without
event, but at 2-all, Cervanova got the first break of the match to go up
3-2. Raluca sensed trouble and took the next game quickly to break back
and even the set. She had trouble on her own service game, though, so Ludmila
broke again, in what looked like a contest to hold serve. It wasn?t the
server that was making the mistakes, though, but rather the receiver who
was playing more aggressively.
Things weren?t
going so well with Magdalena Maleeva either. She was down 1-3 in the first
set when I looked over, and Nirupama was gaining confidence with each point.
Magdalena was up to serve, and Nirupama set up another break point with
a service return winner to go up 4-1, but Magdalena saved it and managed
to hold serve to keep within distance at 2-3. Looking over to the other
court, it looked like both players were still having trouble holding serve
as Raluca had broken back again to bring it to 4-all. Magdalena managed
to barely break serve on a few errors from the Indian, and found herself
back in the set again, 3-all.
Back on the
other court, I heard the umpire call "Game, Sandu", so that meant that
Raluca had finally managed to hold serve. The set was still on serve, with
Cervanova serving, and Raluca took to the court with purpose. She hit scorching
backhand returns, and was firing on all cylinders, and before I could blink,
she was up 40-love. There was excitement on the other court as well, as
Magdalena had a break point at 40-30. Raluca got hers on the first try
with another backhand service return winner, but Magdalena had to work
a little harder, as Nirupama saved the first break point. She took the
next two points to finally get her break, and the score was 4-3.
With a first
set insurance for Raluca, I headed back to the Maleeva match. The score
was 4-all, with Maleeva serving. On one point, Magdalena served a fault,
but the umpire practically whispered it to himself. I barely heard him,
and the players obviously didn?t as they kept on playing the point. About
4 shots into the point, the umpire asked them to stop and replay the point.
Magdalena went back to the baseline to serve, and went for a first serve,
which landed in the net. She motioned for another ball, when the umpire
called "15-all!". She turned around in surprise as Nirupama walked to the
deuce side, and had a few words with the umpire. The umpire insisted that
he hadn?t called a first serve, and Magdalena shouldn?t have assumed that
she had been given one, so after standing there for a few moments in silent
protest, Magdalena walked to the baseline very annoyed. I have to confess
that when the umpire called the score, I shouted "Come on!" at him, as
IMO she clearly should have been given a first serve. The people sitting
around me were a little confused at first, and my protest didn?t help much
either, so they were all looking at me rather perplexed. Magdalena let
her experience show, and shook off the disappointment to hold serve.
Over on the
other court, Raluca looked like she was ready to go home at 2-1, and broke
Ludmila?s serve very convincingly. Ludmila grew increasingly impatient
and frustrated with herself, and had quite a few choice words for herself
(not that I understood any of it).
Now Nirupama
was serving to stay in the set, and found herself in a critical position
at 30-all. I was hoping that Magdalena would get the break so that I could
catch the conclusion of the Sandu-Cervanova match. My wish came through
after Nirupama saved 3 set points, but Magdalena played the last service
return aggressively and finally got the set.
Raluca had lost
her serve, so Ludmila Cervanova was down 2-3 and serving. A few short rallies
and 2 double-faults later, Raluca returned the favour and broke back. Again.
One the first point of her service game, Raluca tried to drop-shot her
opponent, but missed it wide by inches. She threw her hands up in mock
exasperation but had a smile on her face. It didn?t seem to affect her
concentration, though, as she served her way to a 5-2 lead. I think Ludmila?s
coach was little annoyed with me at that point because we were the only
2 watching the match in the stands, and while we both applauded the good
shots or exciting rallies, he applauded on Cervanova?s points while I applauded
for Sandu?s. Not the unforced errors, of course.
The next game
went without incidence, and Ludmila managed to hold serve, with Raluca
showing maybe a bit of nerve as her shots started going wild. Her next
service game was error-filled by both parties, but Cervanova managed to
keep her percentage a little better than Sandu, and got a break of serve
back. The score was now 4-5 with Cervanova serving. Very aware that the
set was slipping away from her, Raluca Sandu started concentrating better,
and played beautifully to break serve and take the match 6-4 6-4. As Raluca
came off the court, I caught up with her and she recognised me from the
day before. Once again, I congratulated her and wished her luck in her
next match. She said thanks and contributed the second autograph on my
giant inflatable tennis ball. The final one I wanted to get was from Jelena
Kosstanic, and her match was next. It was all very convenient for me as
I didn?t plan in carrying the ball around for the rest of the day, and
the sooner I could leave it in my car, the better. Cervanova was first
seed of the day to fall, and her disappointment was very evident as she
was sitting next to her coach looking dejected when I got back up in the
stands.
Magdalena Maleeva
and Nirupama Vaidyanathan were even at 2-all in the second set. Nearly
all the games were going to deuce, and both players were clearly bothered
by the heat. Vaidyanathan called for a bathroom break, and both players
headed off the court for the duration of the break. Finally, they got back
on, Vaidyanathan looking a little fresher than Maleeva. She came out playing
aggressively, and suddenly, all her shots were landing exactly where she
wanted them to. She was running Maggie all over the court, and as doing
some running of her own as well, but nothing seemed to go wrong for her.
Maggie made a ton of unforced errors, most of them going long because she
was trying as hard as possible to keep her shots deep. Anything that landed
just a little short were being blasted by Vaidyanathan. She got the break
of serve, and took the second set 6-4. The umpire gave everyone a break,
and while Nirupama headed to the building area next to the court and sat
on the floor cooling off, Maleeva made a beeline to the air-conditioned
players? lounge.
A long break
later, both players returned to the court, the umpire took his seat, and
a new set of line judges and ball-kids came out. The trend was more or
less the same as the second set, and after some very long games, Maggie
found herself down a break at 3-5, and serving to stay in the match. She
did with a bit of a struggle, saving a few match points, and now Vaidyanathan
was serving for the match. Maggie hit her first return aggressively, which
set up the point nicely, and she got the point. Her next service return
went long, though, and Nirupama took the next two points to take the game,
set and match.
The applause
was rather generous, as they had played a long hard match, and the Vaidyanathan
supporters were ecstatic that their player had taken out the top seed in
the qualifying draw, the second seed to fall. My heart sank, as I thought
how Magdalena Maleeva must feel losing in the second round of qualifying
in a Tier III event. I caught the end of what started as a demolition of
Julie Scott by Jelena Kostanic (I?d been keeping track of the match on
the adjacent court), and Jelena had gotten a 3-0 lead in the second set
after taking the first one 6-2, but let her opponent back in the match.
I think that she has a great game, although her net approaches could do
with a little work. She was running all over the place, even when Julie
had taken control of the point and was jerking her from one end of the
court to the other. Her conditioning is fantastic, and she?s very quick
around the court. Impressed I am. I was packing my camera equipment when
she came out of the court and walked in my direction to go to the players?
lounge (where she wanted to get a player to hit with. That?s how energetic
she is). I didn?t waste the opportunity, did the usual congratulations
and good luck routine, and got her autograph. It was a little funny, because
she was carrying her bag, a towel, and was drinking from her water bottle,
so when I offered her my marker, she fumbled with her stuff to get it all
in her other hand. I was about to apologise for the trouble, but before
I could say anything, she actually apologised for making me wait. I was
carrying all my stuff in my other hand, so I held the cover of the marker,
and offered her the other end. The cap was a little tight, so it didn?t
come off when she tugged it. I said, "Pull", and she did, and the cover
still didn?t come off. So I went "pull, pull..." and she was pulling on
the marker, and finally got it of with a small grunt. We were both kind
of laughing about it, and she slowly signed the ball. Just then, a ball
girl came up and asked for her autograph as well, which she obliged. Very
nice girl, Jelena Kostanic. Hope to see her climb up in the rankings soon.
I didn?t feel
like watching any of the other 2nd qualifying round matches, and the doubles
qualies would start in another 1 ½ hours, so I drove out for lunch
(the food provided for staff and such didn?t look appetising, and I wasn?t
about to munch on a greasy burger). On the way to my car, I saw Magdalena
come out of the shower room, and she looked so disappointed in herself.
I swear my heart broke.
When I got back,
I found a lot of main draw players walking around, looking busy or heading
to the practice courts. I passed by Joanette Kruger, and she?s extremely
easy to recognise. I was wondering what she was doing in a more "serious"
tennis outfit compared to the shorts and t-shirt or sports bra that a lot
of the other players were practising in. After waiting for a while, I finally
got the doubles draws, and I found out why - she was in the qualifying
draw. I checked out a practice session between three players and a guy,
and after that, Katalin Marosi (if I?m not mistaken) was playing a little
game with her practice partner and good friend Tathiana Garbin, where Katalin
was trying to "tag" Tathiana while they ran around within one half of the
court. It was very amusing, watching them running and smiling and giggling
like little kids. Tathiana was too quick for her, and after a while, Katalin
gave up trying to tag the dodging target, and they changed to another game
where they would try to step on the other?s foot. The guy (who had partnered
Andrea Vanc) and Andrea were sitting at the side of the court watching
and laughing. After a while, Katalin called her coach who had suddenly
appeared a few rows behind me. He moved to the seat next to mine to talk
to her, and they were discussing which side to play in doubles with her
new partner, when Tathiana quietly sneaked up behind her. I saw her coming
from quite a distance away, and she caught my eye and put her finger to
her lips to signal me to not give her away. She came right behind Katalin,
and emptied the contents of her water bottle on her head before grabbing
her bag and running off into the shower rooms.
I headed to
the courts, as the doubles qualies should have been about to start. All
eight teams were hitting on the four outer courts. Raluca Sandu was teamed
up with Iroda Tulyaganova, and they were the second seeds. The top seed
went to Cho Yoon-Jenog and Monika Mastalirova. I found a chair to watch
the Sandu-Tulyaganova match (if you haven?t realised yet, Raluca Sandu
was my best friend by now). Before I knew it, the second seeds had lost
8-1 to Evelyn Fauth and Miroslava Vavrinec. I then watched Joanette Kruger
and Anne Kremer teach Chen Yu-An and Weng Tzu-Ting a doubles lesson, taking
the match 8-3.
The new pairing
of Indonesian girl Wukirasih Sawondari and Daphne Van de Zande stretched
the top seeds Cho and Mastalirova to the max, with the top seeds taking
the match 9-8. This just wasn?t Van de Zande?s tournament. She had been
drawn against the top seed in both the singles and doubles qualy draws.
The top seeds
then played against the Indonesian/Thai pairing of Wynne Prakusya and Benjamas
Sangaram. They had little trouble there, taking the match 8-2. Joanette
Kruger and Anne Kremer didn?t fare so well in their match, and blew a small
lead to lose 9-7 to the team that beat the second seeds, Fauth and Vavrinec.
That signalled
the end of the day, and I headed to the tournament office to get the main
singles and doubles draws. After I scanned the draws, I drove home, thinking
of all the players that I?ll be looking for the next day.