Having
been around the stadium more than 12 hours a day, I chose today, the day
of the singles and doubles semifinals, to take a break. I?d only been getting
a few hours of sleep a day, and didn?t want to fall sick just as my exams
started, so I took a break, and decided that I?d skip the singles matches
and just catch the doubles match that was the last one scheduled. I know,
some of you may think I?m crazy.
Anyway, I slated
Joanette Kruger to take the title, although I would have preferred Asa
Carlsson to take it. Joanette has a good game, and is by all means a player
who should climb back up the rankings soon, but Asa has more matches behind
her recently, and can count on her Swedish-flag-bearing supporters.
Joanette and
Asa had the first tough match of the day, and Asa ended up taking it 7-6(5)
7-5. Erika de Lone booked her place in the finals, beating Rita Grande
6-2 6-3. Having watched both play during the week, I?ll anticipate a good
final match tomorrow, but Erika has the advantage from playing a shorter
semifinal and having one of her opponents retire from her match.
Anyway, I came
into the stadium uncharacteristically late. I had planned on getting there
at 5.20, but ended up reaching at about 6. To my delight, Jelena Kostanic,
Tina Pisnik, Laurence Courtois and Alicia Molik were starting to warm up.
Not surprisingly, my usual seat was taken, and I settled into a seat in
the fifth row, even though there were empty seats lower down.
The match soon
started, and Alicia would open for her team. With Anastasia Myskina out
of the tournament, the sole survivor from my first day at the tournament
was Jelena Kostanic. Fond of Laurence and Alicia I am, but I was pretty
sure that I would be cheering for Jelena and Tina.
The match immediately
promised to be a good one. Alicia managed to hold serve, but only after
a bit of a struggle. Jelena opened for her team. JK/TP faced one break
point on Jelena?s serve, but saved it with a good wide first serve. Two
errors from her gave Laurence and Alicia the early break in the match.
This looked like trouble - Jelena usually had the stronger service game
early in the matches.
Laurence Courtois
then took her turn to serve, and faced two break points. Her team saved
both, and took the game. While Alicia and Laurence had given up leads before,
they showed no signs of relenting this time. They played great tennis to
get a second break on Tina?s serve, going up 4-0. At 30-all, Jelena nearly
made a rookie mistake by hitting a ball that was clearly going out before
it landed. She was standing 3 feet behind the baseline, but if she had
hit the ball with her racquet, it would still have been considered in play.
Good thing she got her racquet out of the way in time.
Laurence and
Alicia continued their excellent teamwork, and Laurence especially was
really playing well, although Alicia was no slouch either. Some more unforced
errors from the youngsters gave Laurence Courtois and Alicia Molik the
first set 6-0. At this point, a lot of people started leaving the stadium.
Luckily, a lot of people also came in during changeovers, so the stadium
still kept a pretty decent crowd.
Jelena and Tina
finally broke Alicia?s serve to open the second set and finally get on
the scoreboard, but not without a struggle. LC/AM broke back, but a double-fault
from Laurence gave JK/TP the break again. Jelena had an extremely difficult
time on her service game, but she and Tina fought hard to consolidate the
break..
Saving game
point JK/TP broke Alicia?s serve again to go up 4-1. A bad line call gave
LC/AM a break back on Tina?s serve. Some excellent playing gave Laurence
her service game at love, so Tina would have to serve for the second set.
TP/JK went up
30-love, but made some errors to bring it to 30-all. Tina chose that moment
to score an ace, giving the pair set point. Alicia saved it with a nicely
angled passing shot. The umpire called a passing winner by Tina out (what
a time to wake up), but she countered with a good serve on the next point
to get set point #2. Once again, Alicia saved it. A volley error from Tina
then gave LC/AM break point, but Alicia made a careless service return
error. Two winners from Laurence gave her her service game, and Jelena
would serve to keep her team in the match. She held serve easily to bring
the second set to a tie-breaker.
I started to
get nervous, knowing that a few points could mean life or death for the
youngsters in the match. Alicia served first, and a spectacular passing
shot hit on the run by Tina gave her team the mini-break. Tina served and
got both her points. Another bad line call against Laurence lost her one
of her service points, but her team played well to get the other. The score
was now 4-1 with Jelena serving. Jelena mishit an easy cross-court forehand
to give a break back. Tactical errors on her behalf gave another break
back. The score was now 3-4, Molik serving. She made a volley error to
give the break to JK/TP, and a slight error in judgement gave Alicia her
second service point. A volley from Tina gave the break back, but a good
solid volley from Jelena forced Laurence to serve to stay in the set. All
four players played hard, but the youngsters got the point to take the
second set 7-6(5).
Talk about a
close shave! I was on the edge of my seat throughout the last part of the
set, and I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my cardiovascular
system. Jelena served to open the third set. She lost the first point,
but played well to get the next four, hitting an ace to take the game.
Some more fine playing from gave LC/AM an early break on Tina?s serve to
go up 2-1. LC/TP held their service game, and Alicia went up 40-15 on hers,
but lost both points for her team. She made up for it in the next point
by getting game point #3, but Tina saved it with a spectacular volley.
Alicia forced another error with her serve. This time, spectacular volleying
from Jelena saved it. A wild service return error from Tina gave AM/LC
game point #5. I could almost have predicted it: a double-fault from Alicia.
2 nice volleys from Laurence gave her team back the advantage and the game.
Tina Pisnik
would now serve, and her team went up 30-love, but they lost the next three
points. She saved break point, and forced a service return error on the
next point. A nice slice angled shot from Alicia saved the game point,
but another nice serve forced an error from Laurence. Tina was really serving
well by now, and a horrible mishit on the service return from Alicia gave
JK/TP the game. The score was now 4-2.
As if playing
without abandon, the youngsters played absolutely fantastic tennis to get
the break back. At 4-all, Jelena served well to set up the points for her
team, and took a 40-15 lead. At which point she double-faulted. She made
up for it with an excellent first shot down the middle, though, to let
her team go up 5-4! Alicia would have to serve to stay in the match.
The adrenaline
levels in my blood were near critical -- Tina Pisnik and Jelena Kostanic
had actually clawed their way out of a pit, and now had a chance to take
the match! Alicia served and went up 30-love. She missed an easy overhead
and made an error to bring it to 30-all. Sensing that the match was slipping
away, she took the next point and made no mistake on the next overhead
to bring it to 5-all.
The hair on
the back of my neck was standing -- the match was absolutely even. Either
team could take the match in the blink of an eye! My heart was pounding
so fast that I actually had to take a deep breath before each point to
calm myself down! My hands were rather sweaty and I found it a little difficult
to hold on to my pen. The last time this happened was when I was watching
Wimbledon live and Mirjana Lucic defeated Monica Seles.
Tina Pisnik
went up to serve, and got a 30-love lead. She extended it to a 40-love
lead, and put away the easy overhead to hold serve at love and go up 6-5!
Now it was Laurence's turn to serve, and she would have the task of giving
her team a good first shot to keep them in the tournament.
She lost the
first point, but a superb volley from Alicia evened it at 15-all. A bad
service call gave Laurence a double-fault and JK/TP a 30-15 lead. They
were now just 2 points away from the match again. Laurence made sure she
got her next serve clearly in, but an easy overhead hit wide by Alicia
gave JK/TP 2 match points. An error saved the match point, but the youngsters
had another one. Tina hit a spectacular passing shot, but it landed long,
and the game went to deuce. Talk about thrillers!
On the next
point, Laurence worked hard to get the advantage, but a double-fault brought
it back to deuce. Another double-fault (I thought the line call was questionable)
gave the youngsters the advantage. Laurence and Alicia then woke up, played
unbelievable tennis, and reeled off 14 points in a row to take the game,
set and match! Just kidding. Laurence and Alicia played hard, and showed
no signs of giving the match away, but an excellent lob over their heads
that landed 2 inches inside the baseline by Tina Pisnik took her team to
the finals!!! The two girls were ecstatic, and hugged each other. The crowd
had become very vocal by then, cheering mostly for Laurence and Alicia,
but they all applauded the valiant effort of both teams. After a nice hand-shake
and all, both teams sat down to think about their match. JK/TP walked off
the court first, while Laurence buried her head in her towel. It was only
for a moment, so I?m not sure if she was crying. But I wouldn?t blame her
if she was. That was two close matches she?d lost now. The crowd gave them
a good ovation when they walked off the court.
I headed to
the tournament office to collect the scores of the day (I missed the singles
matches, remember?), and met Jelena?s coach in the corridor. I smiled,
and told him that I got so nervous watching the match. He smiled, and told
me to calm down. I got the scores, and headed outside to catch the victors
of the day.
They certainly
took their time to come out, and I walked around the whole stadium in case
I had missed them. I then thought the safest bet would be to wait next
to the bus. There, I met the Japanese girl again -- she was also staying
at the Concorde Hotel, and took the bus back there. She said that she?d
read my articles, and I was surprised - I asked her how she knew they were
mine, and then remembered the Barabanschikova match. After a while, she
got on the bus, and I was arranging my notes when I noticed Alicia?s coach
sitting nearby. He was looking at me, or rather my large tennis ball, so
I asked him if he coached both Laurence and Alicia. He said no, he was
just Alicia?s coach, but was helping Laurence out at the moment. She had
recently split with her coach, and would probably get a new one next year.
I asked if they would play doubles together at Pattaya, and he said that
they weren?t sure yet (they should, they make a good team). I asked him
to wish them good luck for me, and he said thanks very nicely. I packed
up my stuff and headed to the other corner of the stadium where I knew
I would catch Jelena and Tina.
When I turned
the corner, sure enough, Jelena and her coach were standing there, waiting
for Tina and her coach. I walked up to them, and her coach smiled. I congratulated
them on a good match, and told Jelena that I was so nervous watching that
match that my hands were still sweating and I?d have to write my report
later because I couldn?t hold my pen, at which they both laughed. The coach
then asked me what a room nearby was, and I explained that it was a prayer
room for Muslims. He asked where the most famous church in KL was, and
I told him that there were a number, but I didn?t know which one was the
biggest. I asked him if it was to pray for the match tomorrow, and he said
yes. He then asked if I thought they?d mind if someone from a different
religion went to pray there, and I said that I didn?t think they?d mind
at all. I told him that maybe he could pray to their God and ask Him to
pass the message along to his God. He found this very amusing, and quipped,
"they have postmen up there, ya? He make a phone call to pass my message?",
to which I replied, "and fax, and e-mail...". That was a nice light-hearted
moment, and Jelena asked if I had bought the ball. I said no, and joked
that I had stolen it. Just then, Tina came up, and I said that it was her
turn to sign the ball. She signed it very nicely, although she looked a
little stressed out (who wouldn?t be, after that match!), and Jelena?s
coach joked, "Why did you sign it Martina Hingis?". It didn?t get a smile
from her, but it got a smile from Jelena.
Jelena?s coach
is another very nice guy, and I walked along with them to the bus. He was
very friendly, and I talked to him while the other three walked a few steps
ahead. Just before he got on the bus, he shook my hand (not the regular
way, but the more sporty way where it?s like you?re about to arm wrestle).
I said I?d catch them tomorrow, and made my way to the car, still excited
from the night?s match.
Tomorrow would
see Asa Carlsson take on Erika de Lone, and doubles action where Jelena
Kostanic and Tina Pisnik would take on Rika Hiraki and Yuka Yoshida.