The temperature climbed to 28 degrees today in Toronto, and the action heated up under a baking sun for today's second round. Among other things, today we continue the Wynne Prakusya saga, and also check in on Anke Huber, who is probably playing her final tournament on Canadian soil.
Wynne Prakusya (Q) def. Meilen Tu, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3
Second round
Court 3
Previous head-to-head: First meeting
Wynne's Excellent Adventure in Toronto continued today. The little Indonesian speed merchant reached the third round here, by virtue of a grinding, 2 hour, 28 minute win over 49th-ranked American Meilen Tu.
This war of attrition featured two players of Chinese ethnicity. Tu, a Californian, is a second-generation American fluent in Mandarin, while Prakusya is a member of Indonesia's Chinese ethnic community. Both sensibly wore whites and were coiffed in pony-tails. The taller, slender Tu's pony-tail sprouted upward, while Prakusya's spilled out from the hole in the back of her cap.
The players showed in the early stages that this would be an even match. Both looked for winners off their strong forehands. Tu would try to dominate with her superior strength off the backhand side, while Prakusya often played a more defensive two-handed chopping slice backhand to keep the ball in play and move around the slower American.
The first major event came at 4-4, with the Indonesian serving. Prakusya seemed to lose concentration when her volley was called long at 30-15, and she disputed the call. Tu took advantage of her opponent's distraction to put Wynne in a 30-40 hole. Meilen missed a golden opportunity when she angled a fairly easy volley wide. But she earned a second chance to break, and dominated a long rally with strong forehands before a scrambling Prakusya finally dumped a forehand in the net.
Serving for the set at 5-4, it was Tu's turn to become unnerved by a line call. At 30-15 hustling Prakusya retrieved two Tu overheads before Meilen tried an inside-out forehand that was called wide. "No way, that was inside the line!" exclaimed Tu to impassive umpire Mieszko Pyszak. A rattled Tu comitted a second-serve foot fault, and it was 30-40. Wynne was a bit unlucky here to catch the tape on a sharp second serve return, but on a second break point an anxious Tu pushed a forehand well wide. At 5
-5, Prakusya was still alive. After each player held serve once, the tie-break ensued, and it went something like this:
- WP to serve: A Tu forehand just fails to clear the net. 1-0 WP.
- MT: Second serve, a big forehand return forces a Tu error. 2-0 WP.
- MT: Prakusya unloads on an inside-out forehand that Tu cannot handle. 3-0 WP.
- WP: Tu mashes a forehand second serve return winner. 3-1 WP.
- WP: A deep Prakusya forehand appears to skip off the baseline and handcuff Tu, who shakes her head at the call. 4-1 WP.
- MT: Prakusya dumps a forehand in net. 4-2 WP.
- MT: Tu pulls a backhand wide. 5-2 WP.
- WP: Service winner to Tu's backhand. "So bad," mutters Meilen about either the line call or her attempted return. 6-2 WP.
- WP: Tu errs on a routine forehand. The more composed Prakusya takes the first set, 7-6 (7-2).
A motivated Prakusya came out for the second set bouncing on her toes and pumping her fist, determined to break Tu's serve off the bat. She had three break points, but Tu saved them all with strong, aggressive play. This seemed to recharge the American's batteries, and she began worrying Wynne's serve at 0-1, but was unable to cash in on five break points in another marathon game. These wasted opportunities looked like they had perhaps cost Tu the match when Prakusya broke her serve to take a 4-3 lead
and an option on the match. But Tu came right back with a series of unreturnable forehand drives to level at 4-4. Then, with the Indonesian serving at 4-5, Tu struck again with another forehand winner to take the second set, 6-4.
So the players battled on under the hot sun. Both players were obviously feeling the heat. Prakusya said after the match, "At the end of the second set I was really feeling very tired. She was moving me around, left-right, left-right, left-right. Then I thought, 'She must be tired too, she's not that big!'"
A fair number of fans had wandered over after Serena Williams's straight-set win over Iva Majoli, and quite a few stayed on for the conclusion. Tu was showing more signs of weariness, and she was the first to fold. Serving at 3-3, Tu was broken at love on a double fault and three unforced errors. Prakusya consolidated the break this time, at love.
Tu was now serving to stay in the match at 5-3. At 30-30 she misfired on an overhead for the third time in the match, and the Indonesian had her first match point. Tu saved it with a strong service winner, and then earned a game point on a winning forehand. It was Prakusya's turn now to react, as she threw up a clutch lob with the American at the net. Tu scrambled back for it, but her pivoting backhand did not clear the net. Deuce now, and Tu pushes a tired forehand wide. Match point #2 for Wynne:
another Tu error off the forehand, too long, and the marathon is over.
Prakusya gave a modestly celebratory fist pump toward her support section, composed of coach Suzanna Wibowo and doubles partner Yayuk Basuki. Tu swiped the court angrily with her racquet. After the customary handshake, the bitterly disappointed American scolded umpire Pyszak, who had refused her a handful of overrules in the match, "You were so bad." Wibowo sprinted onto the court to give her pupil a warm hug. As Prakusya left the court and walked back to the dressing room, the happy but exhausted vic
tor leaned on her coach's shoulder for support.
However, a beaming Prakusya was looking refreshed again 90 minutes after the match, virtually bouncing into the media tent to chat with us after a shower and a massage. "Sorry I'm late," she thoughtfully but unnecessarily apologized. These are certainly salad days for the 20-year-old, as she has now beaten a top-50 player for the second straight week, after taking out Rita Grande in Los Angeles. Some highlights from our interview:
- "This is my first really good tournament in the year. So I feel pretty good." [laughs]
- On the match: "I played my game, maybe a bit more defensive. I was just hanging in. She's a good player, a top 50 player, so she can hit a winner. I was playing pretty good today, not too many mistakes."
- On the effects of such a long match in the hot sun: "I'm a little bit tired, but I'm from Indonesia where it's very humid and hot. I'll be ready tomorrow."
- On a daunting third round match tomorrow against Jennifer Capriati, the highest ranked opponent Wynne has ever faced in singles: "I don't know how I will play against her, because this is the first tournament that I play against top players. But I just try my best and it's good experience for me."
It is likely that young Prakyusa's run in Toronto will end brutally tomorrow against the top seed. But from what we've seen over the last four days, we know she will fight her hardest.
Anke Huber (14) ? Evie Dominikovic (LL), 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
Second round
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: Huber leads 1-0 (2001 Wimbledon)
Last month, Anke Huber surprisingly announced her impending retirement at the fairly young age of 26. Something of a "lame duck" on the tour, Huber is playing out the final months before her planned retirement date, the Australian Open early next year.
While 26 seems an early age to retire, one must recall that Huber has been a fixture on the tour for 11 years. The German burst on the tour as a teen sensation at 15, winning her first tour title in Schenectady back in 1990. While she has since been a solid performer with 12 career titles, Anke never became the great counterpart to Steffi Graf, as German fans and media had anticipated. Now, weary of the tour grind and anxious to live a more normal life, Huber has chosen to leave while at her physical p
rime.
Today Huber still shows she still has the skills to produce good tennis against the rangy "lucky loser" from Australia, Evie Dominikovic. Huber's focus seemed to waver in the early going: she lost the first two games, and then stormed to a 4-2 lead which she let slip to the 21-year-old native of Sydney, who forced a tie-break. "I wasn't concentrated enough maybe at this point," commented Huber. "I should have won the first set a little easier."
But Anke played a dominant tie-break, serving forcefully and nailing baseline winners. The German continued her winning form in the second set against the overmatched Aussie, who has a strong serve but exhibits suspect lateral movement, and whose shots lacked the penetrating bite of Huber's. If there is a prototype of a player who should be serving and volleying systematically, it's the 5'8" (1.73 m) Dominikovic. She never did. But I digress. The match was over at precisely the 60-minute mark. Make
the final: 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.
Anke Huber now moves on to a third-round date with 3rd seed Amélie Mauresmo tomorrow. Today, Mauresmo produced the most dominant display of the tournament so far, a 6-0, 6-3 demolition of the solid Russian Elena Likhovtseva. Huber has lost two indoor matches to the Frenchwoman this year, but had beaten her twice earlier, including their only meeting on outdoor hard courts (1999 U.S. Open). Huber is cautiously optimistic. "I like the way she's playing. I like the spin. So I'm looking fo
rward to the match tomorrow. I think if I play well, I have some chances. And I have to play the whole match through and consistent. So we'll see."
Looking past this week, Huber admits to having started her retirement planning. "First of all, I want to relax and not think about tennis for a while, and then I will see?. I'm going to stay somehow for sure with tennis, maybe with the federation, maybe other things." The amiable German, a losing finalist here in 1997, would love to postpone her farewell to the Canadian Open until Sunday.