Bank of the West
Saturday, July 29, 2000
Semi-final -- Williams def. Kournikova 6-4, 7-5
Today the glamour queen took on the reigning Wimbledon champ in a highly
anticipated semi-final. Anna Kournikova had been playing extremely well
in her past 3 matches while Venus struggled a bit especially in her previous
encounter against Amy Frazier. Many people anticipated a breakthrough tournament
for Anna, but she must get past the powerful and confident Venus.
The match started and immediately Anna proved to be no match for Venus. She was
broken in the first game. And overwhelmed by Venus's fast deliveries she went down
0-2. Anna then won her next service game, but then venus went on a run to lead
the set by 5-1. Then Anna surged a comeback attempt. She held to 2-5. Then, on
Venus's serve, a forehand winner by Anna and a double fault by Venus led to a
break. Then Anna would hold on to her next game with one backhand winner and
two forehand winners. Now it was 4-5, Anna.
Now, Venus has her second chance to serve out the first set. It is not likely
that she will make the same mistake twice. However, there is a slimmer of hope
for Anna because errors have definitely crept into Venus's game. As it turned
out, 3 unforced errors by Anna made it an extremely easy game for Venus.
Despite Anna's loss of the first set, there was definitely an increase in the
competitive level of the match. She was putting up a fight now, and it showed
in the second set. After being broken again by Venus, she was able to break
back. They stayed on serve till 5-5. But that was when Venus said enough was
enough. She broke Anna and served for the match. Final score 6-4, 7-5.
During the second set, a scare came from the crowd. A man in a wheelchair tipped
over and drew a gasp from the crowd. This was right when Venus was about to serve.
She turned around to see what was going on and waited till the man got some
assistance and got back on his seat. She continued playing brilliantly afterwards.
In the post match interview, Anna was not disheartened at all. She was content
about her good performance here. She admitted that she got into the match a
little late and that made all the difference. There was some discontent with
why she was forced to play the morning match especially since she just finished
playing the night before. But overall, she was happy about picking up her game
in the second set. And she reassured us that she is not intimidated by Venus at all.
Doubles:
Rubin/Testud def. Clijsters/Shaughnessy (6-4, 3-6, 6-3)
Night Match
Semifinals -- Lindsay Davenport def. Monica Seles
Finally a night match that didn't feature Anna Kournikova. But it was just as
exciting due to the level of tennis. In this match-up of the two beloved American
players, the crowd found it hard to chose who to root for. The rowdiness of the
crowd was gone, and they let the tennis do the talking.
The first set was a close one. Monica managed to surge ahead 4-1 before Lindsay
stringed along 4 straight games to get back on serve at 5-4. From there on it
was 5 all. Then, Lindsay would run away with the first set 7-5.
There is not much to say about the second set except it was great tennis. Both
players stayed on serve till 6 all. However, Monica ran out of gas in the
tiebreak. She went down early at 0-3 and failed to recover losing the tiebreak,
the set, and the match 5-7, 6-7(2).
Doubles:
Black/Frazier def. Graham/Po (2-6, 6-2, 7-5)
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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