Huber, Van Roost, and Schett Strive To Survive
by Christopher Gerby
Jennifer Capriati vs. Virginia Ruano Pascual
Singles: Second Round
Centre Court
Looking to get her hard court game in order before the U.S. Open,
Jennifer Capriati was tested in the first round (sneaking past
Tathiana Garbin in two tiebreaks) and figured to get a battle here
against a steady Spaniard, Virginia Ruano Pascual. It didn't start
promisingly for Capriati, who double faulted twice in a row to end
the opening game. She immediately broke back, but a few games later
was broken at love by Ruano Pascual, who took a 4-3 lead. Capriati
had a chance to get right back on serve, but badly sprayed a few
balls to fall behind 3-5. Three more double faults (giving her a
total of seven already) betrayed Capriati as she was then broken for
a third time, losing the set 6 games to 3.
Capriati was looking like the lazy, lethargic player whose disinterest
cost her a coach (the venerable Harold Solomon) earlier this year.
However, she got back on the horse in Set 2, breaking for 1-0 and
winning a long hold for 2-0. Any doubts about Jennifer's intensity
were erased in the third game. She violently whacked a ball back into
the net after a missed volley and pumped her fist after lacing a
backhand winner. Capriati ultimately won that game, held at love, and
broke at 15 to rack up a 5-0 lead over a suddnely overwhelmed
Ruano Pascual. Capriati's ninth and tenth double faults keyed a love
break for 5-1, but it was too late for "Vivi" to save this set. At
30-40, a Capriati backhand appeared to land past the baseline, but
there was no call. Ruano Pascual took a defensive little "excuse me"
swing and her shot sailed wide, ending the 6-1 set.
Perhaps due to the windy conditions, the first two sets had featured
an abundance of unforced errors and considerably fewer winners.
However, there was an inherent drama in watching a fired up Capriati
attempt to secure her place in the third round. That drama built
when she played a dodgy service game to fall behind 0-1 in the third
set. After missing a volley to end Game 2, Jennifer angrily flung
her racquet to the ground, demonstrating wrist snap worthy of a
javelin thrower. The racquet took a couple end-over-end bounces and
finally came to a rest in the second row! When I asked her about it
after the match, Capriati smiled sheepishly and admitted it was the
most explosive racquet toss she'd ever committed in a match. "I was
just really frustrated and, you know, I think it just needed to come
out. So, it felt good." She of course picked up a code violation
warning for racquet abuse.
An exchange of holds took the final set's score to 3-1. In Game 5,
Ruano Pascual struck one of her many drop shots. Capriati ran it down,
but pushed a forehand reply into the net. Furious with herself again,
JenCap started whacking herself in the head with her racquet. A few
points later, she was broken for 1-4 and most of the reporters present
figured she was done for. Capriati resurrected herself, though,
groundstroking her way right back into the set at 3-4. She even
executed a nifty chip-and-charge in a love break for 4-4. Ruano Pascual's
forehand was completely abandoning her in the clutch and she lost a
fourth consecutive game to trail 4-5. A brilliantly controlled
backhand cross-court winner on the run put Capriati two points away
from victory at 0-30. A forehand winner gave her a match point at
30-40. Looking for some way to change her declining fortunes,
Ruano Pascual switched racquets. The new one brought her no luck
whatsoever. On the very next point, a forehand from Capriati clipped
the net cord and trickled over. The victorious American raised both
hands in apology, while Ruano Pascual rifled a ball into the stands.
With the 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory, Capriati lived up to her seeding and
booked a place in the Round of 16, where she'll face fellow veteran
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Also having a nice week is Capriati's
boyfriend, ATP pro Xavier Malisse, who scored a win over Marcelo
Rios on Tuesday in Indianapolis. I asked Jennifer if she'd gotten a
chance to speak with her significant other recently. "Yeah, he's
more than significant," Capriati replied with a smile. "I talk to
him all the time. So he's pretty happy. I'm pretty happy for him,
too." I asked if it was difficult for her to be in one country when
Malisse has to be in another. "Yeah, well, definitely countries, yeah,
it makes it hard. I mean, when you're in the same country, it's a
little better, but, I mean, the good thing is that it means he's
winning and I'm winning."
Practice Court Controversy: OK, that title makes it sound bigger
than it was, but I did stumble onto a little bit of intrigue this
afternoon. Doubles specialists Liezel Horn and Laura Montalvo showed
up at Court 3 for what they thought was their scheduled practice
session. However, Jelena Dokic and Chanda Rubin were there, showing
no signs of wrapping up their own hit. Rubin's coach, Benny Sims,
told Horn in no uncertain terms that he'd reserved the court for
another 30 minutes and had even double checked the arrangements
before heading out there. Liezel was skeptical, but the dispute came
to an amicable end, with Rubin and Dokic staying put. Fortunately for
all involved, Jelena's volatile father Damir was not present at the time.
Huber/Schett vs. Serna/Shaughnessy
Doubles: Second Round
Court 6
The day after a very disappointing loss in singles, Barbara Schett
looked to rebound in doubles with partner Anke Huber. Their opponents --
Magui Serna and Meghann Shaughnessy -- have lower rankings and lower
profiles, but the combination of a big-serving lefty with a big-serving
righty is nothing to sneeze at. Indeed, it was the underdog team
storming out to an early 4-1 lead. Most of the credit belonged to
Serna's inspired play and Schett's atrocious start. Schett found
herself completely unable to put a service return in play. After
barely touching a Shaughnessy serve in Game 7, Schett let out a loud
chuckle. She was putting a brave face on things, but she really was
playing poorly and even apologized to Huber at one point. Magui
Serna won all 12 of her service points in the first set, winning it
6-3 when Schett put one more return into the net.
Anke and Barbara finally arrived at a strategy to turn things around --
for the rest of the match, Huber stayed back when Schett was returning
Serna's first serve. The change did seem to rattle the Spaniard,
who was broken for 0-2. A hold from Huber, break of Shaughnessy, and
hold from Schett followed in short order, giving Huber/Schett a
whopping 5-0 lead in the second set. Just as a third set appeared to
be a certainty, Serna/Shaughnessy reeled off eight points in a row,
climbing back to 2-5. Shaughnessy (who has spent as much time on
the practice courts as any player in the field this year) launched an
ace on her way to holding for 3-5. However, at 15-30 in Game 9,
Shaughnessy immediately called for the trainer. After a long delay
during which Meghann's right shin was heavily taped, the match got
back underway. Serna/Shaughnessy fought their way to deuce, but a
Schett ace and Huber smash finished off the second set 6-3.
The first seven games of the final set went with serve, most of those
games being won easily. Schett and especially Huber did quite a bit
of muttering and screaming in German, unable to find the key to
breaking their young opponents. When Huber fell behind 0-40 in Game
8, the end seemed to be near. However, she and Schett methodically
won five points in a row, Barbara coming through with some great
volleys in the clutch. Holds from Serna and Schett then advanced the
score to 5-5. An unreturnable Schett volley gave her team a
30-40 lead against Shaughnessy's serve, but Meghann responded with a
service winner to fight off the break point. Schett knocked off another
volley to set up break point #2. On the next point, a Serna drop shot
sat up a bit -- enough so that Huber and Schett both
seemed to have play on it. They both thought so and nearly crashed into
each other before stopping. They could only watch helplessly as the
ball bounced a second time, bringing the score back to deuce. However, a
Shaughnessy error and winning Huber volley followed, finally securing
the break and a 6-5 lead. Anke Huber took it from there, smacking a
service winner on match point to finish a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. Next
up for Huber/Schett: a quarterfinal bout against # 2 seeds Martina
Hingis and Nathalie Tauziat.
Capriati/Van Roost vs. Carlsson/Jeyaseelan
Doubles: First Round
Court 1
Doubles tennis, like politics, can make for strange bedfellows. The
last of the first round doubles matches featured a skinny Belgian
(Dominique van Roost) and a zaftig American (Jennifer Capriati)
taking on a blonde Swede (Asa Carlsson) and a dark-skinned Canadian
(Sonya Jeyaseelan). The odd couples were evenly matched, or at least
it seemed so when I arrived to find Capriati/Van Roost leading 6-5 in
the first set. Jeyaseelan would now try to serve her team into a
tiebreak...and did she ever try. Shouting, loudly exhaling, scampering
around, and whaling two-handed groundstrokes with all her might,
Jeyaseelan was a virtual one-woman show. However, she was undone by
her less demonstrative partner -- Asa Carlsson netted volleys on the
last two points of the 7-5 set.
Carlsson played considerably better in the next couple games, perhaps
fearing that little Sonya would go for her throat if she didn't shape
up. Breaking Capriati, they opened up a 2-0 lead in the second set.
Game 3 -- a marathon featuring four break points and two Jeyaseelan
fist pumps -- ended with Capriati dumping a backhand volley in the
net. Carlsson then held for a 4-0 lead and the air seemed to go out
of the Capriati/Van Roost balloon. They were staying
close in each game, but not playing with an extraordinary amount of
intensity. They did fight off a pair of set points, but when a
Capriati forehand return found the net, the Canadian/Swedish tandem
had a tasty 6-0 bagel.
Van Roost held for a 1-0 lead in the final set and was the star of
Game 2. Carlsson and Jeyaseelan survived two break points, but on
the third, a Van Roost forehand found the baseline. Jeyaseelan got
a racquet on it, but her reply floated long for 0-2. All four
players -- particularly Van Roost -- did a fairly incredible job of
keeping the ball in play during the set's third and fourth games.
Gale force winds (or at least very, very strong winds) swirled all
around Court 1 and ominously dark clouds hovered overhead, but Van
Roost ripped a swing volley winner for 3-0. When Carlsson was broken
for 0-4, the only question left seemed to be whether Jennifer and
Dominique could complete their win before the rains came. The answer
was no. At 30-15 in Game 5, the sprinkles became something of a
downpour and play was suspended.
About an hour later, Capriati and Van Roost returned and extended
their lead to 5-0. They twice got to match point in Game 6, but
spunky Sonya Jeyaseelan refused to go down without a fight on her
home court. On match point # 2, she threw a winning lob over Van
Roost and yelled, "Come on!" Two points later, a blocked Capriati
return went long for 5-1. Capriati assumed a 40-0 lead in her effort
to serve it out, but three more match points went by the board.
Match point # 6 went by the boards when JenCap misfired on an overhead
smash, sending it just long. Capriati got a seventh match point, but
double faulted (and finally decided to remove the warmup jacket she'd been
wearing as a defense against the chilly conditions). The following
point was among the more amusingly freakish I've ever seen. When
Van Roost forcefully struck a volley, the ball hopped off the court,
jumped directly into Asa Carlsson's skirt, and stayed there!
Capriati/Van Roost won the point, the crowd went wild, and the players
all had a good laugh.
There was still the serious business of match point # 8 to be decided,
though. And decided it was as Jeyaseelan pushed a backhand volley
long, screaming an unhappy "Nooooo!!!" before the ball landed. She
had given her all -- and Carlsson was terrific in the second set --
but it wasn't enough. Capriati and Van Roost advance by the odd
scoreline of 7-5, 0-6, 6-1. They'll meet # 3 seeds Chanda Rubin and
Sandrine Testud in the second round. Capriati, who struggled here and
still doesn't look like a natural doubles player, will need to raise
her level of play considerably if she and Van Roost aspire to win that
one.
Wednesday's other doubles results (all second round):
- (1) Halard-Decugis/Sugiyama def. McShea/Selyutina: 6-1, 6-3
- (5) Davenport/Kournikova def. Horn/Montalvo: 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
- (8) Black/Likhovtseva def. Boogert/Oremans: 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
Martina Hingis vs. Nadejda Petrova
Singles: Second Round
Centre Court
It took until Wednesday evening, but Martina Hingis finally played her
first singles match of the 2000 du Maurier Open. Her opponent,
18-year-old qualifier Nadejda Petrova, looked more than a little
overwhelmed facing the sport's top-ranked player in one of its
biggest stadiums. There's very little to say about the first set --
Hingis moved the ball around confidently and Petrova simply couldn't
keep her replies in the court. After just 15 minutes, Hingis had a 6-1
opening set in her pocket. However, the young Russian has some talent
and finally got around to showing it. Suddenly painting the lines with
big forehands, Petrova grabbed a 3-1 second set lead, winning ten
consecutive points during one stretch. Petrova had a point for 4-1
and looked as if she'd won it with a nice forehand volley...but
Hingis came flying from out of nowhere and flipped in a backhand
winner. If Martina had lost her focus for a while, it clearly was
back now. Hingis broke for 3-2 and held for 3-3, regaining control of
the match.
Petrova made a nice comeback from 15-40 to Deuce in Game 7, but she
could not keep up with Hingis in the few extended rallies. The errors
-- both forced and unforced -- resumed flying off the Petrova racquet
as she fell behind 3-5. Petrova had her chances in the following
game, hitting a couple big service winners. However, on the second
deuce point, Hingis drilled one of her vintage down-the-line backhands
to earn match point. Petrova was then long on a backhand of her own,
officially ending a 6-1, 6-3 victory for Martina Hingis. Even after
the 49-minute whitewash, though, the Swiss Miss insisted she has much
improving to do. "I think there's still some things I can work on.
Like, I played the first set, you know, very focused, almost no
errors. But then, in the second, I let down with my serve a little
bit and then she was right there." The next test for Hingis will be a
third round matchup with Kveta Hrdlickova. "She's a tough player,"
Hingis said of the Czech. "She hits the ball very hard, but I think if
I can keep her, you know, on the run and just play my game, it should
be alright."
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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