Veterans and Youngsters Featured On Day Two
by Christopher Gerby
Dominik Hrbaty vs. Goran Ivanisevic
Men's Singles: First Round
Court 11
A rotator cuff injury and an almost pathological lack of confidence
made three-time Wimbledon finalist Goran Ivanisevic a bigger underdog
than ever coming into this year's U.S. Open. Despite having fallen to
75th in the world rankings, though, "Ivo" can still put butts in the
seats. The traditionally late-arriving New York crowd made an
exception here. The rather plentiful Court 11 stands were almost
completely full when Ivanisevic and first round opponent Dominik
Hrbaty arrived at 11 A.M. Goran won the toss, chose to serve, and
made an early statement. Service winner, ace, service winner, and a
big first serve setting up a backhand winner -- a love hold in virtually
no time flat. Ivanisevic had come out hot and Hrbaty did not. He
sprayed some errors in being broken for 0-2. Ivanisevic then closed
out another easy hold with an ace. Lindsay Davenport's match on
Centre Court (showing on the new jumbo screen, visible from the Court
11 stands) hadn't even started yet and Ivanisevic already had a 3-0
lead!
Like his Davis Cup teammate Karol Kucera, Hrbaty is bedeviled by a
very high ball toss. It gave him some trouble in the fourth game,
as Ivanisevic broke again. A non-call on the baseline bugged
Ivanisevic in Game 5, but the very next point ended with Hrbaty sending
a ball long and the lineswoman making the call this time. A grateful
Goran bowed to her and proceeded to run out the game at 30. Trailing
5 games to 0, Hrbaty finally got his game in gear. Dominik served
three aces (one clocking 128 MPH) in a hold for 1-5 and fought off two
set points in a break for 2-5. The mild breeze which had been blowing
early in the set disappeared, which was good news for Hrbaty's serve.
He delivered two aces and two service winners in another impressive
love hold for 3-5.
Now in a groove on his groundstrokes as well, Hrbaty ripped a backhand
winner for a 15-40 lead in Game 9. Could he turn things all the way
around with another break of Ivanisevic's vaunted serve? In a word,
no. Ivanisevic came through with three consecutive service winners
and a 130 MPH ace to wrap up the 6-3 set. The big servers had managed
to play 9 games in just 24 minutes! The opening game of Set 2 almost
seemed longer all by itself. It went to five deuces and featured
some of grueling rallies. Hrbaty finally held serve with an ace. All
the effort sunk into an unsuccessful break attempt seemed to sap
Ivanisevic's spirits. He double faulted twice as Hrbaty broke for
2-0 and squandered two more break points as Hrbaty held for 3-0. The
Slovakian had won six of the last seven games and was building
serious momentum. Hrbaty broke for 4-0 and blasted his latest ace for
5-0. Ivanisevic was losing all of the baseline rallies and having
no luck returning Hrbaty's surprisingly big serve. He battled for
three deuces in Game 6, but double faulted to end the second set.
Hrbaty's roll continued as he snared a 3-6, 6-0, 3-0 lead. He nearly
got the set's long fourth game, but Ivanisevic came up with some
big serves and held for 1-3. Having finally snapped his losing
streak at 9 games, Ivanisevic raised his arms and smiled. The Croatian
sensation was back on the board and showing signs of life. However,
a fired-up Hrbaty held at love and broke at love, extending his third
set lead to 5-1. Ivanisevic's effort level -- which had been OK even
in that second set bagel -- dropped off dramatically. He barely
flinched as four consecutive Hrbaty aces flew past him to end the
third set 6-1. The crowd tried to spur Ivanisevic on as the fourth
set got underway, but Hrbaty broke at 15 and held at 30. The
bizarre scoreline now read 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, 2-0 in favor of Dominik
Hrbaty.
There's no way to sugercoat the rest of this match. Ivanisevic
simply tanked, pushing returns into the net and casually launching
forehands over the baseline. Hrbaty broke at love, held at love,
and broke at love, taking a 5-0 lead as Ivanisevic needlessly tried
to hit a between-the-legs. That's not in the textbook, folks.
Ivansevic got one point (only his fifth in the entire set) in Game 6,
but a forehand winner from Hrbaty mercifully brought the 3-6, 6-0,
6-1, 6-0 match to a close. The last two sets combined took just 34
minutes to play. Ivanisevic gave his racquets away to kids
in the crowd, then climbed up into the stands and walked out through the
fan entrance. Go Go Goran was gone gone gone...and his bizarre
post-match behavior seemed to suggest that he might not be back.
Ivanisevic's admitted lack of motivation made it hard to judge Dominik
Hrbaty's performance, but Dominik did strike 19 aces and some impressive
groundstrokes. He'll try to match those feats against second round
opponent Karim Alami (who outlasted Younes El Aynaoui in
Tuesday's five-set "Battle of Morroco").
Nadejda Petrova vs. Daja Bedanova
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 15
This one goes out to the WTA Tour message board gang. There's been
some ongoing discussion there about which newcomers to the women's
tour will make the greatest impact. Two who've been highly touted are
18-year-old Russian Nadejda Petrova and 17-year-old Czech Daja
Bedanova. Petrova's big serve and forehand carried her to the third
round of his year's Australian Open; Bedanova stormed through last
week's qualifying event as its # 1 seed. Both youngsters have that
"future star" look about them -- they're relatively tall and slim,
with a lot of pop on their shots. Petrova appears to have the power
edge at the moment, though, and she pulled out a few tough games on
her way to an early 4-1 lead. Bedanova dropped her racquet in disgust
at one point. Actually, neither player looked happy; Petrova was
disputing some line calls and grimacing every time she made a poor
shot.
Bedanova missed a forehand to fall behind 1-5. She responded by
shaking her head and whacking a ball against the back fence. Petrova
closed out a 6-1 set by breaking at 15, Bedanova helping her with a
double fault and a netted backhand. The tight, agitated young Czech
then took off for a bathroom break. After waiting around for a while,
Petrova put a towel on her shoulders and walked to the back of the court,
where she jogged and stretched to stay loose. Bedanova finally
returned and was looking a bit sharper, but Petrova was her equal in
the second set's long opening game. After six deuces, Petrova
imposed her will with a running forehand winner for 1-0. As the
battle raged on, Petrova's fellow Russian players started coming out
of the woodwork. Lina Krasnoroutskaya (flanked by coach Larisa Neiland)
checked in briefly while getting ready to practice on neighboring
Court 16. Anastasia Myskina watched the second set avidly and Elena
Likhovtseva was seated near her. Iroda Tulyaganova (a first round
winner from the ex-Soviet republic of Uzbekistan) even sat down next
to me and watched several games while sucking on a lollipop.
Game 2 of the second set was another grind-it-out affair, Bedanova
finally crumbling after five deuces. Daja broke back for 1-2
(inspiring Petrova to throw her racquet at her bag on the change of
ends), Petrova broke for 3-1, and Bedanova broke at love for 2-3.
Both players were showing some skills from the baseline, but many of
the rallies were culminating in unforced errors. If either player
could step up her play, she'd be liable to run away with the set.
That's just what Nadejda Petrova did. Whacking some big winners off
both wings, she ran out the last three games for a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
It had been much closer than it looked on the scoreboard, though,
and Petrova will need to be much more consistent if she hopes to
truly challenge defending champion Serena Williams in the second
round.
Amanda Hopmans vs. Gloria Pizzichini
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 6
Gloria Pizzichini stands just five feet tall, but she towered over
the competition in last week's Open qualifying. The Italian veteran
managed to win 36 of 42 games in absolutely rolling through her
three opponents. Dutch blonde Amanda Hopmans was the one rolling
early in this match -- she took a 4-0 lead. It soon evaporated, though,
and Pizzichini was up 7-6, 1-0 when I arrived. Hopmans gets to the
net more than your average female player, but she blew a backhand
volley to drop serve for 0-2. Pizzichini hit a nifty drop volley in
a hold for 3-0. Hopmans viciously slammed her racquet in frustration
midway through Game 4, another break for 0-4. Miriam Oremans (who
upset 16th-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis a couple hours earlier) could
only look on helplessly as her floudering compatriot missed one shot
after another. Pizzichini, placing her shots well throughout the set,
held at 30 and broke at love for a 7-6, 6-0 win. In an interesting
fluke, the Italian qualifier will next meet...an Italian qualifier!
Pizzichini will look to extend her four-match winning streak against
Francesca Schiavone on Thursday.
Magdalena Maleeva vs. Jing-Qian Yi
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 6
"Maggie Maleeva is still playing?" I heard several variations on that
comment today, as passers-by noticed that the youngest of the Maleeva
sisters has not retired. The former Top 5 player has been scarce for
the past few years, mainly thanks to some serious injuries, but a
recent win over Amanda Coetzer suggested that she's back in a big
way. Her opponent, Jing Qian-Yi, is also in the midst of a comeback.
Yi reached a career high ranking of 69th back in 1996 before dropping
off the tennis radar -- she didn't play another main draw match in a
Grand Slam until this year. In fact, Yi is actually a year older than
Maleeva. She clearly has some ability, as she proved in a pretty
competitive match against Martina Hingis at Wimbledon.
A winning backhand return allowed Maleeva to break for a 1-0 lead.
An exchange of holds followed for 2-1. Game 4 ended with a cute
rally -- Maleeva trying a drop shot, Yi responding with one of her
own, and Maleeva sending a forehand winner down the line for 3-1.
Yi lost the next two games at love, finding herself in a 1-5 hole.
Maleeva was playing like the veteran she now is, serving well and
employing a creative variety of shots. However, after taking a 5-2,
40-0 lead, the Bulgarian suddenly became incapable of closing out the
set. Four set points eluded her and Yi's confidence seemed to be on
the rise. Jing-Qian laced a backhand return winner down the line to
break for 3-5 and a thoroughly frustrated Maleeva slammed her racquet.
The underachieving Magdalena of old might have let the set slip away
from here. However, she gathered herself and broke right back to win
the set 6-3.
It was Yi who performed a racquet toss in the early stages of Set 2.
The Chinese veteran was making too many errors on important points and
was now on the wrong end of a 6-3, 3-1 score. A Yi error made it 4-1
and Maleeva shouted "ai!" while raising a clenched fist. Yi held for 2-4,
but Maleeva got seriously pumped up again in Game 7. After closing
out a love hold, Magdalena bellowed, "ai-AI!" Yi got a love hold for
3-5, but would still need a break of Maleeva to survive. That would
be easier said than done -- Maggie launched a service winner for
40-0 and enthusiastically pumped her fist. Another big first serve
followed on match point, with Yi's defensive reply sailing over the
baseline. Magdalena Maleeva advances by a 6-3, 6-3 count. It's been
a strange, up-and-down career for the younger sister of Manuela and
Katerina, but her competitive fire seems to be burning stronger than
ever. Don't be surprised if she gives Mary Pierce a run for her
money in the second round.
Dominique van Roost vs. Angelika Bachmann
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 7
German qualifier Angelika Bachmann opened her first round match by
breaking 14th-seeded Dominique van Roost. The Belgian's hard, flat
groundstrokes started finding their targets, though, and Van Roost
quickly opened up a 5-2 lead. Bachmann served well in a hold for 3-5
and got a couple points in Game 9, but an unreturnable Van Roost
serve ended the 6-3 frame. Van Roost's inconsistent, attackable serve
has long been the weak link in her game, but it looked better two
weeks ago in Montreal and was coming along nicely here. Van Roost
went up 2-1 in the second set and was at her most impressive in Game 4.
Van Roost whipped a winning forehand off a tough deep ball for 30-0,
almost knocked Bachmann down with a huge forehand for 40-0, and
notched a service winner for a 3-1 lead.
The next few games went with serve, Van Roost going ahead 5-3.
Bachmann was displaying the kind of game you'd expect from a young
21-year-old qualifer. She has a pretty good serve and power on her
groundstrokes, but is erratic and doesn't seem to put much thought
into constructing points. Bachmann is a pretty gritty competitor,
though, judging by the way she saved three match poitns in Game 9.
However, she double faulted twice in a row to set up match point # 4.
This time she succumbed, sending a forehand wide to hand Dominique
van Roost a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was a solid performance and she had
to be encouraged by the free points she got off her serve. Dominique
certainly looked happy as she signed a couple dozen autographs for the
fans. Next up for her: a second round match against former NCAA
singles champion Lilia Osterloh.
Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Petra Mandula
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 14
The appearance of Spanish knockout Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo
brought out some of the usual suspects. The barabanschikova.com
webmasters were courtside, as was an older, heavyset man I've seen
carrying around a briefcase full of women's tennis photos. All the
cameras clicking throughout Sanchez Lorenzo's opening service game
may have been a distraction -- Hungarian qualifier Petra Mandula
got the early 2-0 lead. Sanchez Lorenzo recovered, though, whacking
a pair of aces in a hold for 1-2. Mandula got to 3-1, but the rest of
the first set belonged to Sanchez Lorenzo. Besides serving big, she
was controlling the rallies with her deep, two-handed strokes.
Mandula netted a forehand to end Sanchez Lorenzo's 6-3 win of the
first set.
With a clean slate to work with in Set 2, Mandula got back on song
and took a 2-0 lead. Just as she had in the first set, though,
Sanchez Lorenzo turned things around, breaking for 1-2 and holding
for 2-2. There was nary a break point in the next six games --
Maria's serve was getting better and better, while Petra was looking
quite poised in her own service games. It was Sanchez Lorenzo who
finally broke through -- her big return of a second serve was too
much for a lunging Mandula, broken for 5-6. Sanchez Lorenzo got to
match point at 40-30 in Game 12, but Mandula came up with a shocking
drop shot for deuce. Facing a second match point, the Hungarian calmly
ripped a cross-court backhand winner. When a third match point came
along, Mandula was equal to the task, belting a forehand winner.
Sanchez Lorenzo then double faulted to face a break point. However,
the Spaniard let out a jubilant shout as she hit a lunging backhand
down the line for deuce. Two good rallies followed and both ended on
Mandula errors. The qualifier had put up a very good fight, but
Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo finally notched a 6-3, 7-5 win. Her
reward: a second round match versus 7th-seeded countrywoman Conchita
Martinez.
Justine Henin vs. Florencia Labat
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 10
18-year-old Justine Henin, who showed so much promise two weeks ago
in Montreal, opened her U.S. Open effort against crafty veteran
Florencia Labat. It was a real throwback match in a way -- how often
do you see two women with one-handed backhands going at it? That's
where the similarity in their games ends, however. Henin is aggressive
and very powerful, whereas Labat relies more on varying her pace and
keeping the ball in play. Henin got the first set 6-2, but her
29-year-old opponent had clawed her way to a 3-1 lead in the second
set when I arrived. Henin committed three errors to fall behind
40-15 in Game 5 and looked like she'd struck a fourth when a forehand
of hers was called out. The linesman immediately corrected his call,
though, much to Labat's dismay. Florencia tried pointing out a mark
to chair umpire Anne Lasserre-Ulrich, but of course you'll never
win that argument on a hard court. Fortunately for Labat, Henin then
misfired on a backhand to make it 1-4.
Henin struck right back, holding easily for 2-4. The seventh game was
an emotional thriller. Henin was following almost every winning point
with a pumped fist, but Labat was staying right with her. Labat used
an absolutely towering lob (it just about scraped the moon before
landing near the baseline) to befuddle Henin on one point, but she
missed a backhand on break point. The second set was back on serve
at 4-3 and the fans were into it -- alternating cries of "Allez Ju!"
and "Vamos Florencia!" regularly emanated from the stands. Henin
served up a 96 MPH ace in Game 8 and got to 4-4 with a service winner.
Justine raised a clenched fist and hissed, "allez allez!" Early in
Game 9, Henin got wrong-footed by a Labat forehand and angrily
swiped at the court with her racquet. However, she hit an incredibly
powerful backhand winner on her way to a 15-40 lead. Labat saved the
first break point with an ace, but sliced a backhand into the net at
30-40. Having won four games in a row, Henin would now serve for a
place in the second round.
Dramatic as the set had become, it ended anti-climactically. Henin
served out the match at love, winning it 6-2, 6-4 when one last
Labat backhand found the net. With her powerful one-handed strokes
and intense displays of emotion, Justine Henin is almost like a female
Andrew Ilie. Of course, she doesn't rip her shirt off after victories
the way Ilie's been known to. In fact, Henin's celebration was very
subdued; it was Florencia Labat who signed the vast majority of the
post-match autographs. Dropping the last five games of a
match she had gotten back into couldn't have made the Argentine feel
very good, but she got several hugs and kisses on the cheek from
friends and well-wishers. While Labat's relegated to doubles duty,
Henin moves on to a second round singles match against Alicia Molik.
The big-serving Aussie just barely got into the draw (nabbing a
"lucky loser" slot when Fabiola Zuluaga dropped out), but blew
Denisa Chladkova away this afternoon. They may not be household
names yet, but Molik's serve versus Henin's attacking ground game
should make for an intriguing match.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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