Day Four: Spotlight on Women's Doubles
by Prip
Finally, the women's doubles matches were really under way. I decided
to see how the Brazilian pair of Joana Cortez and Vanessa Menga was
doing, since the only thing I had seen of either one was when Vanessa
Menga had played against Steffi Graf and Johnny Mac in the 2nd round
mixed doubles match in Wimbledon. Of course, the stands were occupied
mostly by Brazillian supporters with their yellow shirts and flags,
and a surprisingly large group of Brazillian media. On the other side
of the court were Li and Li. Ning Li and Ting Li. I'm really starting
to lose track of some of the Chinese players. We now have a Weng
Tzu-Ting in addition to Wang Shi-Ting. Oh, and by the way, both play
for Taipei.
Basuki/Prakusya (INA) vs. Sugiyama/Miyagi (JPN) [4]
Anyway, the Chinese were no match at all for the Brazilians, and
after the first few games, I decided that this was not the match to
gauge their capabilities. I headed off to see Karol Kucera take on
Roger Federer, but the court was packed and I didn't fancy spending
half the match standing in line. So I decided to take the opportunity
to see Yayuk Basuki in doubles action with Wynne Prakusya, her
protégé. I really don't think much of the younger Indonesian, and I
don't see anything particular that will give her an edge over other
players. Just for the record, I find Prakusya's parents a little
annoying, although I'm sure they will never even come close to
reaching the new standards that Mr. Dokic has set in the world of
tennis parenting. Of course, I don't know them personally, and only
have what I've seen of them to judge, but that is my impression of
them.
Despite being as fit as ever and having played a number of matches in
the last few months, Yayuk still looked very rusty on court. The
odds weren't very good for the Indons: Yayuk was out of form, and
Wynne was not only inexperienced but also the weakest player on court
by far.
As expected, Ai Sugiyama and Nana Miyagi had an easy time taking the
first set 6-2. Yayuk just couldn't do the job by herself, and her
partner was making mistakes nearly every time she hit the ball. Yayuk
was actually doing no better herself, making a lot of silly unforced
errors.
The Japanese very uncharacteristically started to miss everything in
the second set, which gave the Indons a new lease on life. Wynne
picked up her game quite a bit, although she was still very lost on
court, and Yayuk certainly looked a little more like her old self.
Nana Miyagi was actually the more active player of her team, and
plays a very streaky game -- when she's on, she makes amazing shots,
certainly not anything you expect of a player ranked in the 40's in
doubles and just inside the top 200 in singles. But the problem is
that she still tries to play her risky shots even when she's off her
game, hoping that she'll get the groove back soon.
Yayuk was playing her heart out, and her dedication inspired her
partner who ran after everything, trying desperately to at least get
the ball back. Several times, when one of the Japanese slammed a hard
overhead winner, the youngster would run all the way to the back of
the fence, refusing to give the point up. With a lot of guts and the
help of streaky play from their opponents, the Indonesians managed to
fight back and take the second set 7-5.
The third set started a lot more evenly, but a couple of games into
the set, the Japanese woke up and played like they did in the first
set, attacking at the first chance and cutting down on the errors.
Yayuk sort of did her team in by going for too much, perhaps a little
too confident after successfully evening the match up, and ended up
missing a lot of shots. The match must certainly have been very
demoralizing for Yayuk, who was missing a lot of shots and was
visibly frustrated at not being able to come up with a solution to
the predicament. The younger Indon was trying to pump her mentor up,
though, and still went for her shots, doing a better job of keeping
the points going without compromising their positions on court. The
mostly Japanese crowd didn't help them much, but despite everything,
they fought hard. They just couldn't pull through, though, and after
Yayuk missed the umpteenth half-volley, the third set went to the
Japanese 6-4. Yayuk was very, very upset, but humoured a couple of
fans who wanted to take a photo with her before walking off to the
locker room, head down and feet dragging.
Dominique Van Roost (BEL) [8] vs. Silvia Farina (ITA)
I headed off to Court 1 where Dominique Van Roost was playing against
Silvia Farina. Dominique was about to take the first set 6-1, and the
Italian looked absolutely helpless against her hard flat shots. I
stayed around for a couple of games, but decided that Dominique was
definitely going to take the match easily even despite the inevitable
fact that she would have trouble with her serve halfway through the
second set.
Venus Williams (USA) [2] vs. Jana Kandarr (GER)
Over on Centre Court, Venus Williams was playing her third-round
match against Jana Kandarr. Venus was having no trouble at all, and
the German just couldn't do anything to hurt the second seed. The
crowd appreciated her effort, though, and applauded her every point.
Jana wasn't just giving up, either. She tried to keep up with Venus
on the rallies, occasionally venturing to the net (but not having
much success, thanks to Venus' passing shots) but was simply
outclassed. It didn't take Venus long to wrap the match up 6-2 6-2.
Schett/Wartusch (AUT) vs. Barabanschikova/Zvereva (BLR)
Olga and Natasha were up a break in the first set, while on the
adjacent court, the Hungarians Katalin Marosi and Petra Mandula were
about to oust Amanda Coetzer and Liezel Horn from the doubles draw.
The Hungarians took the match 6-4 6-3, but didn't wait around to see
which pair they would face in the next round. Actually, it was pretty
funny watching Babsi and Patricia on the doubles court. Barbara's
doubles ranking is inflated from her success early this year playing
with Anna Kournikova, and is certainly no expert on the doubles
court. Patricia's doubles ranking is around the 100 mark. The two of
them were just having fun on court, not even contemplating winning the
match. In fact, after losing the first set 6-2 and were well on their
way to losing the second in similar fashion, they were grinning and
laughing away during the changeover, finding the whole scenario very
amusing. Olga and Natasha were also taking it rather easy, confident
that they had the match in their hands.
Montalvo/Suarez (ARG) [3] vs. Farina/Grande (ITA)
Take Babsi and Patricia's situation, and multiply it 5 times. That's
the situation the Italians were in. They were having even more of a
party, and finding themselves in the second set with a 6-0 loss in
the changeover, they were either hysterically giggling at their
predicament or had had a bet with the Austrians as to who could lose
their match faster. During the changeover, I turned around to watch
the ending of the match between Daja Bedanova/Kveta Hrdlickova and
Conchita Martinez/Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. The Czechs had put in a
strong effort, and Daja looked like she put everything into the match.
The Spaniards were too experienced and crafty, and took the match
6-4 6-3. The Czechs had a very long interview, and both signed
autographs while they answered the questions. Both were extremely
good with the fans, posing for photos and patiently answering all
sorts of questions. Anyway, I turned around to see what was going on
back on the other court, and found that not only was the match over
(the Argentines had taken the match 6-0 6-0), but the courts had been
cleared of the equipment and such, considering that that was the last
match scheduled.
Silvija Talaja and Iva Majoli took to the court next, playing against
Dominique Van Roost and Els Callens. I watched for a while, but had
had enough of this brand of tennis for the day, so I packed up and
headed home, wondering who would come through to fill the break in
the American stronghold on the women's singles draw.
|
|
The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine.
https://tennis-ontheline.com/00/00poly4.htm © 125
Last updated 26 September 2015
|