Trio of Tiebreaks on Tense Thursday
by Christopher Gerby
Tarango/Vacek vs. Humphries/O'Brien
Doubles: Second Round
Court 2
Opening Thursday's play on Court 2 was a match featuring three Stanford
guys and a Czech. There's a bit of bad blood in the backstory. Jeff
Tarango has alleged that Scott Humphries cheated him out of a point in
a doubles match last year and bragged about the deception afterwards.
According to Tarango's story, Humphries claimed a ball didn't touch
him, then showed off the mark it actually left later on in the locker
room. No big deal in the grand scheme of things, but enough to land
Scott on Jeff's list of grudges. Granted, it's not a very exclusive
club.
The first set was a collection of successful service games and
unsuccessful line call arguments. After a slow moving Tarango volley
landed near the baseline in Game 2, Alex O'Brien screamed "Right there!
Right there!" as he pointed at a mark. The man they call "O.B." dropped
his racquet and even removed his hat, but couldn't get an out call.
Daniel Vacek faced the match's first break points in Game 6, but
Humphries missed a return and a volley to squander the chance. There was
a third break point in the same game, after a Tarango volley was
called wide. "Oh come on!" the fiery Californian exclaimed before
reminding the linesman "If it hits any part of the line, it's good."
Vacek chipped in with some advice of his own, telling the shades-sporting
official "Take off your glasses so you can see the volley." Vacek
displayed more energy there than he had for much of the match,
in which he was looking strangely slow and distracted. He finally
did manage to hold serve, though.
Trailing 5-6 (but still on serve), Tarango had a would-be ace called
out. He slowly approached the net and searched for a mark. Alex
O'Brien came over and pointed one out, but Tarango just gave him a
"yeah, right" smile. O'Brien then held his fingers slightly apart to
show how much the ball missed by, but Jeff still wasn't buying it.
"Yeah, I know, if I don't hit the ball 100 % in, it's not in." A
woman in the crowd yelled "Play tennis!" to which Tarango replied,
"That's what I'm doing, sweetie." He held serve and forced a tiebreak.
Vacek missed an overhead to fall behind 0-2, but an excellent return
by Tarango got the mini-break back. Tarango double faulted at 3-3
and got hit with a verbal abuse warning for swearing in Spanish.
An errant volley by Humphries put the teams on serve again at 4-4. Vacek
hit an ace for 6-5, but his defensive lob went long on set point.
Humphries and O'Brien had a set point of their own at 7-6, but Tarango
saved that with a service winner. Vacek put away a volley for 8-7,
earning set point # 2. The Czech then put in a good return, drawing
another volley error from Humphries. First set to Vacek and Tarango,
9-7 in the tiebreak.
Frustration was mounting for the all-American team. After once again
failing to convert a couple break points against Vacek in the opening
game of Set 2, O'Brien slammed his racquet. Later in the set (which
continued on serve) he threw his cap, yelling "You've got to be kidding
me, man!" over another questionable line call. At 5-5, Tarango
fell behind 30-40 and had to put in a second serve. He did...and
O'Brien's return went long. Yet another chance gone by the boards
for Humphries and O'Brien, who nonetheless worked their way into a second
tiebreak.
- Winning volley by Vacek -- 1-0 TARANGO/VACEK
- Humphries service winner -- 1-1
- Vacek nets a forehand volley -- 2-1 HUMPHRIES/O'BRIEN
- Two service winners from Tarango -- 3-2 TARANGO/VACEK
- O'Brien hits a volley at Tarango -- 3-3
- Solid Tarango return forces a volley error by O'Brien -- 4-3 TARANGO/VACEK
- Humphries misses a routine volley -- 5-3 TARANGO/VACEK
- O'Brien pushes a backhand volley wide to incur triple match point -- 6-3 TARANGO/VACEK
- Humphries puts away a high forehand volley -- 6-4 TARANGO/VACEK
- Another tough Tarango return gives Humphries a low volley, which he dumps in the net -- 7-4 TARANGO/VACEK
Amazingly, Scott Humphries and Alex O'Brien lost a match in which they
never faced a break point. Tarango and Vacek stared down a total of eleven,
but kept coming up with the goods when necessary. Next up for them is a
quarterfinal match against the surprisingly strong wild card pairing
of Jan-Michael Gambill and Simon Larose, the only Canadian left in
either draw.
Gustavo Kuerten vs. Andy Roddick
Singles: Third Round
Centre Court
Without a doubt, the marquee match of the day was Thursday's first-ever
showdown between world # 1 Gustavo Kuerten and 18-year-old sensation
Andy Roddick. Both players are ranked either first or second on the
ATP in three serving stats this year: service games won (where Roddick
is first at 91% and Guga follows at 88%), break points saved (tied for
the top with 73%) and second serve points won (another tie for the lead
at 56%). Therefore, it shouldn't have been a surprise to see both
players hold serve easily throughout the first set. It was actually
fairly dry, one-dimensional tennis up to 5-4, when Kuerten suddenly
faced a set point. He saved it with an ace and Roddick sportingly
applauded with his racquet. Soon after, it was tiebreak time.
- Kuerten tosses a lob over Roddick, who tries a between-the-legs shot;
he makes it, but Guga calmly replies with a winning drop volley -- 1-0 KUERTEN
- Roddick sends a backhand long -- 2-0 KUERTEN
- Kuerten service winner -- 3-0 KUERTEN
- Backhand error from Kuerten -- 3-1 KUERTEN
- Ace by Roddick -- 3-2 KUERTEN
- Roddick finds the net with a forehand -- 4-2 KUERTEN
- Winning forehand by Kuerten -- 5-2 KUERTEN
- Kuerten's backhand return sails wide -- 5-3 KUERTEN
- Service winner by Roddick -- 5-4 KUERTEN
- Roddick is way long with a backhand approach -- 6-4 KUERTEN
- Roddick's return of a first serve just misses the baseline -- 7-4 KUERTEN
Kuerten had the set and the momentum, but not for long. He fell behind
15-40 in the fifth game of Set 2, saving the first break point but
committing a forehand error on the second. Roddick only lost one
point in his next three service games, ending the 6-4 set with an
ace. Roddick was swinging freely, playing like he had nothing to lose,
while Kuerten was starting to grumble about calls and look negative.
Roddick broke at 15 to open the third set and sprinted all the way to
a 4-0 lead. Kuerten finally played a pair of very good games to
hold and break, but Roddick got the break right back, pumping his
fist after taking a 5-2 lead. In his attempt to serve out one of the
biggest victories of his young career, Roddick opened with a 229
km/h ace. He turned the heat up to 233 on another ace for 30-0. Then
he went up another tick with a 234 km/h service winner. I don't know
exactly what that is in miles per hour, but it's in the neighborhood
of the world record. (Grain of salt note: Montreal is employing an
experimental new radar gun which was six months in the making but might
not be completely accurate.) It's no wonder
Guga couldn't do anything with the change of pace second serve Roddick
struck on match point. Kuerten's return hit the net and A-Rod
celebrated a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 upset.
Kuerten blamed his poor third set showing on fatigue, but gave credit to
Roddick, who "played very well...did a little bit better than me,
deserve to win." There would be no repeat of Kuerten's attempt to
speak French in this press conference. Grinning sheepishly, Guga labeled his command of
the language "not so good, man, and especially right now. If I have a
win, my inspiration would be better. I'm sorry." Roddick was humble
in his post-match comments. "I have a great deal of respect for
Gustavo. He's still a better player, you know, by far, but I was
just fortunate today... It's a big win for me, obviously." As for
those massive serves in the final game, Roddick said "I told myself I'm going
to go for it on the first point. And then I just started feeling it
after the first point -- alright, let's go for it again. And by then I
was kind of in a groove. I think that's the way you have to close
out matches." He'll try to close out Andrei Pavel (who already suffered a
loss at Roddick's talented hands in March) in the quarterfinals.
Nicolas Escude vs. Bohdan Ulihrach
Singles: Third Round
Court 1
Nicolas Escude may suffer from the same multiple personality disorder
Goran Ivanisevic is fond of discussing. The lanky Frenchman is one
of the ATP's most baffling enigmas, capable of greatness and hopelessness,
sometimes within the same match. Bad Nicolas showed himself in the
second game of this match, unbelievably hitting four double faults in
a row. That was all the help required for Czech veteran Bohdan
Ulihrach, who won the opening stanza 6-3. Good Nicolas took over in
the second set, whipping impressive forehands and handling the windy
conditions. He won five games in a row, closing out the 6-1 set with a
service winner. Escude continued that strong play in the early
stages of the third set, but Ulihrach cut down on his own unforced
errors and gained a 3-2 lead, on serve.
Game 6 was a nightmare for Escude. Trailing 0-30, he badly missed a
backhand volley. He then missed his first serve, giving Ulihrach a
look at a second. All Bohdan had to do was stand there, as Escude was
called for a foot fault on the second serve. Furious with himself,
Escude flung his racquet down, completely destroying it. I thought
Andy Roddick did quite a number on one of his racquets in yesterday's
win over Carlos Moya, but Escude topped him. This racquet looked like a
piece of surreal modern art. Nicolas was determined to get the break
back and had a chance, but just missed with a backhand down the line.
Doing a steady job of keeping the ball in play, Ulihrach held for a
5-2 lead. Escude fell behind 0-30 in the next game and Ulihrach
earned triple match point with a sizzling cross-court pass. Escude
temporarily stayed alive with an ace, but at 15-40 Ulihrach hit a
lunging return for a clean winner. The even-keeled Czech's expression
barely changed, even though this 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 win put him in the
quarterfinals of a Masters Series event. (He even has a beatable
opponent next in Fabrice Santoro.) A disgusted Escude, on the other
hand, left the court in a hurry.
Patrick Rafter vs. Todd Martin
Singles: Third Round
Centre Court
A match between Patrick Rafter and Todd Martin is
always worth checking out, if only to get a glimpse of their significant
others. Todd's wife Amy has a girl-next-door beauty which is actually
enhanced when she wears glasses; Pat's longtime girlfriend is stunning
model Lara Feltham. Of course, Rafter and Martin are also capable of
some good looking tennis and tend to bring the best out of each
other. Rafter entered this encounter with a 6-3 lead in their head
to head, one of those wins being a five-set Davis Cup thriller in
Boston.
Martin surrendered the match's first service break, double faulting
for 1-3. Rafter handed the break right back, but had a 4-3 lead when
rain began falling. The light, steady drizzle delayed play for
nearly an hour, but didn't faze the Aussie. He went ahead 5-4 and
then clawed his way to a 0-40 lead on Martin's serve. Rafter only
needed one of those three set points, immediately taking the frame
6-4 when Martin sent a backhand long. At 1-1 in the second set, Martin smoked a winning return to get
himself a big break point opportunity. Rafter responded with two
consecutive aces, though, and held for 2-1. A winning drop volley
got Patrick to 30-40 in Game 4. He then lined up a passing shot and
had Martin moving the wrong way, but drove the ball into the net for
deuce. Rafter kept his cool, though, and got the break two points
later with a cross-court backhand winner.
Rafter serve-and-volleyed
his way to 5-2, clearly playing his sharpest tennis of the week.
His 31-year-old opponent had a 40-30 lead in the following game, but
threw it away with a double fault and two unforced errors. It was
an ignominious end to Todd Martin's tournament, but a very satisfying 6-4,
6-2 win for Patrick Rafter. "I think after we had the rain delay...everything
came off the middle of the racquet. I moved very well, volleyed well,
did everything well." Next up for Skunky is a quarterfinal encounter
with Juan Carlos Ferrero, the highest ranked player remaining in the
field. "I'm just gonna try to play the same style. He knows what
I'm gonna give him and I know what he's gonna give me. It'll just be
the better man, better player on the day."
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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