Harkleroad Turns Heads and Brasington Battles Pozzi
by Christopher Gerby
Iroda Tulyaganova (22) vs. Marta Marrero
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 15
Back-to-back titles in Vienna and Knokke-Heist helped vault 19-year-old
Iroda Tulyaganova into the Top 25 this summer. With a serve that has
been clocked at 119 miles per hour, "Iri" is a young woman with loads
of potential. She sure looked it on Tuesday morning, winning four
games over Marta Marrero in about ten minutes. The fifth game went
to deuce, but Tulyaganova closed that out with an ace. Marrero is a
very capable player in her own right (having reached the French Open
quarterfinals last year), but she was getting absolutely blitzed. An
exchange of holds closed out a very brisk 6-1 opening set.
Marrero was so disoriented, she went out to the wrong side of the
court following the break between sets. She quickly dropped serve
and bounced her racquet in disgust. But the Spaniard started to find the
range on her groundstrokes and managed to make a good run, winning
three games in a row for a 3-2 second set lead. Tulyaganova ended her
next two service games with aces, tying the set at 4-4. The teen from
Uzbekistan then played a brilliant return game, breaking at love with
a winning topspin lob. Marrero fought her way to 30-40 in Game 10, but
lost the break point with a backhand error. Two points later, Iroda
Tulyaganova blasted a forehand winner to secure a berth in the second
round. The 6-1, 6-4 victory was a very impressive display of power,
finesse, and personality. Tulyaganova is an intense competitor who's
also willing to crack a few smiles in the heat of battle.
Alicia Molik vs. Bethanie Mattek
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 7
Perhaps best known as Ashley Harkleroad's semi-regular doubles partner, Bethanie
Mattek is a promising young player in her own right. The 16-year-old
already has a win over Elena Likhovtseva. Here in her Grand Slam debut,
Mattek split sets with big-shouldered Aussie Alicia Molik. Despite one
of the fastest serves in women's tennis and a versatile backhand, Molik
hasn't put together consistent results in her pro career. The third
set would be a trial by fire for both the newcomer and the underachiever,
who made for an almost dead even matchup. The opening game of the
final set lasted six excruciating deuces and was amazingly followed by
three more multi-deuce games. Both players had to be kicking
themselves over missed opportunities, but they were still on equal
terms at 2-2.
A very untimely double fault by Bethanie Mattek decided the first
break of the set, giving Molik a 3-2 lead. She overcame a double of
her own to hold for 4-2. Molik was starting to make things happen off
the ground, but Mattek fought off a break point and celebrated her win
of Game 7 with a vigorous shake of her fist. Alicia and Bethanie
traded easy holds to give Molik a 5-4 lead and a chance to serve it
out. She quickly got to triple match point, but double faulted to
40-15 and netted a forehand to 40-30. Would the much taller, more
experienced player wilt under the pressure? The answer was no --
Molik came up with an unreturnable serve on match point # 3 to send
Mattek packing 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. A good learning experience for the
Floridian and a turning point for the Australian, who went on to score
an upset over 15th-seeded Magdalena Maleeva in the second round.
Ashley Harkleroad vs. Meilen Tu
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 11
Ashley Harkleroad's appearance at the Arthur Ashe Kids Day festivities
proved her status as a rising star. The photogenic 16-year-old
handily won a game of "Survivor Tennis" by drawing huge ovations from
the crowd, largely made up of girls who want to be her and boys who
want to date her. Some of those young men made their way to Court 11 on
Tuesday and filled the first couple rows behind Harkleroad's chair.
Needless to say, they were quite pleased when Ashley removed her warmup
jacket and unveiled a tiny, body-hugging, midriff-baring, cleavage-exposing outfit.
Harkleroad has welcomed comparisons to Anna Kournikova and will do
nothing to discourage them by dressing like that. "I think it was a
little revealing," she later admitted about her attire. "It was tight
and it was short, but I like things like that and (Nike) liked it on
me."
Harkleroad's tennis looked noteworthy early on, as he started out by
holding at love with an ace. However, she was in tough against a
tricky customer in Meilen Tu. The 23-year-old (herself a former
phenom) has one of the oddest service motions I've ever seen. It is
extremely slow and deliberate, with Meilen appearing to either slip into
a trance or ponder the mysteries of the universe before finally throwing
the ball. The toss itself is quite high and she had to catch it countless
times because of the mildly windy conditions. Looking very focused and
determined, Tu opened up a 5-2 lead in the first set. Harkleroad
stormed back, breaking for 3-5 and launching a service winner to 4-5.
However, it was too little too late in the opening frame. Ashley
mis-hit a backhand return on set point to lose it 6-4.
Harkleroad lost the set, but hadn't lost the crowd. "Come on,
gorgeous," one kid yelled after she held for a 1-0 lead in the
second set. Harkleroad responded with a couple service breaks and a
98 mile per hour ace, pulling ahead 4-1. Tu was losing her way,
spraying errors and getting irritated over line calls. Give all due
credit to Harkleroad, though. The native of Flintstone, Georgia
already does a lot of little things right. She keeps her feet moving
at all times and sets up her shots well. While she doesn't have
knock-your-socks-off power, she was able to counterpunch effectively
enough to take a 6-2 second set off Meilen Tu.
The opening game of the third set was huge. On break point, Tu
ripped a forehand into the corner, overpowering Harkleroad and
regaining control of the match. Tu broke again for 3-0 and started
painting the lines with impeccable groundstrokes, negating the
crowd's hopes for a comeback. Harkleroad looked more and more
upset, hastily snapping a towel out of a ball boy's hands after
falling behind 0-5. Like most teenagers, Ashley has a churlish side --
she bounced her racquet repeatedly during a Monday morning practice
session and didn't look any more composed here. She did keep
fighting, lacing a cross-court forehand winner to save one match
point. Tu earned a second, looking very pumped up after driving home
a big swing volley. On match point # 2, Tu ran up to a short ball,
put away a winning backhand, and crashed into the net. The touch
came after the ball bounced twice, though, so it was a legitimate
winner. Meilen applauded the crowd with her racquet...even though
most of the fans had been cheering for her opponent. Ashley beat a
hasty retreat without signing any autographs, disappointed that her
Grand Slam coming out party ended in a 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 defeat.
Gianluca Pozzi vs. Jack Brasington
Men's Singles: First Round
Court 13
One of the great stories of this year's qualifying event was the
unlikely run made by an unknown Texan named Jack Brasington. He survived
a 16-14 third set tiebreak in the opening round and defeated the tour's
oldest player, 36-year-old Ronald Agenor in the final round. The luck
of the draw had Brasington making his main draw debut against the ATP's
other 36-year-old, Gianluca Pozzi. The Italian stalwart (competing in
his 13th US Open) has yet to give any indication of whether he'll be
back next year, so fans wanting to check out his old-fashioned slice
and spin game would be advised to do so in a hurry. That view was
apparently shared by a rather staggering collection of retired tennis
champions. Roy Emerson, Stan Smith, and Jose Higueras were seated
together in the stands and Tom Gullikson showed up to join them at the same
time I arrived.
Brasington had taken early control of the match, winning the first two
sets 6-3, 6-4. However, he fell behind in the third and lost it 6-2
on two consecutive double faults. Crafty old Pozzi was using his
buggy whip forehand, touch around the net, and all-around leftyness to
great effect. Pozzi was having some problems with chair umpire Jorge
Diaz, but fewer problems than before with Brasington, whose fairly
one-dimensional game (lots of forehands from the back court) was
falling short. Brasington netted a couple routine groundstrokes in
Game 6, surrendering the fourth set's first break. Pozzi served up an
ace in holding to 5-2 and whipped an unreturnable forehand pass two
games later to close out a 6-3 win of the set. Jack Brasington's
Cinderella story went to a fifth set -- the very first of his entire
career.
Pozzi was getting into a really tough groove on his serve, but
Brasington's power was keeping him on pace. At 2-2 in the fifth,
Pozzi found the range with two more forehand winners to open up a 0-40
lead on Brasington's serve. Yet the unheralded American stayed
remarkably calm, fighting off six break points and a time violation
warning before finally holding for 3-2. Soon it was Brasington
holding a break point of his own. At 30-40, "Little Jack" hit a
backhand which clipped the tape and fell in for a lucky winner and a
4-2 lead. Pozzi ran up and whacked the ball clear out of Court 13,
which is more of a feat than you might think. With relatively high
walls on three of its four sides, 13 has the most enclosed feel of the
US Open's outer courts. That can create some great atmosphere,
especially when a story this dramatic is unfolding.
The drama took another swing as Pozzi broke right back, scored an
easy hold for 4-4, and got two more chances to break Brasington.
Jack replied with a timely ace and closed out the game with a couple
service winners. Finally allowing himself a show of emotion,
Brasington pumped his fist, carrying a 5-4 lead to the changeover.
The score quickly went to 6-5 and the mostly pro-Brasington crowd
begged their man to end it right here. He got to match point, but
the grizzled veteran came up with a brilliant stretch volley for
deuce. On match point # 2, Pozzi struck a winning forehand pass. On
# 3, it was a backhand winner from the Italian. On # 4, it was a
perfectly placed Pozzi forehand down the line. On # 5, it was Brasington
finally cracking with a poor backhand return. Brasington errors on
the next two points ended the indescribably tense game and took us
to a fifth set tiebreak.
- JB serving: Inside-out forehand winner by Brasington -- 1-0 BRASINGTON
- GP: Ace down the middle -- 1-1
- GP: Service winner -- 2-1 POZZI
- JB: Brasington gets down a mini-break with a forehand error -- 3-1 POZZI
- JB: Delicate lunging backhand by Pozzi eludes Brasington -- 4-1 POZZI
- GP: Pozzi puts a defensive backhand in the net -- 4-2 POZZI
- GP: Brasington hits a big forehand return to get back on serve -- 4-3 POZZI
- JB: Pozzi's defensive lob is just long -- 4-4
- JB: Service winner -- 5-4 BRASINGTON
- GP: Forehand winner down the line by Pozzi -- 5-5
- GP: Pozzi gets his first match point on a Brasington error -- 6-5 POZZI
- JB: Pozzi's backhand return of a second serve is long -- 6-6
- JB: Pozzi slices a backhand into the net to face a sixth match point -- 7-6 BRASINGTON
- GP: One last Pozzi forehand barely misses the sideline -- 8-6 BRASINGTON
So overcome with emotion after winning his Grand Slam debut in epic
fashion, Jack Brasington stumbled into the corner and disappeared
from view. (Ever see the old clip of Bobby Orr flying across the ice
after his Stanley Cup winning goal? This was like a much less graceful
version of that moment.) He jogged back out and shared a perfunctory
handshake with a furious Gianluca Pozzi, who stormed to his chair
and kicked it over. It was a hard fought match you hated to see either
player lose, but it was difficult not to feel good for Brasington.
After spending his entire career toiling in the obscurity of challengers
and satellites, he made good at his nation's biggest tournament,
scoring a 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 7-6 upset over Gianluca Pozzi. The win
carried Brasington into a second round match against Andy Roddick,
where he also acquitted himself well, thrilling the Arthur Ashe Stadium
crowd by pushing A-Rod to a fourth set tiebreak.
Nathalie Dechy vs. Daniela Hantuchova
Women's Singles: First Round
Court 7
Two of the best players not seeded in the women's draw met on Tuesday
evening. Nathalie Dechy (chosen by the New York Post as one of the
"hotties" best suited to fill absent Anna Kournikova's shoes) went up
a break on reigning Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Daniela Hantuchova.
Trying to serve it out at 5-4, Dechy played a miserable game, breaking
herself with a forehand into the net. Hantuchova (wearing a slightly
more conservative version of Ashley Harkleroad's outfit) cracked some
big forehands in holding to 6-5. Game 12 went to deuce and Dechy
choked again, double faulting twice in a row to lose the set. Nathalie
was coming unglued and, in classic French style, becoming annoyed by
things around her. "Can you tell them to shut up their mouth during
the points?" she asked the umpire about some fans who were quietly
chatting early in Set 2.
The set went with serve to 4-4, with Hantuchova becoming impatient with
her inability to put away Dechy. It was the young Czech being broken
for 5-4 and angrily banging her racquet against the court surface.
This time Dechy served it out confidently, driving a backhand down
the line at 40-15 and pumping her fist. Dechy followed her 6-4 win of
the second set by heading off to a bathroom break. She came back to
grab an early advantage in the final set, breaking for 2-1. Hantuchova
threw her racquet and left the court for a shirt change break. If
that was a bit of gamesmanship, all it did was make an already fired
up Nathalie Dechy even more intense. After a backhand winner gave her
a 3-1 lead, she looked across the net right at Hantuchova while raising
a clenched fist.
Hantuchova is a good young player with powerful groundstrokes and
legs that go on forever, but her inexperience was showing in the late
stages of this match. She fell behind 1-5, making too many unforced
errors. Hantuchova held for 2-5, but went down meekly in the following
game, netting a backhand on match point. Nathalie Dechy was absolutely
overjoyed, beaming with pride after overcoming first set jitters to
post a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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