Action from Four Draws on Day Four
by Christopher Gerby
Barbara Schett (19) vs. Selima Sfar
Women's Singles: Second Round
Court 8
Coming off a 6-1, 6-3 dismantling of Alexandra Stevenson in the first round, Barbara
Schett had to be considered a pretty heavy favorite over 80th ranked
Selima Sfar of Tunisia. Schett arrived a few minutes late for the
match, but got off to a very strong start, taking a 3-1 lead. You could see Sfar itching to approach
the net, but Schett was pinning her to the baseline with deep
groundstrokes. Schett kept her break advantage all the way to 5-3,
but her play was becoming more erratic and she was (like doubles partner
Anke Huber) beginning to yell at herself over it. Game 9 went three
deuces before Sfar snuck out the hold, putting away a backhand
volley to stay alive at 4-5.
Schett took a 3-minute injury timeout as WTA trainer Laura Eby attended
to a minor problem on one of her hands. "Babsi" reached double set
point when play resumed, but Sfar smacked a forehand winner for 40-30.
Set point # 2 was a long baseline rally with a very strange ending.
Sfar's skirt suddenly began to come undone and -- rather than lunge
for a ball Schett had driven into the corner -- Sfar grabbed her
waistband instead. The ball bounced past her, ending the 6-4 first
set. Selima must not be terribly modest, though, because she did
change her skirt right there on court during the break between sets.
Schett opened the second set as strongly as she'd begun the first,
taking a 3-1 lead. However, Sfar held for 2-3 and Schett made three
unforced errors in a row to end a Sfar break for 3-3. They went with serve
from there, ending up in a second set tiebreak.
- SS serving: Forehand winner by Schett for an early mini-break -- 1-0 SCHETT
- BS: Sfar nets a forehand -- 2-0 SCHETT
- BS: Service winner -- 3-0 SCHETT
- SS: Schett finds the net with a backhand -- 3-1 SCHETT
- SS: Schett is wide with a backhand and screams at herself -- 3-2 SCHETT
- BS: Schett commits another backhand error -- 3-3
- BS: Long rally ends with a Sfar forehand sailing long -- 4-3 SCHETT
- SS: Forehand into the corner by Schett forces an error -- 5-3 SCHETT
- SS: Sfar's forehand error brings us to triple match point -- 6-3 SCHETT
- BS: Schett is long with a forehand -- 6-4 SCHETT
- BS: Sfar gets back on serve with a winning drop shot -- 6-5 SCHETT
- SS: Sfar pushes a forehand into the net -- 7-5 SCHETT
It was a scratchy finish for the Austrian, but she managed to advance
by a 6-4, 7-6 count. She ultimately fell to Jennifer Capriati in the
fourth round.
Iroda Tulyaganova (22) vs. Jana Nejedly
Women's Singles: Second Round
Court 17
Iroda Tulyaganova followed up her decisive win over Marta Marrero on Tuesday by
taking a 6-1 first set from Jana Nejedly of Canada. Nejedly is a
player who looks utterly unwilling to get dirty out there. She throws
none of her body into her serve (it's all arm) and stands very upright
on her groundstrokes. That said, Nejedly is much fitter than she was a
few years ago and her forehand became a true weapon in the second set
of this match. With fellow up-and-comer Anastasia Myskina looking on, Tulyaganova had to
serve well and do some great scrambling just to reach 3-3 in the
second set. However, Iroda was becoming frustrated and she lost the next
two games at love. Nejedly twice reached set point in Game 9 and
lost both of them on unforced errors. Tulyaganova then got a break
chance, but netted a backhand and let out an ear-piercing scream. Two
points later, a service winner gave the set to Nejedly. Jana went ahead
from there to score a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset.
Jeyaseelan/Krasnoroutskaya vs. Basuki/Prakusya
Women's Doubles: First Round
Court 17
After taking in a set of the Dementieva-Habsudova singles match on an
absolutely packed Court 10, I made my way back to 17. Nejedly's match was
over, but a very intriguing doubles bout was just getting underway.
Tireless dynamo Sonya Jeyaseelan and fiery Lina Krasnoroutskaya were
locking horns with the Indonesian duo, Yayuk Basuki and Wynne
Prakusya. Basuki was one of the best doubles players in the world
before the desire to become a mother called her into a temporary retirement. She has
made sporadic appearances since then, serving as a mentor to the
steadly improving Prakusya. If nothing else, Wynne was in for a
learning experience here. Jeyaseelan and Krasnoroutskaya were putting
on a doubles clinic in the first set. Sonya scurried around blasting
two-fisted winners while Lina (who looked like a giant compared to
the other three players) displayed good form at the net. Jeyaseelan
put away a smash to complete a 6-1 win of the opening set.
The Indonesians tried to wrestle control back in the first game of
the second set. After three deuces, they finally succeeded, with
Basuki firing an ace for 1-0. Krasnoroutskaya was quickly broken for
2-0. Game 3 featured the best rally of the match: after a Krasnoroutskaya
shot clipped the tape, Basuki flipped a sharply angled backhand
cross-court, but Jeyaseelan darted over and ripped a winner down the
line. It wasn't enough to save the game, which ended
with a defensive Krasnoroutskaya lob landing wide. Prakusya fought off
a break point to 4-0, Basuki served up another ace on the way to 5-0,
and a love break of Krasnoroutskaya ended the second set bagel. This
match of wildly shifting fortunes would have to be decided in a third
set.
Jeyaseelan was acting as the obvious captain of her team, barking out
instructions like "go go go!" and "got it!" during the rallies.
Krasnoroutskaya proved an able pupil, blasting two winners and a huge
return in a love break of Prakusya. Jeyaseelan held at love, taking
the very strange overall score to 6-1, 0-6, 2-0. Successful service
games from each player made it 4-2. Basuki had been serving well
ever since the start of the second set, but she hit a snag in Game 7,
double faulting for 30-15 and again on break point. Yayuk threw her
racquet at her bag on the changeover, now just one game away from
elimination. Shortly thereafter, an unreturnable serve by
Krasnoroutskaya gave the Canadian-Russian alliance a 6-1, 0-6, 6-2
victory. Prakusya missed her share of volleys, but the
keys to this result were powerful returns and passing shots by Sonya
Jeyaseelan and Lina Krasnoroutskaya.
Damm/Prinosil vs. Braasch/Heuberger
Men's Doubles: First Round
Court 6
Bespectacled, chain-smoking 34-year-old Karsten Braasch underwent a bit of
a doubles renaissance this summer, winning two challenger
titles with regular partner Jens Knippschild. Jens missed this
year's Open, though, so Braasch found himself paired with Ivo Heuberger,
famous only for romping in the surf with then-girlfriend Martina Hingis
when she would have been at Wimbledon two years ago. Heuberger's got some
game, though -- he and Braasch won a 6-4 opening set over seasoned pros
Martin Damm and David Prinosil. A break of Prinosil gave the underdogs a
2-1 lead in the second set. Early in Game 4, Heuberger's ball toss was
blown so far off course by the wind that the serve he shanked hit the
side fence on the fly. A few points later, Ivo's racquet flew out of his hand on
a serve and skidded all the way around the net post. Despite those
unintentional antics, he held for a 3-1 lead.
Braasch did some of his patented deep-voiced bellowing in the middle of the
second set as things finally got away from him. He blew a 40-15 lead
on his (unusual as ever) serve as Damm/Prinosil tied the set. Damm
then held easily for 4-3. Martin and David were still unhappy with the
quality of their returns, but they made enough of them to challenge
Heuberger throughout a three-deuce Game 8. Heuberger saved one break
point, but double faulted to fall behind 3-5. Prinosil uncorked a pair
of service winners as his team took the 6-3 set. There's nothing
fancy about the serve-big-and-ask-questions-later game Damm and
Prinosil play together, but it was good enough to eventually earn a
4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Braasch and Heuberger.
Dokic/Bhupathi (7) vs. C Black/W Black
Mixed Doubles: First Round
Court 6
After sampling some other action around the crowded grounds (including an obstructed
view of Anke Huber's second round win on packed-to-capacity Court 11),
I returned to Court 6 for a doozy of a mixed doubles matchup. Mahesh
Bhupathi and Jelena Dokic joined forces against the brother/sister
pairing of Wayne and Cara Black. Bhupathi and Dokic looked like an
ideal combination early on. Mahesh served big in a hold for 1-0 and
Jelena (looking happy and relaxed without her infamous father around)
cracked a couple winners to open up a 0-40 lead on Wayne's serve. The
Blacks are both very solid doubles players, though, and they weren't
holding anything back. The set quickly went to 3 games all.
Cara Black hit a volley at Bhupathi's feet to earn a break point against
Dokic, which her brother immediately converted by way of a winning
backhand volley. The Blacks reached double set point in Game 10. Mahesh
dodged the first with a winning forehand, but on the second, Cara
hit an immaculate lob which landed square on the baseline. She
grinned from ear to ear and Jelena smiled back, even though that
highlight of a shot ended the set at 6-4.
In an indication of just how ordinary a serve Wayne has for a man, it
was Cara serving first for her team in the second set. While she took
care of her serve, it was brother Wayne giving up the second set's
initial break to fall behind 2-4. Cara had a chance to break right
back, but with a wide open court she needlessly pushed a backhand long.
A winning return by Wayne gave his team another chance and they made
good, getting to 3-4 when a running Dokic found the net with a
forehand.
Wayne hit an ace in holding for 4-4 and the Zimbabweans
set out to break Mahesh's big serve. They reached 0-30, but Bhupathi
hit an ace and Cara missed a return, sticking her tongue out as the
score became 30-30. At 40-30,the Black sister redeemed herself with a
winning lob. Wayne hit a winning return to bring up break point.
With the sun setting, Dokic complained that some lights should be
turned on above the court. Play continued, though, and Cara drilled a
backhand return down the line which handcuffed Jelena. The Blacks had
their break and a winning lead of 5-4. The lights remained off and,
even though she looked annoyed, Dokic said nothing about it. It was
lights out for the 7th seeds four points later, as Bhupathi sent a
forehand return long to end a 6-4, 6-4 win for Cara and Wayne Black.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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