Rain wiped out most play today, and since there is no play on middle Sunday, the six remaining 3rd round matches must be completed Monday morning. Two players who did complete their matches were 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who beat Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-3, and defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, who defeated Mara Santangelo, 6-1, 6-2.
Thanks to Mauresmo, the people who bought Centre Court tickets to see her play got a full refund. The rules state that if you see under an hour of tennis, you get your money back, and Mauresmo dispensed with Santangelo in 57 minutes.
Mauresmo drove her mountain bike into the stadium today, as she does every day, and was stopped by a guard and told she could proceed no farther. New rules? The guard didn't know the rules? The other guards didn't know the rules? Or perhaps today's guard had no clue who was on the bike. A couple of years ago, 2004 U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova was denied access to the court by a security guard, and she wound up having to point to a giant cut-out of herself to get him to understand that she was a Grand Slam champion, and it was okay for her to enter the court, thank you very much.
All of my picks to win and half of my dark horses are still around. The Graveyard of Champions, Court 2, consumed Martina Hingis yesterday, when she was defeated in straight sets by Laura Granville. But that was really no surprise--Hingis has been out for a long time with a chronic hip injury, and she was just able to start hitting again a few days before Wimbledon began. Some of hoped she could overcome this lack of preparation, but it was, indeed, very hard to overcome. I was sad when I saw her walk off the court. Granville added a touch of class by barely celebrating her win, and by making sure that she left the court first, a reversal of tennis protocol.
My other dark horse to exit was Anna Chakvetadze, who lost yesterday to Michaella Krajicek.
Some fashion notes:
I did not get to see Tatiana Golovin's controversial red undershorts. Her warm-up capri pants, paired with what looked to be a long, (single-breasted or double-breasted?--I had to watch on a computer screen), blazer, however, were simply chic beyond description. Golovin has to be Lacoste's best player representative ever.
Serena Williams looks very good in her new Wimbledon outfit. Sister Venus is wearing shorts, an unusual choice for her, but she reports that her dresses are all too big for her (Reebok couldn't have tossed in a new one?).
The All England Club allows players to have a bit of trim on their white outfits, and my favorite bit of trim I've seen so far was on Kataryna Bondarenko's dress--a large magenta flower emblem on the bottom left-hand side of the skirt. "Large magenta flower" sounds gawdy, but the image was subtle, like a Victorian flower sketch.
Player of the day: Amelie Mauresmo, who served 11 aces, including one on match point.
2 comments:
I heard Mauresmo was denied entrance on her bike because of the recent bomb scares in Great Britain. She is now jogging to the grounds. But security is rather inconsistent. My father was not allowed to bring in a packaged coffee drink (freebies handed out at the tube station) but others had them and of course anyone is allowed to bring in a bottle of wine or two beers. And the level of thoroughness varies as well. I had two small bags within my larger bag and the guard asked what was in one--my camera--but didn't open either. I wonder how things have changed in the past two days.
Well, it's comforting to know that with the defending champion not storming Wimbledon on a mountain bike, the empire is safe once again.
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