Steve Tignor, writing about the Clijsters-Henin Miami semifinal
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Paszek and Larcher De Brito out of 1st round qualifying in Marbella and Ponte Vedra Beach
Seeded 4th in qualifying, Michelle Larcher De Brito made an early exit from Ponte Vedra Beach today when she was defeated in the first qualifying round by Anna Tatishvili. Tatishvili won no games in the first set, but won the second and third, 6-4 7-5.
The 3rd qualifying seed, Sharon Fichman, was defeated 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 by Sesil Karatantcheva.
Meanwhile, in Marbella, 4th-seeded Masa Zec Peskiric defeated Tamira Paszek 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of qualifying.
The 3rd qualifying seed, Sharon Fichman, was defeated 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 by Sesil Karatantcheva.
Meanwhile, in Marbella, 4th-seeded Masa Zec Peskiric defeated Tamira Paszek 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of qualifying.
Clijsters defeats Williams to win Miami
As agonizing as the Thursday night Sony Ericsson Open semifinal was--in retrospect, it's actually looking pretty good, compared with today's final. Again up a set and 3-0, Kim Clijsters had no meltdown today. In fact, it took the 14th seed less than an hour to defeat Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1 and win her 37th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title.
The problems today were on Williams' side of the net. The 3rd seed, who entered the championship match on a 15-match win streak, made 29 unforced errors, compared with Clijsters' 12. There was only one good rally in the entire match, and Clijsters did a good job of just keeping the ball in the court, as Williams made error after error. Sometimes a player just has a bad day on the court, and today was a bad day for Williams.
With this win, Clijsters gets a ranking of number 10 in the world.
The problems today were on Williams' side of the net. The 3rd seed, who entered the championship match on a 15-match win streak, made 29 unforced errors, compared with Clijsters' 12. There was only one good rally in the entire match, and Clijsters did a good job of just keeping the ball in the court, as Williams made error after error. Sometimes a player just has a bad day on the court, and today was a bad day for Williams.
With this win, Clijsters gets a ranking of number 10 in the world.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Dulko & Pennetta to play Petrova & Stosur in Miami final
The unseeded team of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta will play 3rd seeds Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur in the Sony Ericsson Open doubles championship on Sunday. Dulko and Pennetta upset 4th seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals. In the second round, they upset 2nd seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Petrova and Stosur defeated Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals.
Raymond, playing with Kveta Peschke, was a finalist last year.
Petrova and Stosur defeated Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals.
Raymond, playing with Kveta Peschke, was a finalist last year.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Belgians gone wild
Tonight in Miami, 14th seed Kim Clijsters and wild card Justine Henin played the second semifinal match of the day, but you could just as well refer to it as 2 1/2 hours of relentless agony, interrupted by tennis. We learned some things from this match, specifically: 1. Henin's resolve to be more aggressive can be kept in check by the right opponent, 2. Henin needs to keep working on her serve, and 3. Clijsters is just as prone to go all Goolagong in this career as she was in her first one.
Clijsters took control early in the match, pinning Henin to the baseline, hitting repeatedly to her backhand, and using her serve and forehand effectively to get a 6-2 win in just half an hour. She then went up 3-0 in the second set, and had a chance to break Henin and go up 4-0...and then it happened--that thing Clijsters does. She just went away. In the fifth game, she double-faulted three times, and before you could say "Kim won the match in straight sets," it was 3-all. Clijsters pulled herself together by mid-set, and again, it looked as though there was likely to be a straight set victory. But by this time, Henin's confidence had increased, and she was a little more steady. She broke Clijsters at 5-all, and when she served for the set, she saved two break points. Clijsters saved a set point, however, and got a break point when Henin double-faulted. She then converted that break point, forcing a tiebreak.
Henin went up 5-1 in the tiebreak, as Clijsters--looking as tight as she had the entire match--couldn't seem to do anything right. Henin went on to win that tiebreak 7-3, then went up 2-0 right away in the third set. But if you thought Henin was going to run away with the momentum, you needed to think again. Clijsters broke her back, and then--at 2-all--Clijsters broke Henin at love. When Henin served at 2-4, Clijsters had another break point, but could not convert it; instead, she was broken back, and it was 4-all.
The players then exchanged breaks, and Clijsters, serving at 5-6, 40-30, double-faulted again. But--for the first time in the match--she successfully scooped a volley from her feet to create an ad point. There was a second deuce, then Clijsters held.
In the second tiebreak, despite going down an early mini-break, Clijsters looked great, but failed to convert three match points at 6-3. She converted on her fourth match point, however, on Henin's serve, to win the tiebreak 8-6. The last two shots from Clijsters' racquet were appropriately thrilling--a dribble-over backhand volley and another forehand winner on match point.
Clijsters made 63 unforced errors, and Henin made 44. They double-faulted 18 times between them, and there was a total of 12 breaks. But this was just part of the story. There was also some thrilling shot-making. Clijsters used her backhand-inside-out forehand combination to hit a number of smart winners, and--as always--Henin fought back to the last moment. There were times, in the third set, that she even displayed some of the angles that confounded Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round.
But the real story of this match is that Kim Clijsters was winning it handily and then went to pieces. As a rule, a player who does that when Justine Henin is on the other side of the net is a player on her way to the next stop. But Clijsters, to her credit, fought as hard as Henin, and--when it mattered the most--she put the recent past behind her and won the hard way.
There was, of course, another semifinal match played today. 3rd seed Venus Williams, with considerably less drama, defeated 13th seed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4. Bartoli's second serve was nowhere to be found, and she was broken four times.
Williams and Clijsters will compete in the final on Saturday.
Clijsters took control early in the match, pinning Henin to the baseline, hitting repeatedly to her backhand, and using her serve and forehand effectively to get a 6-2 win in just half an hour. She then went up 3-0 in the second set, and had a chance to break Henin and go up 4-0...and then it happened--that thing Clijsters does. She just went away. In the fifth game, she double-faulted three times, and before you could say "Kim won the match in straight sets," it was 3-all. Clijsters pulled herself together by mid-set, and again, it looked as though there was likely to be a straight set victory. But by this time, Henin's confidence had increased, and she was a little more steady. She broke Clijsters at 5-all, and when she served for the set, she saved two break points. Clijsters saved a set point, however, and got a break point when Henin double-faulted. She then converted that break point, forcing a tiebreak.
Henin went up 5-1 in the tiebreak, as Clijsters--looking as tight as she had the entire match--couldn't seem to do anything right. Henin went on to win that tiebreak 7-3, then went up 2-0 right away in the third set. But if you thought Henin was going to run away with the momentum, you needed to think again. Clijsters broke her back, and then--at 2-all--Clijsters broke Henin at love. When Henin served at 2-4, Clijsters had another break point, but could not convert it; instead, she was broken back, and it was 4-all.
The players then exchanged breaks, and Clijsters, serving at 5-6, 40-30, double-faulted again. But--for the first time in the match--she successfully scooped a volley from her feet to create an ad point. There was a second deuce, then Clijsters held.
In the second tiebreak, despite going down an early mini-break, Clijsters looked great, but failed to convert three match points at 6-3. She converted on her fourth match point, however, on Henin's serve, to win the tiebreak 8-6. The last two shots from Clijsters' racquet were appropriately thrilling--a dribble-over backhand volley and another forehand winner on match point.
Clijsters made 63 unforced errors, and Henin made 44. They double-faulted 18 times between them, and there was a total of 12 breaks. But this was just part of the story. There was also some thrilling shot-making. Clijsters used her backhand-inside-out forehand combination to hit a number of smart winners, and--as always--Henin fought back to the last moment. There were times, in the third set, that she even displayed some of the angles that confounded Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round.
But the real story of this match is that Kim Clijsters was winning it handily and then went to pieces. As a rule, a player who does that when Justine Henin is on the other side of the net is a player on her way to the next stop. But Clijsters, to her credit, fought as hard as Henin, and--when it mattered the most--she put the recent past behind her and won the hard way.
There was, of course, another semifinal match played today. 3rd seed Venus Williams, with considerably less drama, defeated 13th seed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4. Bartoli's second serve was nowhere to be found, and she was broken four times.
Williams and Clijsters will compete in the final on Saturday.
Miscellany
Anastasia Rodionova will participate for the first time as an Australian during the Fed Cup playoff taking place later this month. Australia will play Ukraine in Kharkiv. Also on the Australian team are Sam Stosur, Alicia Molik and Rennae Stubbs. Rodionova was born in Russian and played for Russia for several years.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and Sony Ericsson have launched SuperFans, a social media channel that aggregates the social media of all participating players. This is the first project of its kind in professional sports.
Serena Williams has asked organizers of the Italian Open to hold a wild card spot open for her. This year, the event will be played in a new 10,500-seat stadium.
Kim Clijsters has accepted a wild card into the tournament in Marbella.
Laura Robson says her suitcase is this big.
I miss Dinara. A lot.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and Sony Ericsson have launched SuperFans, a social media channel that aggregates the social media of all participating players. This is the first project of its kind in professional sports.
Serena Williams has asked organizers of the Italian Open to hold a wild card spot open for her. This year, the event will be played in a new 10,500-seat stadium.
Kim Clijsters has accepted a wild card into the tournament in Marbella.
Laura Robson says her suitcase is this big.
I miss Dinara. A lot.
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