Quarterfinal Preview

By J.M.

What a surprising tournament for Conchita! As the 26^th seed, it was expected of her that she would not progress past the third round where she was supposed to meet the number six seed, Jelena Dokic. Luck was on her side, however, as Dokic was knocked out early by German veteran, Barbara Rittner, whom Conchita was able to defeat in three lopsided sets. After defeating Gagliardi in the 4^th round, she was then supposed to play defending champion and favourite for the title, Daniela Hantuchova, who was swept off the court by diminutive South African, Amanda Coetzer, in yesterday’s match. The result being: a battle of the moonballs for a semi-final birth!

***** Paths to the Quarterfinals!*****

Coetzer:

1^ST Round: Bye

2^nd Round: defeated Koukalova 6-2 6-2

3^rd Round: defeated Raymond 6-0 6-3

4^th round: defeated Hantuchova 6-4 6-4

Martinez:

1^st Round: Bye

2^nd Round: defeated Razzano 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-3

3^rd Round: defeated Rittner 0-6 6-3 6-3

4^th Round: defeated Gagliardi 6-1 6-2

By looking at those statistics, Coetzer seems to be the favourite going into this match for a number of reasons. Firstly, in the third round, she defeated American Lisa Raymond in devastating fashion. This illustrated that Coetzer is definitely in form this week as Raymond had beaten her in straight sets a couple of weeks ago in the Memphis final so a win like that would obviously improve her confidence levels even further. Yet the surprise of the tournament also goes to the South African as yesterday she was able to handle the power and finesse of the number 3 seed, Daniela Hantuchova, in convincing fashion again by defeating her in straight sets.

What did Hantuchova have to say after her surprise defeat? “Well, I have to give all the credit to Amanda, the way she was playing today.  I mean, she was almost not missing a ball at all.  You know, at the moment she's very confident, she won a tournament last week.  You know, it's very tough against her because she's so fast and she gets to everything.” If this is the case tomorrow, Conchita will definitely have her hands full!

Looking at her 2003 record can see another reason why Coetzer will be a favourite in this match. Her accomplishments are as follows:

·        QF at Sydney (tier 2a)

·        4^th Round Australian Open

·        Finalist at Memphis (tier 3)

·        Won Acapulco (tier 3)

Many players on the tour will struggle all year to make a quarterfinal or semifinal appearance all year round so the fact that she has already won a title, reached the final of another, and made the 4^th round of a Grand slam tournament suggests the old Coetzer, who used to be a top 10 player, is back and ready for action.

Conchita’s accomplishments, on the other hand, are as follows:

·        QF Doha (tier 3)

·        QF Dubai (tier 2)

Conchita’s results are definitely not as good as Coetzer’s this year but they are for Conchita herself. She was just regaining her confidence levels towards the end of 2002 where she demolished players such as Capriati and Stevenson in Switzerland and made the final of Bali when the season began to end. After a poor start to the 2003 season, she lost to players ranked well below her s after taking a few weeks off to recuperate, she then made a QF appearance in Doha before having to retire in that match. She then performed well enough to defeat two players, including Daniilidou who was the 8^th seed at the time, to reach the QF at Dubai, a tier II tournament, before falling to Capriati. So as she has now won three consecutive matches at Indian Wells, perhaps those confidence levels are back and can do enough damage to Coetzer to move her into the semi-finals!

***** Head-to-Head Record ***** (since 1996)

F          Berlin   2000                Martinez (3) d. Coetzer (10)                 6-1 6-2

4          Key Biscayne   2000    Coetzer (18) d. Martinez (6)                 6-1 6-2

4          US Open 1998             Coetzer (13) d. Martinez (7)                 6-4 4-6 6-2

SF        Amelia Island 1998       Martinez (6) d. Coetzer (2)                   6-4 6-0

SF        Stanford 1997              Martinez (6) d. Coetzer (3)                   6-4 6-0

4          French Open 1997       Coetzer (11) d. Martinez (7)                 6-7 6-4 6-3

QF       Hilton Head 1997         Martinez (5) d. Coetzer (13)                 6-1 6-3

4          French Open 1996       Martinez (3) d. Coetzer (14)                 6-2 6-3

From these stats, Martinez definitely has the advantage as she leads their career meetings by five victories to three. However, because they have not played each other since 2000, it is difficult to predict who could win the match as both players have developed over the years due to injuries and also to deal with the power game that now seems to be plaguing tennis.

***** Style of Play *****

Conchita and Amanda play almost identically in tennis: they both use strong top-spin moonballs when they are out of position in the court and need time to get themselves to the center or even for variety purposes in order to get their opponents past their baseline. This often allows both players to capitalize by running to net to volley or hit slice dropshots. The only apparent differences in Martinez’ and Coetzers’ games are their service actions and their backhands. Martinez often fails to get the ball over the net due to her low ball toss, but when it goes over, it can be very effective against any player! Coetzer, on the other hand, tends to hit less double faults and can generate enough power to ace her opponents at times.

The other notable difference is their style of backhand: Coetzer hits double-handed, which often allows her to hit with more “low” shots with extra pace. Conversely, Martinez plays one-handed and her slice shots generally penetrate deep into the court and are a very effective tool, especially on clay. Regardless of this, topspin is ultimately their favourite shot, on both forehand and backhand, so be prepared for a very long match tomorrow!

***** Predictions *****

Conchita wins in 3 simply because Coetzer had a tougher last match!.

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