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A review of Wimbledon 2003 - Lina Krasnoroutskaya
by Richard Paveley Now that Wimbledon has finished for another year its time to look back and review Lina's tournament. Expectations were not overly high for Lina before the start of Wimbledon, she certainly has the game for grass though, with her powerful two handed backhand and her excellent volleying skills she one day has the chance of progressing far at SW19. Her previous Visits to the All England Club have resulted in Lina progressing as far as the round of 16 where she lost to Conchita Martinez, not bad for only her 2nd time at the tournament, how would she fair during her 3rd Championships? Well, with her withdrawall from the 2002 championships due to injury Lina's grass court game had not had much of an outing since her last visit to London. Could she find her 'grass' feet this time round? Lina's first match of the Championships was against lowly ranked British player Julie Pullin which in theory was a good draw. Pullin's fighting abilities and the advantage of a home crowd were the only weapons she could use to trouble the Russian and so it proved. With the sun beating down on court 14 Lina quickly setted into her game and took full advantage of Pullin's weaknesses, using her powerful backhand Lina smashed winner after winner past the hapless Brit, who had no answer to the questions posed. Taking the first set 6-3 and the 2nd even more emphatically 6-1 it was just the start Lina needed. Her next opponent was a player she knew well, both on the tour as a player and as a friend, Anastasia Myskina. The number 10 seed would prove a much sterner test for Lina than her previous opponent did. The match, played on court 3, was in the end, a disappointment for Lina. Maybe the pressure got to her or she was just having an off day but her game just wasnt with her. High numbers of unforced errors mainly on the forehand side were largely to blame for her defeat to Anastasia. A total of 31 compared to her previous match of 20 was just too high and in the end the result was a fair one. With the first set loss of 6-1 in under 25 minutes the match seemed over even before the 2nd set had begun but credit to Lina, she began to regain her composure and began to trouble her opponent. Myskina was playing some good tennis but nothing out of the ordinary, she didnt have to with Lina gifting her point after point. The 2nd set though changed for the better as Lina upped her game and began to cut down on the forehand errors forcing Myskina to fight hard to keep her service games. In the end couldnt break down Anastasia and lost the 2nd set 6-3. A disappointing end to her 3rd Wimbledon singles campaign, the ladies doubles though would rescue her championships to some extent. Lina partnered with Elena dementieva progressed as far as the Semi-Finals, knocking out the Williams sisters in the 3rd which was a fantastic result for the Russian pair. They eventually fell to the number 1 seeds Pascual and Paulo Suarez 6-3 1-6 2-6 in a up and down semi on Court 1. Overall Lina has had a mixed bag at this years championships, the disappointing 2rd in the singles but an impressive semi final in the doubles. She can take heart though from the fact she is still young and still learning .Her game will improve week after week month after month and in time, she will become the player we all know she can be. Onwards and Upwards Lina.
Rich Visit the Daniela Hantuchova page here
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