Thursday, August 31, 2006
US Open Day 3: Azarenka win was no fluke
by Pierre Cantin
Wow, yesterday was quite a good day in Flushing Meadows, I got back very late and was just too exhausted to write anything really. Even now, I do not have that much time so I will not post photos that I took in this post. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to do that.
So I got at Flushing Meadows, there was not much practicing going on so I sat in on the Azarenka practice... while I was there, I was asked about 5 times who she was, she was hitting some pretty solid shots, I would answer her name and also said she was playing later and looked like she had a good shot at Myskina (seems I was right hey?).
When matches started, I went on grandstand to see the Ana Ivanovic match as she faced Vera Dushevina, it was actually not that great of a match in the first set, Dushevina is a strange and streaky player and not much was going for her. Ivanovic was going for big shots and mostly hitting them, missing others, but Vera was just unable to enter the match... I'm not shocked it went 3 sets just because Ana's level did not seem that high.
After, I headed to see Viktoriya Kutuzova, she was playing Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, she was ok, she impressed me by having a lot more control over her shots than last year, she was trying to wait for the right moment to attach, I thought she wasn't agressive enough in the match though, sure she didn't need to be though... So either she knew that and played to win this match, or it could prove a bit of a problem today...
Then Alona Bondarenko, she was having quite a battle against Ahsha Rolle and I didn't see enough to see why it was so tough, but anyway, she was thrilled to win the match, looked more like relief than anything else (it was 2 sets but she had to make a nice comeback to win in 2).
Then, I saw a small bit of the Martina Sucha vs Anna Chakvetadze but as the Myskina-Azarenka match resumed, I headed over there. Both players started off pretty much as they had left it, Myskina got the early break to level the match but clearly she was having big problems with Azarenka's game. It honestly looked like they had a similar game but Victoria is significantly more agressive so Myskina was having a hard time staying in the points. The only thing going for Myskina (actually 2), were that Victoria was not serving very well, not consistently, and also, Myskina was clearly better on big points. After taking the opening set, Azarenka looked ready to roll and it was unfortunate to have Myskina injur her foot at 2-1 I think in the second... I think given the fact that she was being outplayed with no injuries, she probably knew she was not going to comeback but she stayed on the court with her injured left foot to finish the match... Azarenka continued to put shots in both corners and eventually won the match... I'll be back to see her today for sure but if she plays the same way, she could have a few more matches ahead of her in this tournament (could she even dream of the quarterfinals?).
I saw bits of Safina and then headed to grandstand, where I saw Pierce by Vesnina and Golovin vs Harkleroad. The first match was not that great, I'm not sure what happened but Vesnina had a good start and after that she was awful, she was making so many errors, not getting points to last anywhere near as long as she would have wanted, etc...
Then, Harkleroad vs Golovin, which was actually a great match, both players played well, I was really impressed by Harkleroad, she had quite an agressive game, hits with a lot more pace and power, and it is unfortunate for her she didn't pull this off, she certainly was playing well enough, she had the crowd on her side, she however complained of being "leg tired" towards the end of the match so that didn't help...!
Finally, I saw Daniela Hantuchova's match against Bethanie Mattek, it was an ok match, I don't think Daniela played incredible really, but she fought hard and advanced in 2 sets... which is pretty good...
So I've gotta get going now, a huge day of tennis lies ahead!
# posted by Pierre : 4:55 AM
