|
|
| 01 Jul 2003 | |
| Day Seven: Weather Holds to Allow Great Tennis |
Rain almost spoiled what is one of the best days of tennis in the entire year. The second Monday of Wimbledon provides tennis fans with a veritable feast of matches as all the fourth round matches are played.
The rain interrupted proceedings a little bit, but the periods when the clouds parted allowed the courts to be bathed in brilliant sunshine. Kim Clijsters got off to a flying start against her friend and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama. This match was expected by some to be a close one seeing that their record against one another was 3-3, but Clijsters knew she had to assert her superiority early and when she did, it was a very
welcoming feeling. Clijsters then became the first one into the quarterfinals 63 62.
"It definitely helps your confidence, you know you’re serving well, you know you’ve got the rhythm, so that’s really good to keep going," said Clijsters.
"I think today we had some good rallies out there, a lot of long rallies, so that was really nice. I really enjoyed it out there."
Clijsters has barely taken three hours all up in the four matches she has played and lost just 12 games. This was Clijsters 50th match win for the year and the last player to pass such a mark this early in the season was Martina Navratilova in 1982 when she reach 50 match wins when she won her third round match at Wimbledon.
Moving into the quarterfinals also helps the Belgian in her quest to take over the world number one ranking from Serena Williams. Right now, the fact that Clijsters is in the quarters, Williams must at least reach the final to retain the number one ranking.
Clijsters is not concerned about the fact that she has not had anything tough. The Belgian said she would rather have quicker matches where she is playing well than the tougher matches where she is not playing well. Certainly it helps her confidence, but if the French Open is anything to go by, then Clijsters possibly needs a match where she had to dig in.
In Paris she went through the draw effortlessly (apart from dropping a set to Maggie Maleeva) and then was not in a position to squeeze out the points that really mattered in the final. Serena Williams was second into the quarters and is very much aware that the number one ranking in on the line. She says it influences her game but says this is just one week and that she has a "few areas where I can gain points in the summer" and that she will be okay.
However she added that if she did lose the ranking she would consider playing more tournaments in the
autumn in an effort to retain it. Williams charged through Elena Dementieva 62 62 and commented that it
didn’t exceed her expectations but that she was playing pretty well and focusing. She adapts her game as each round progress but feels she wants to work on some part of her play, like moving forward.
Williams will now face Jennifer Capriati who moved past Anastasia Myskina 62 63. Serena was saying that she had watched Capriati in the first two rounds and was impressed with the way she played. Williams feels that Capriati’s return has been performing well on the grass, it has been staying low which forces an opponent to hit up and that sets up put away returns.
"I was happy with that because she’s a tough opponent, so I was able to stay concentrated and focused the whole time and play good tennis," said Capriati.
"Even in the second set, just didn’t lose my concentration and I kept the pressure on. It was a little difficult to get a little bit of a rhythm out there, but I just stayed concentrated."
Capriati said she could not compare her tennis to two years ago because she doesn’t remember, but most importantly she says she feels comfortable on the grass and it’s just a matter of her going out and playing her own game.
"I’m going to be psyched up and apply everything that I’ve been doing and hopefully things won’t change in my game, and I can continue to be aggressive and serve well," added Capriati.
In other women’s matches, Venus Williams won through to play Lindsay Davenport - both scored comfortable wins over Vera Zvonareva and Shinoboe Asagoe respectively. Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Mary Pierce 63 63 and plays Svetlana Kuznetsova who ended the run of Maria Sharapova 61 26 75.
Silvia Farina Elia won through to play Kim Clijsters. The match of the day was the clash between Mark Philippoussis and Andre Agassi, in fact this was one of the best matches of the tournament. In a stunning display of power serving and some excruciating returning, Philippoussis defeated Agassi 63 26 67 63 64 in three hours 12 minutes.
Philippoussis played such a strong match mentally. He stayed firm when there were plenty of opportunities for him to crumble. The rain interrupted play very early in the match but when the players returned it was
Philippoussis who jumped to a great start in winning that first set. Then when Agassi took a two sets to one lead, many thought Philippoussis might become disheartened but instead to remained solid and finally broke serve midway through the final set.
Philippoussis served a Wimbledon record equalling 46 aces. In 1997 Goran Ivanisevic hit that figure but lost the match to Magnus Norman. Furthermore, the 46 aces from Philippoussis was more impressive because they came from 157 service points compared to 179 for Ivanisevic. Additionally, the Australian produced 79 unreturnable serves.
"I wouldn’t say it was the match of my career," said Philippoussis.
"I’m extremely happy the way I concentrated throughout the match. I hung in there and I just fought hard. It was another one where I just had to fight and just give it all."
Twice this year Agassi has beaten Philippoussis and this win snapped a six match losing streak to the American. Philippoussis will now take on Alexander Popp. In a match between the long and the short of it, the 201cm tall German defeated the 165cm Belgian Olivier Rochus 57 63 64 62.
In other men’s matches, Tim Henman delighted the centre court crowd when he defeated last year’s runner-up David Nalbandian 62 67 75 63. Henman still does not know who he faces in the quarterfinals because the match between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Sebastien Grosjean was suspended by bad light with the Frenchman, who beat Henman at Queen’s Club and reached the final there, leading two sets to one.
Andy Roddick beat Paradorn Srichaphan in four sets but form midway through the fourth set the Thai player was getting visibly tired and was playing on the smell of an oily rag. Roddick plays Jonas Bjorkman next. And Roger Federer won in straight sets over Feliciano Lopez to play Sjeng Schalken, who is in his second straight Wimbledon quarterfinal.
If you want to follow the action as it happens, with live scores and results, then please visit the Official Website at www.wimbledon.org.
The Junior Tournament is now underway. Please visit www.itfjuniors.com for daily wrap-ups and the latest pictures.
^ Back to Top
|
