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| 07 Jun 2001 | |
| An Inspector Calls at Roland Garros |
By Chris Bowers
Inspecting marks on clay can add drama to matches, and when you inspect a mark at match point, it heightens the tension to its peak.
So imagine the atmosphere when Ashley Harkleroad, the American who is one of the 5/8 seeds in the Roland Garros girls’ singles, is at match point at 5-4 final set against Vera Zvonareva from Russia, she thinks she’s won the match, but finds the call overruled by the umpire and she has to play it again.
It added drama to an already dramatic quarter-final on Court 3, which had seen Zvonareva leading 4-1 first set when the rain came, only for Harkleroad to come back after the resumption. The American led the deciding set 4-1 but the Russian clawed her way back to 4-4.
Then Harkleroad thought she had won it at 6-5, but Zvonareva broke back for 6-6, and seemed to have the wind in her sails. But Harkleroad, whose fitness always looked better than her opponent’s, then broke for 8-7, and on her third match point she ended a 26-stroke rally with a crosscourt forehand that was too good for the spirited Russian.
Harkleroad’s reward is a probable semi-final against Kaia Kanepi, who built up a 6-0 4-1lead over Myriam Casanova before rain ended play for the day. Kanepi, the Italian Open Champion, has yet to drop a set and looks the favourite to win the tournament.
In the top half of the girls’ draw the semi will pit Claudine Schaul against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Schaul almost let Lubomira Kurhajcova back in after the first set as the Luxembourger started overhitting, but she recovered her form in time to win the last five games and take the match 6-2 7-5. Kuznetsova beat Virag Nemeth 6-7 6-1 6-1.
Anyone entering Court 6 towards the end of the match between Brian Dabul and Florian Mayer might have thought Mayer had won. When he held serve in the 12th game of the match, he raised his arms in triumph – because he’d avoided a double bagel. He then took Dabul’s serve before the Argentine won 6-0 6-2.
Dabul, who had a double by winning through to the doubles semi-finals, now plays Lamine Ouahab, the Algerian having ended the run of Iordan Kanev in straight sets.
But the top seed Janco Tipsarevic crashed out 6-4 6-2 to Carlo Cuadrado, the latest prospect to come from the camp of Spanish coach Pato Alvarez, and he now plays the Colombian lefthander Alejandro Falla, who beat Adrian Cruciat 6-2 4-6 6-3.
That leaves three continents represented in the boys’ singles semi-finals: two from South America, one from Europe and one from Africa. The girls’ has three Europeans and a North American.
>Full results from the Roland Garros can be found on www.rolandgarros.com
Click here to view the 2001 Roland Garros picture gallery.
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