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| 14 Aug 2003 | |
| Brazil Girls (7) defeat No 2 seeds USA on Day 3 of the Finals |
The third and final day of the round-robin matches were completed today with some of the most exciting tennis of this week’s Finals.
In the girls’ event three of the top four seeds progressed through to the final rounds with little difficulty, except for the shock defeat of No 2 seeds USA by Brazil (7). The Brazilian team, spurred on by the support of the predominantly Latin American crowd, were determined to claim victory over the USA and take the final deciding rubber. After two hours of thrilling tennis, play went to a third and all-important rubber as the pairs fought it out in the fierce heat of the late afternoon sun.
The tension mounted on centre court with the girls playing for every point in a gripping match which could have gone either way as each team refused to give an inch. In the second set, Logan Hansen (USA) missed an overhead shot fired out by her Brazilian adversary and allowed Brazil to clinch the game. This broke Hansen’s concentration as she went on to hit the net a number of times during the final set, much to the delight of Ana Clara Duarte and Roxane Vaisemberg. This triggered a downward spiral for the USA team whose spirit was eventually broken and resulted in victory for the Brazilian girls, winning the tie 2-1.
A delighted Brazilian coach, Roberta Burzagli, commented: “We knew it was going to be a tough tie but we held out for victory and came up trumps at the last moment.”
Over on court number four, Japan repeated their second day success with a
3-0 win over Uruguay, while New Zealand recovered from the unequivocal loss of their first singles match with a 62 64 win for Ellen Barry against Ratchaya Chaichanachaicharn of Thailand. The Kiwis proceeded to win the deciding doubles match and, despite a tough battle, defeated their opponents 57 75 64 and took the tie 2-1.
The Italian team fell to formidable opposition in the form of the Russians who won the tie 3-0. Meanwhile, the Moroccan girls although putting in a solid performance eventually fell at the hands of the strong Croatian team 3-0. Bolivia also found themselves defeated by the consistent Polish team who took the tie comfortably 3-0.
No 5 seeds Romania were defiant in the first two sets of their tie. However, they faced harsh opposition from the home side who have an impressive record in this competition, finishing in the top five places every year since 1998. In the final rubber, the Czechs, Eva Kadlecova and Nicole Vaidisova, won 64 61 making this their second consecutive win.
Elsewhere, Australia made the initial break with their No 2 player, Michelle Brycki, taking the first singles rubber 63 26 62. Canada looked to No 1 player, Sharon Fichman, to try and level the tie in the second singles. Fichman, won the second rubber of the tie 62 75. With the tie now level at one all, it was down to the two doubles pairings to fight it out but the Canadian team proved to be the stronger, clinching the rubber 62 62 and taking the tie 2-1.
In the boys’ competition, only two of the eight matches went to deciding doubles. Agung Bagus Dewantoro, the young Indonesian player who has been a member of the ITF 14 and Under Asian team to Europe, deserves a special mention as he took the first set from the No 1 Ecuador player Juan Martin Paredes in the second singles. Although having lost each match so far in this tournament, the Indonesian team have enjoyed their time at the Finals and hopefully this experience will stand them in good stead for the future.
Likewise, Chile, who despite losing 3-0 to the Czech Republic did not give up easily and showed their resolve with Guillermo Rivera (No 1) forcing Michal Konecny (No 1) to a tie break in their first set 67(2) and then losing 62 in the second set.
Two very exciting ties unfolded on courts eight and ten. The Great Britain pairing of Darren Walsh and David Rice showed determination by coming back with a 63 result in the second set, having lost the first 63. With the scores level, who would take the third and final set? All four athletes played some fantastic all-round tennis, testing each other’s ability to the full. Walsh and Rice were almost unbeatable at the net but the French duo had the edge and eventually took the set 75 and the tie 2-1.
Over on court eight, Australia and Croatia battled it out for the top slot in their group and a guaranteed position in the top four of the competition. Croatia came to this match with one loss, against Ecuador, so knew they had to make up some ground to have the chance of a place in the top four. The match was level after both singles and some tense tennis lay ahead for the doubles. Alex Bothe and Patrick Nicholls (AUS) joined forces to do battle against Mikhail Karpol and Ivan Marevic. Bothe and Nicholls won the first set 64 but the Croatians came back fighting and secured the match 46 63 64, gaining a place in the top four.
With the group positions now confirmed, play will resume tomorrow with places being fiercely fought for the 1st to 16th positions.
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