[外電] Mauresmo Has the Upper Hand Now

看板Mauresmo作者truste (沒事)時間19年前 (2006/09/06 00:56)推噓1(1推 0噓 2→)

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Serena Williams might have thrown herself into her fourth-round match, but she managed to win only one set against No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo. By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY Published: September 5, 2006 Serena Williams has made undeniable progress in her short summer of tennis, but she did not make enough to hang on to her mental edge over Amelie Mauresmo, losing by 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 last night in the fourth round of the United States Open. Maria Sharapova came back to win her fourth-round match on Monday. She has not lost a set at this Open. For years, Williams played alpha female to Mauresmo, the thoughtful Frenchwoman with the elegant strokes and the fragile psyche. Put Williams and her confidence on the other side of the net, and time and again, Mauresmo would start to fade when it was least convenient. She won only three games against Williams in the 2002 Wimbledon semifinals and again in the 2003 French Open quarterfinals as Williams grunted and smacked clutch serves and clutch forehands in bunches. But the balance of power has taken a pendulum swing since then. Mauresmo, at age 27, is now No. 1 after sweeping her skeletons out of the closet by winning her first Grand Slam singles titles this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Williams, though eager again, is no longer dominating. After playing little in the last two seasons because of injuries and the funk brought on by the murder of her half sister Yetunde Price, she required a wild card to compete in this year's United States Open. Last night, she lacked the consistency and, more strikingly, the energy to take out Mauresmo, even after sweeping through the second set in only 23 minutes. "I really wanted to start changing the stats," said Mauresmo, who had lost 9 of her previous 10 matches against Williams and had never beaten her in a Grand Slam tournament. "It was very important to me, and perhaps that played a role in my dropping off in the second - this old reflex against her. But the thing that's most important is to keep one's calm and be able to get back into it in the third and be steadier." Although both players finished with more unforced errors than winners, this was an entertaining match that peaked early but retained enough intensity, athleticism and shot-making quality to feel like something more significant than a Round of 16 encounter. The longest rally came in the third set, with Williams serving at 2-3, 15-30. It lasted 35 strokes and ended with Williams hitting a backhand in the net. The pace of Williams's shots was already slowing, and Mauresmo went on to break her serve and remain in control; Williams made errors in bunches with her forehand. "It's just a matter of time," said Williams, in a subdued mood afterward. "You know, I don't see me in this position much longer." Her position, for now, is 91st in the world, and she will not pick up points because she also reached the fourth round here last year. "I think this is just the start where better things are ahead of her," said her mother and co-coach, Oracene Price. "She made up her mind where she really wanted to come back. I wouldn't want her to win everything like she did in Australia, just muscling her way through. Let her know it takes a lot of work and dedication." Mauresmo said: "She can be in the top 10; that's certain. But also, to be in the top 10, it's a matter of consistency. Does she have it yet? Tonight, for both of us, it was a bit on and off. It was a bit hard to tell." What is certain is that Mauresmo will now face Dinara Safina of Russia, seeded 12th, in the quarterfinals. Yesterday was the beginning of the second half of the Open, but in truth, it seemed like the start of another Open, one that no longer revolved around Andre Agassi's place in tennis history and the state of his ailing back. The new tournament is about those who are integral to the game's present: players like Mauresmo; like Maria Sharapova, who stormed back from a 1-4 deficit in her fourth-round match against Li Na of China to win, 6-4, 6-2; and like Justine Henin-Hardenne, who was brilliant in a 6-1, 6-0 victory against a potentially dangerous opponent, Shahar Peer of Israel. After playing little since Wimbledon, Henin-Hardenne is back in form in another Grand Slam tournament. She won the French Open this year and has been a finalist at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing to Mauresmo each time. Now, Henin-Hardenne is in the quarterfinals, where she and Lindsay Davenport will renew their rivalry. Davenport won their first five matches, but Henin-Hardenne has won the last six, beginning with a tension-filled fourth-round match at the 2003 Australian Open. It was an encounter pivotal to Henin-Hardenne's evolution from mentally fragile player to champion. When the year began, Davenport was No. 1 in the world. But back problems kept her from playing for most of the first half of the season; a fall at her home in California left her with a concussion and kept her out of Wimbledon. After one of her finest seasons, she set aside all talk of retirement in January, but the thoughts have crept back in for the 30-year-old Davenport. Like Agassi, she knows that each match at the Open could be her last, but unlike Agassi, the 10th-seeded Davenport has moved on, defeating the seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder yesterday, 6-4, 6-4. "Justine is playing unbelievable tennis, and for the first time in a long time, I really have nothing to lose," Davenport said. The other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw will match Elena Dementieva, seeded fourth, against No. 19 Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic defended brilliantly yesterday and came up with spectacular off-balance two-handed backhands in a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 victory against No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 Open champion. She did not seem to be the same Jankovic who lost nine straight matches from January to May. Dementieva, who also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Aravane Rezai of France, a 19-year-old of Iranian descent. But Mauresmo will not be the only French representative in the quarterfinals. Tatiana Golovin, 18, who was born in Russia and trained for much of her youth in Florida, advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 23 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia. On Sunday, she upset the fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova. Golovin, seeded 27th, is gathering momentum again after it was cut short in the semifinals of the Key Biscayne tournament, where she tore ankle ligaments while giving Sharapova nothing but trouble. Now, guess who is waiting for Golovin in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal? "I'm going to strap up everything this time," Golovin said of facing Sharapova. "I'm going to strap up the ankles, the wrists, my head - everything." -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 82.236.196.33