Defending Champ Henin highlight day 1
Defending Champ Henin highlight day 1
By Matthew Cronin
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Defending champ Justine Henin-Hardenne, red-hot Guillermo Coria,
France’s favorite daughter Amelie Mauresmo, American hopeful Andy
Roddick and 1999 titlist Andre Agassi will headline a host of title
contenders in action on Monday.
In what looks to be one of the most hotly contested tournaments in
the last decade, the men from the bottom half and the women from the
top halves of the draw will face off.
After a spectacular run to her first Grand Slam title here last year,
Henin-Hardenne comes into Roland Garros not having played a match in
nearly two months due to a debilitating virus. But the feisty Belgian
has been practicing for the past three weeks and by the sound of her
determined voice and brightness in her eyes, Henin is prepared to stage
a valiant title defense. She’ll face the cagey French veteran Sandrine
Testud on Monday, one of the few ‘playing mothers’ on the tour.
Mauresmo is coming off one of the best two tournament runs in her career.
She won Berlin when Venus Williams was unable to play due to an ankle injury,
and just 10 days ago outlasted Jennifer Capriati in a stirring three-set
final in Rome.
While her nerves have gotten the best of her time and time again at Roland
Garros, Mauresmo did reach the quarter finals last year and is now a more
mature and accomplished competitor. The third seed will attempt to show off
her deep, thudding attack against the Slovak Republic’s Ludmila Cervanova
on Monday.
Should Mauresmo reach the quarters, she could come up against American Lindsay
Davenport, who reached the Strasbourg final on Saturday. Davenport will go
up against French wild card Virginie Pichet. This three-time Grand Slam
singles champ is no clay court lover, but did reach the semi finals here
in 1998 and still has the power and precision to go deep.
Other women who have a chance of making noise here who will play on opening
day include 2003 semi finalist Nadia Petrova, the eighth seed, who will face
Columbia’s Catalina Castano, and her countrywoman, ninth seed Elena Dementieva
, who will go up against Mervana Jugic-Salkic.
Before falling to top-ranked Roger Federer in the final of Hamburg, Coria was
riding a 31-match clay court winning streak. The super quick counterpuncher
and 2003 Roland Garros semi finalist has a brutal draw with talented young
Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the first round, possibly his revived countryman
Mariano Zabaleta in the third round and maybe Chilean powerballer Fernando
Gonzalez in the fourth round.
If Coria is to become the first Argentine since Guillermo Vilas to win the
title, he’ll need to be super-consistent as well as aggressive.
轉自 Roland Garrors 官網
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