Petrova Stuns Henin-Hardenne in Fourth Round
September 6, 2004
Petrova Stuns Henin-Hardenne in Fourth Round
FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY - The defending champion fell on Monday evening in New
York as Nadia Petrova pulled out the biggest upset of her career at the US Open.
The No.14 seed shocked the tennis world by upsetting world No.1 Justine
Henin-Hardenne, 63 62, to move into the quarterfinals.
"Today I was more mentally strong," Petrova said. "I kept my nerves down. I
really focused on every point. I tried to give her as many balls as possible
and also come to the net, put kind of a pressure on her. I really was holding
my serve well. A little bit in the first set, I little bit struggled because
I was a little bit getting used to the atmosphere of the stadium. But the
rest of the match, I play very good."
Petrova had lost to Henin-Hardenne on all five previous occasions entering
their fourth round battle, including four losses in 2003. Petrova credits
having a little extra time to herself during her trip to the Athens Olympics
as putting her in the right mind set coming into the US Open.
"I was there all by myself. I never really had time to think over and just
spend some time with myself. Then came to New Haven, played a good tennis,
lost to Lisa Raymond. But I knew sooner or later a good result would come."
After reaching at least the semifinals in five straight Grand Slams
(2003 Australian Open to '04 Australian Open), Henin-Hardenne has now failed
to reach the quarterfinals in her last two. She fell in the second round at
Roland Garros to Tathiana Garbin and didn't play Wimbledon while recovering
from a viral illness.
The defending champion in Flushing Meadows said she didn't feel like her game
was there against Petrova.
"I think it's this kind of day, you don't feel good, you don't feel your game,
you're not in confidence," Henin-Hardenne said. "It seems like anything is
going well. It's sure that I miss matches and I miss this kind of situation
and this kind of tournament with a lot of pressure, and I think it's normal
what happened this week."
"I felt well in this tournament, but never felt free in my head, never felt a
hundred percent on the court. I think maybe now I'm a little bit frustrating
because I didn't try maybe to find the solutions today, so that's probably
the hardest thing for me now."
After the match, Henin-Hardenne seemed in disbelief that she had lost, but
felt that this loss would make her work much harder.
"I have to accept that what happened tonight happened, and it's going to take
a few days to understand what happened," Henin-Hardenne said. "But I'll go
and work harder than I did in the last few weeks because now I know I can do
it. But it's going to take a little bit of time. I have no choice to accept
that."
Petrova will face countrywoman and Russian teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova, who
also advanced to her first US Open quarterfinal by defeating French veteran
Mary Pierce 76(5) 62.
"The match was tough, it was a pretty close first set," Kuznetsova said.
"But I think I had chances to break her in the first set. I just wasn't
really convinced in myself. But I felt like match was under my control. So I
think this was the most important thing."
Lindsay Davenport edged ahead 13-12 in her career head-to-head with Venus
Williams after a 75 64 win Monday to reach the US Open quarterfinals for the
eighth consecutive year.
In a typically hard-hitting encounter, Davenport saved five break points in a
tense 10th game of the second set, securing the win on her fifth match point.
"It's a tough (match) to get through," said Davenport on facing Venus in the
fourth round. "I wanted to win so badly, and I played such a great, calm
match until that point, and then let a few errors creep in. She definitely
hit some good shots, too. It's just a combination I think there."
For the first time in their 25 career meetings Davenport and Williams met
before the quarterfinal round of a tournament. This was largely due to
Venus's current ranking of No.12 and No.11 seeding, having spent much of 2004
on the sidelines or struggling to regain her form.
The two former No.1s and US Open champions were neck-and-neck in the early
stages of the match. But when Davenport broke Williams's serve at 5-all in
the first set, Venus seemed to lose a little bit of intensity, while her
error count rose.
"I think I just missed a few too many," Williams said. "I think I was a
player that was going possibly for more. That's how I play. I didn't mind
playing her at all. I didn't feel I had a bad draw. I don't necessarily think
she probably felt the same way.
"But even when I'm not playing my best, the score is quite tough for
whoever's playing against me. I know that now that I stay healthy, I'm going
to stay healthy, if I can control it. I'm going to be better."
It's the earliest Williams has lost at the US Open in seven attempts, having
never fallen before the semifinals, winning consecutive titles in 2000 and
2001.
Davenport's next opponent Shinobu Asagoe became Japan's first US Open
quarterfinalist in 10 years with a 76(4) 46 63 win over No.29 seed Eleni
Daniilidou of Greece. Asagoe, 28, has never progressed this far at a major
before, and No.62, is the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist since Venus Williams
reached the final on debut aged 17 in 1997, ranked No.66.
"Just simply I'm happy today with the result," said Asagoe, who led 3-0 in
the third set before wrapping it up in the ninth game. "I'm not sort of
over-reacting with the result that I have now because I'll have another match
day after tomorrow. I'm not really too much excited by the moment, but still
I'm happy.
"I was trying my best to just keep going, but still I probably can go further.
So I'm not really satisfied right now. I have to go further from here."
Asagoe, whose compatriot Kimiko Date was the last Japanese quarterfinalist
here (1993 and 1994), has never beaten either Venus Williams or Lindsay
Davenport, one of whom will be her next opponent.
Victory against either American would make her the first Japanese Grand Slam
semifinalist since Date at Wimbledon in 1996.
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---禪心已作沾泥絮，莫向春風舞鷓鴣---
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