STANFORD, California—Another absolutely pristine day at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. I’m thinking to myself, in the history of tennis has there ever been a WTA event that had better weather? I seriously doubt it. No wind to speak of and temperatures that warm but don’t cook. Temps in the mid 70′s and skies as blue as the fresh new paint on center court. It’s unbelievable. Excuse me, while I kiss the sky.
I’ve just witnessed Sam Stosur’s first match since her disappointing Wimbledon first round loss to Kaia Kanepi, and while there were a few spots where Sam was treading water rather than swimming like the shark that she is, it was still a relatively easy straight set win over the youngster from Teaneck, New Jersey, 6-1, 7-5.
It wasn’t a classic Stosur outing, as she played a loose second set and gave the American qualifier Christina Mchale six break points to sniff at. But in the end the Aussie was happy in that down-to-earth way of hers that she fought off each and every one of those six break points, including four when serving for the match in the final game.
“Yeah, for sure, I thought I played quite well today for my first match in two weeks, and to be able to hold off all those break points is quite pleasing,” she said after the match.
“I think she tried to play a little bit more aggressively in that second set, she kept a good attitude throughout the whole thing, and that kept her in as well,” she added, when questioned about the 18-year-old‘s game.
After falling behind love-40, 6-5 against a desperate McHale, Stosur battened down the hatches and got the job done, and there is something to be said for that. It wasn’t utter domination and it won’t make the front page or end up being chronicled in the pages of tennis lore, but it was another brick placed soundly in the Stosur foundation, one that hopefully – if all goes as planned – will help her get over the hurdle that she’ll face when the U.S. Open rolls around.
What a lot of people don’t realize about Stosur is that she has never been past the second round in N.Y. It’s good news if you look at it from a rankings perspective, because it will all be gravy for Stosur if she surpasses her 2nd round performance of 2009 (lost to Vania King in straight sets), but it’s puzzling if you look at it with a more critical eye.
Why is Sam Stosur 2-6 at the U.S. Open over the course of her career?
Beats me.
Is she a clay court specialist that is doomed to failure on any other surface? I don’t think so, but the fact remains that Sam has yet to get into the fourth round of Wimbledon or the U.S. Open to date. As a player she’s on the precipice of something huge here, but she’s still got a few hurdles to deal with.
Based on what we’ve seen from her in Stanford – and I’m talking about everything from her work ethic to her absolutely world-class serve and forehand to her groundedness – it’s hard not to believe that she’s going to smash through those barriers and become what we all know she can be at some point: A winning machine.
*****
Doubles Update: Just caught the match tiebreak between No. 3 seeds Peer/ Kleybanova and Mattek-Sands/ Shaughnessy and it didn’t have much drama as Kleybanova single handedly guided her team into the quarterfinals, where they will next play Azarenka/ Kirelenko for a shot at the semis.
I didn’t get to see the whole match, because I was busy interviewing a bunch of ballkids around the grounds (more on that later) but what I did see was enough to convince me that Kleybanova is a very skilled doubles player. Her interception of a Mattek-Sands overhead with a reflexive backhand volley was classic, and she hit a perfect defensive lob that kept Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy on the outside looking in just when it looked like they were going to mount a comeback.
*****
Elena Dementieva is getting busy on center court in the first night match of the evening, so I think I’ll make my way out there to get a glimpse of her and the living legend known as Kimiko Date Krumm.
Note: Fabulous match between Dementieva and Date Krumm, as Elena had to fight hard to overcome the ageless wonder in three scrappy sets. Throughout the match, I couldn’t help but notice how “even” Date Krumm was – she has a great on court demeanor, focusing only on what she can control, and staying rooted in the moment. Simply put, the woman is remarkable. It’s been pretty special watching her play and practice over the last few days, and I know there are a lot of people (myself included) who are really embracing her story and feeling inspired because of it. I am watching her give a press conference to a Japanese journalist as I write and just being in the same room with her makes me want to go out and become the first tennis writer to ever hit a 160 M.P.H serve (or something to that effect).
*****
Around the Grounds:
- The Maria Effect: Tonight’s attendance was 1,500 short of last night’s session (2,030 paid) and there is only one 6’2” blonde way to explain it. Oh, and the press room was like a ghost town compared to last night when all the local papers had columnists and reporters milling about before her match and at her press conference afterwards. More proof that not only is Maria good at the game, Maria is GOOD FOR THE GAME.
- Close Call: Umpire Cristina Romero got caught napping tonight in the third set of the Elena Dementieva-Kimiko Date Krumm match. When Krumm’s first serve sailed about 2” wide and the linesman (who was blocked by Dementieva) didn’t make the call, Romero failed to overrule. It got more interesting when Dementieva ripped a crosscourt return and Krumm just stood there watching it. When Krumm appealed to Romero, she had to think on her feet. To her credit, she did, declaring that she could do an umpire challenge. Hawkeye ruled that the ball was out and Krumm played a second serve. What really would have been interesting is if Romero didn’t offer the umpire challenge – then Krumm would have had to challenge in the hope that her serve was out.
Chris Oddo is a freelance tennis writer and blogger who is based in San Francisco, California. He is a regular commenter at OTB under the moniker The Fan Child. You can follow his blog at http://thefanchild.blogspot.com.
