Bank of the West Classic Blog, Day 5: Stosur Stays Alive, Vika’s 21, and the Russians are Battling

STANFORD, California—Hello all! Three quarterfinal matches are in the books, and only the blockbuster between Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva remains. It’s been another picturesque day here at the Bank of the West Classic, par for the course as you know by now, and I must admit it was hard to pull myself up off my Stadium Court seat to do some writing in this sauna-like press room of ours.

But, alas, I did, and here I am to bring you news of Sam Stosur’s three set victory over Yanina Wickmayer. Stosur is doing a pretty good job of putting the French and Wimbledon behind her, and it is clear that she now has her heart set on not only playing good hard court tennis for the U.S. Open Series, but also, and more importantly, to not fizzle out when the U.S. Open rolls around.

In 2009 Stosur was out of the gates pretty fast at the U.S. Open Series, with a smashing upset of Serena and a semifinal appearance at Stanford, followed by a loss to Pennetta in the L.A. Open final. She then made the quarters in Toronto before letting her play slip in New Haven and New York (where Vania King upset her in round 2).

She’s mentioned several times this week that the goal is not so much to play well at each individual stop this summer, but rather to peak in New York as the summer culminates. Hopefully in Stosur’s case, experiencing the bitterness of early losses in Flushing Meadows combined with knowing how to manage her mind and body throughout the grueling summer will put her in a position to erase more bad memories from the past.

Stosur got involved in a very physical tussle this afternoon with Yanina Wickmayer, and she had to do a gut check when down 2-0 in the 3rd set to the Belgian, who was playing a pretty sinister brand of baseline tennis at the time. But Stosur came good in the end, snatching six out of the final seven games, and securing a spot in the semis alongside of Victoria Azarenka, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

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Azarenka to turn 21 on semifinal Saturday:

Azarenka was involved in a battle of her own with defending champion Marion Bartoli in the day’s second match. She too, came good, holding seven consecutive times to erase a one set deficit, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Azarenka is not known for her closing, but you wouldn’t have guessed that today. She played loose and aggressive in the third set, hitting her signature ground strokes with the usual pop. She broke Bartoli twice in the set, including the final game of the match. And as much as the journalists tried to pry comments from Marion Bartoli about Azarenka’s shrieking, it really wasn’t a factor at all. Everybody has some kind of signature grunt these days, so why waste time picking on one girl?

After match point, the conversation turned to Victoria’s 21st birthday, which will be tomorrow. In the post match presser, Matt Cronin asked her if she would have beer and she said she didn’t drink beer. He then pressed her. Wine? Champagne? “After the tournament, champagne, for sure, but not during the tournament,” she said.

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Maria and Elena in a fast paced clash of titans:

Sharapova and Dementieva are having a topsy turvy battle on Stadium Court, and I’ve been sitting out in the cheap seats trying to get a feel for who is in control. Maria took the first set with a break in the final game, and it was no surprise because there were a total of ten double faults and five service breaks over the course of the set. Those are the lowlights, but the grittiness of both players has negated any lapses in their play, as this was a pretty intense battle from the very first game, when Maria had to fight tooth and nail to hold after a lot of heavy artillery from both sides.

It’s a very fast hard court here in Stanford, and Sharapova and Dementieva have been ripping pretty fierce stuff from the baseline.

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The Grind:

We are not even finished with the first week of the U.S. Open Series and already I am in awe of the sheer physicality of the sport. Would you care to join me? What the casual fan doesn’t realize is that before Sharapova and Dementieva took the court tonight they each went through hour long workouts on the practice courts. I’m not talking walk through, either. I mean a hard hitting, fast paced warm-up. It’s now 10 P.M. and the pair are still not even finished with the second set.

With Dementieva up 5-2, odds are good that they’ll play for at least another hour. That’s about five hours from the start of the warm up, at the end of a long day, and when it’s over there will be a cool down, a massage, mandatory pressers, and then a nap followed by another go-round for the winner tomorrow.

There is big money to be made ($14, 075 to tonight’s winner) but each win, and every hour on the court, takes a toll on the bodies of these athletes.

I’m heading out to the courts to check it out. I’ll be back with the final score…

Note: Maria just blew kisses to the crowd and you know what that means – a hard fought win in an absolute slugfest of a match (Mary Carillo coined the term “big babe tennis because of matches like this), and a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 triumph in 2:47. No rest for the weary. Sharapova will be back tomorrow to face Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis.

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.