Today:
Maleeva vs Mauresmo
Magdalena was playing well today, I didn’t see the match against Venus so I can't compare.
in the second set she was serving for the match (if I’m not mistaken) was 40-15 up, then must have got nerveous or wanted to win too much, she made a some errors (the worst one was when she hit a drop shot in the net when she didn’t need to play a drop shot at all), she lost that game. Then there were a few close calls on Amelie’s serve, she argued about them, once showed a rude gesture to the line judge
She made a few great shots, very risky, a few great backhands down the line and some fantastic fh winners, but Magdalena wasn’t going to let this match slip, she fought for every point and didn’t give any cheap ones, she won that game, the set and the match.
I’d say the crowd was 70 to 30 for Maggie, there were a few groups with Bulgarian flags, she’s Slavic after all…
There was no doubt about who the crowd came to support in the next match- Kafelnikov vs Schalken
Zhenya started badly, losing the first game on his serve but then immediately broke back, and it looked as if he’ll now start winning but the exactly opposite happened, he lost his serve again and very soon the set.
One thing that was very hard not to notice was that he was slicing almost every backhand and it didn’t seem to give Schalken much trouble he was playing to Zhenya’s backhand all the time and winning many of these long rallies. I though that maybe his finger injury is bothering him again, I don’t think he would have continued doing it if he was 100% fine. He also went to the net a lot without proper preparation and Schalken caugt him doing that and hit some great passing shots.
The most interesting game of the match was the last one when Sjeng was serving for the match, he had a double matchpoint, Zhenya saved both, had a few more, Zhenya saved them too, he even had 2 break points but Sjeng played very well on both he won the match 6-4 6-2
Next were Safin vs Mathieu
Who could have expected the result…
Paul-Henry took a 3-0 lead in the first set, Marat then broke back, both players held serves until the tie-break that Mathieu won 7-3.
He’s such a great player. The best shot is definitely the forehand, he manages to hit it with so much power from every position on the court and it lands right on the line, he won many points with that shot .
In the second Paul- Henry was serving for the set, he was up a double break (in the previous game Marat broke too, not Matheu’s serve but his own racket, once he hit it so hard that it bounced on the court and flew out, the ball boy had to get it for him). Marat took that service game and then held, it became 5-4 and then Paul-Henry got himself together, served very well in that last game and won the match. Marat seemed very displeased with himself.
Federer/ Mirniy vs Palmer/ Kafelnikov (dbls semi-final)
Zhenya was late for the match, the three players were already on court for about 5-7 minutes when Zhenya came running.
Max and Roger played much brighter and better, I’d say Roger played better than Max today (maybe I’m biased but I think so ) they were great to watch. Zhenya looked tired and he was making many errors, he was getting mad at himself too, throwing his racket etc. He lost a few of his service games too. The Swiss/ Belarus duo did have a real advantage, They won the match 6-4 6-3 (the same score as in all of their previous matches)
Pics to come
Maleeva vs Mauresmo
Magdalena was playing well today, I didn’t see the match against Venus so I can't compare.
in the second set she was serving for the match (if I’m not mistaken) was 40-15 up, then must have got nerveous or wanted to win too much, she made a some errors (the worst one was when she hit a drop shot in the net when she didn’t need to play a drop shot at all), she lost that game. Then there were a few close calls on Amelie’s serve, she argued about them, once showed a rude gesture to the line judge
She made a few great shots, very risky, a few great backhands down the line and some fantastic fh winners, but Magdalena wasn’t going to let this match slip, she fought for every point and didn’t give any cheap ones, she won that game, the set and the match.I’d say the crowd was 70 to 30 for Maggie, there were a few groups with Bulgarian flags, she’s Slavic after all…
There was no doubt about who the crowd came to support in the next match- Kafelnikov vs Schalken
Zhenya started badly, losing the first game on his serve but then immediately broke back, and it looked as if he’ll now start winning but the exactly opposite happened, he lost his serve again and very soon the set.
One thing that was very hard not to notice was that he was slicing almost every backhand and it didn’t seem to give Schalken much trouble he was playing to Zhenya’s backhand all the time and winning many of these long rallies. I though that maybe his finger injury is bothering him again, I don’t think he would have continued doing it if he was 100% fine. He also went to the net a lot without proper preparation and Schalken caugt him doing that and hit some great passing shots.
The most interesting game of the match was the last one when Sjeng was serving for the match, he had a double matchpoint, Zhenya saved both, had a few more, Zhenya saved them too, he even had 2 break points but Sjeng played very well on both he won the match 6-4 6-2
Next were Safin vs Mathieu
Who could have expected the result…
Paul-Henry took a 3-0 lead in the first set, Marat then broke back, both players held serves until the tie-break that Mathieu won 7-3.
He’s such a great player. The best shot is definitely the forehand, he manages to hit it with so much power from every position on the court and it lands right on the line, he won many points with that shot .
In the second Paul- Henry was serving for the set, he was up a double break (in the previous game Marat broke too, not Matheu’s serve but his own racket, once he hit it so hard that it bounced on the court and flew out, the ball boy had to get it for him). Marat took that service game and then held, it became 5-4 and then Paul-Henry got himself together, served very well in that last game and won the match. Marat seemed very displeased with himself.
Federer/ Mirniy vs Palmer/ Kafelnikov (dbls semi-final)
Zhenya was late for the match
, the three players were already on court for about 5-7 minutes when Zhenya came running. Max and Roger played much brighter and better, I’d say Roger played better than Max today (maybe I’m biased but I think so
) they were great to watch. Zhenya looked tired and he was making many errors, he was getting mad at himself too, throwing his racket etc. He lost a few of his service games too. The Swiss/ Belarus duo did have a real advantage, They won the match 6-4 6-3 (the same score as in all of their previous matches)Pics to come
