WTA Choke-ionships Put Serena, Sharapova in Monday Final; Federer Kicks Off Masters Cup in Houston

Posted on November 15, 2004

Serena, Sharapova Advance to WTA Choke-ionships Final

Can any other professional sport rival women's tennis for the sheer quantity of choking by its top players at big events in 2004?

At the WTA Championships Sunday in what was a repeat of their earlier Wimbledon meeting, Amelie Mauresmo choked away a set and a break lead to hand Serena Williams a 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 victory and a berth in the final.

Serving at 5-2 in the first, Mauresmo went to the throat clutch, tossing in two double faults and a muffed sitter forehand volley to drop serve, then stifled more shakes at 5-4 to successfully serve it out. In the second set the Frenchwoman was up a break but dropped serve with a double fault on game point.

In the second-set tiebreak Serena stepped up her play with some key volleying and aggressive returning off the Frenchwoman's second serve. The play of Mauresmo in contrast was punctuated by sitter forehands in the middle of the net and poor decision-making, resulting in the American rallying crowd support to take the match to a third set.

Both players held serve in the third until 3-3 when Serena boldly jumped on the Mauresmo second serve to break for the 4-3 lead. The eighth game went to multiple deuces when Serena clutched her throat to join the choke-fest, hitting tentative strokes, throwing in slow, spinning second serves and trying to nervously end points on the first stroke.

In a game that lasted almost 20 minutes with 13 deuces, including a Serena double-fault on a game point, the American finally held serve and received a standing ovation from the crowd, in recognition of what was not apparent. Two quality first sets had dissolved into a tight high school state championship encounter, with games awarded to the player who choked the least.

Mauresmo then held on for 4-5 in the third before, with Serena serving, Mauresmo attempted a shaky net approach and netted a simple return-of-serve slice to eventually hand the match to Serena, who bounced up and down in her tutu at the net in celebration.

Afterwards speaking to host broadcaster ESPN, Serena failed to acknowledge her tight play, instead saying she felt the opposite.

"I was so relaxed out there I really felt like I had nothing to lose," said Serena, who was apparently playing a different match than the one broadcast by ESPN. "My arm is pretty much shot but I'll keep trying to win for tomorrow. I have 24 hours to recover and I'll do the icing and all that."

In the third set alone Mauresmo amassed an 0-12 mark on break points, a perfect record when it came to her inability to take charge in critical situations. The loss also ended the Frenchwoman's chances of surpassing Lindsay Davenport for the coveted year-end No. 1 ranking.

"I think she just went for it," Mauresmo said. "I would give all the credit to her today. I was playing some good tennis, and she raised her game. Except on one, maybe two, break points, I felt like I forced her to play her best level and make some unbelievable passing shots. And that's what she did."

In the Monday final Serena will face the WTA's new face of underage porn, Maria Sharapova, who came back from a set down to defeat Russian countrywoman Anastasia Myskina 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. After winning the first set Myskina began to unravel up 1-0 up in the second, gesturing angrily at the overhead "Jumbo-tron" screen and shooting nervous glances to her coach in the stands. Myskina also took a medical time-out to have her foot treated, and managed only four more games to end the match.

There was no love lost between the two Russians, with Sharapova receiving a warning from the chair umpire for coaching from her father Yuri in the stands.

"He always coaches her," accused Myskina after the match.

The final will be the first meeting between Serena and Sharapova since the Russian won the Wimbledon title.

"I can't reflect back. I don't believe I played Wimbledon," said Serena in her own spin on reality. "I don't know who it was, but that was someone else."

Whoever it was Serena was dismiss and focus on her new self.

"I'm really excited about myself," said the pink ballerina. "I'm going to be definitely a force to be reckoned with next year."

Later Serena upped the self-absorption meter to 11, appearing in a t-shirt with "I Heart Me" on it.

"I love me. I love everything about me," Serena said. "I love my legs, I love my arms, I love my lips, I love my eyes. I think it's important for everyone to love themselves."

In the doubles semifinals, the Zimbabwe/Aussie duo of Cara Black/Rennae Stubbs upset top seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez 7-6(7), 6-4, and the Russian/America pair of Nadia Petrova/Meghann Shaughnessy ousted No. 2-seeded Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-2.

Bjorkman/Woodbridge Beat Bryans to Clinch Semifinals at ATP Masters Cup Doubles

Wimbledon winners Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge raised their round robin record to 2-0 Sunday at the ATP Masters Cup Doubles, defeating the defending champion Bryan brothers 6-3, 6-4.

The loss dropped Americans Bob and Mike Bryan to 1-1, setting up a meeting for the Americans in their last match with Mahesh Bhupathi/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, with the winner advancing to the semis.

The Bryans are now 3-6 career against the Swedish/Aussie duo.

Bhupathi/The Beast beat Gaston Etlis/Martin Rodriguez Sunday, dropping the Argentines to 0-2 and out of contention for the semis, while world No. 1s Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor were forced to come back from a set down against French Open winners Xavier "X-Man" Malisse and Olivier "The Roach" Rochus 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Scheduled Monday are Knowles/Nestor vs. Black/Ullyett in a meeting of 1-0 teams, and Czechs Damm/Suk vs. Belgians X-Man/The Roach in a must-win for both teams.

Masters Cup Singles Begins Monday with Federer, Hewitt

World No. 1 Roger "Club Fed" Federer debuts his short-haired look to world audiences Monday at the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, taking on French Open winner Gaston Gaudio.

While Club Fed has won all three of his career encounters with the Argentine, their meeting last year on hardcourt at Montreal went three sets, as did their claycourt match-up this year at the Masters Series-Hamburg.

Looking past Gaudio, Federer says his overall goal is accumulating more ranking points to hold on to the No. 1 spot in 2005.

"I've already locked up the No. 1 ranking so that puts away a lot of pressure. I can just concentrate on winning the title," Federer said. "My goal is to stay as long as possible at No. 1 next year. It seems like next year already. I want to keep the momentum of 2004 going into next year. I would rather know I can beat all these guys. All the opponents know in the back of their minds they will have to do a lot to beat me."

Federer couldn't have received a better draw grouping at the Masters Cup, with Red Group round robin mates Lleyton Hewitt, Carlos Moya and Gaudio. In addition to his perfect record against Gaudio, Fed leads Carlos Moya (who is coming off a shoulder injury) 4-0 in their career meetings, and handed Hewitt two bagel sets in their last encounter in the US Open final.

Federer says he is healed from the muscle tear that sidelined him a couple week ago at Basel.

"I can play and move like I want to," Club Fed said. "It's really looking very good. I know what I need to do to be ready to play at 1 o'clock Monday. With the confidence I have right now, it's not so difficult to get the momentum back."

Hewitt vs. Moya (career meetings tied 5-5, with Hewitt winning the last three), a battle of former No. 1s, is the other opening-day match on Monday in Houston.

World No. 2 Andy Roddick and the red-hot Marat Safin are the players to beat in the Blue Group, with Guillermo Coria and Tim Henman also fighting for semifinals spots in the round robin.

"It has undoubtedly been my best year and it's because of how I played in the Slams," Henman said. "The French Open was a big breakthrough, getting to another Grand Slam semifinal. It just goes to show how much my game has improved. It's exciting for me for next year. My performance has improved and it has given me confidence for next year."

Not helping Henman's aggressive game will be the potential cold weather and rainy forecast for Houston over the next couple days, fueling the fire of critics such as Safin who ridiculed holding the year-end championships outdoors on the heels of the indoor European season.

Coria is coming back (many say too soon) from shoulder surgery, while Roddick is lacking match play, skipping much of the European indoor season due to a knee problem.

Safin won all three of his 2004 titles after the US Open, including back-to-back Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris.

"It would be great for me to do well here," said Safin, whose late-year surge could position him for a run at No. 1 in mid-2005 with some quality early-season results. "It would be the perfect end to this year to build up confidence to start next year...You have to play well all year to fight for No. 1. At the start of this year I was 89th and I will finish fourth. Whatever I do here I will be very happy. Hopefully next year I will be more stable all year. That's the most important thing."

Roddick failed in 2004 to repeat his U.S. summer hardcourt/US Open heroics, but says his solid campaign this year will have him challenging for the top spot again.

"I feel like I'm close. It's tough to go from close to get over that little hump," said Roddick, contemplating renewing his somewhat-anemic rivalry with Federer this week in Houston.

"Roger gets me when we get into extended matches. It's more of me getting into an extended mindset," A-Rod said. "With Roger, you can't say, 'This is a weakness.' You have to say, 'What can I do most effectively against him?'"

While Federer has already clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking, eyes will be on Roddick and Hewitt to see who can finish No. 2 on the year to take the momentum into 2005.

"I'm not worried about Roger," Roddick said. "If I get him out there, fine, but I've got Tim Henman on Tuesday and that's what I'm worried about."

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Former LTAA president Wayne Reid, talking to the Herald Sun, wants to change Australian tennis development: "We can have an academy like one run by American Nick Bollettieri, who attracts even Russian players, supported by Tennis Australia, government and the Davis Cup Foundation and it could also be commercial. People could pay to have their kids there if they wanted to. We're not talking just about the big names (running it) -- it's too late for (John) Newcombe and all those. We want someone who is hungry and wants to make a name for himself. When I was running the LTAA, I was permitted to make decisions -- now they have a committee of about 20 and it takes five meetings to do anything."...Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva has scored an endorsement deal, and no it's not Kleenex. The Crying Game has signed a multi-year pact to endorse Center Telecom, a Moscow telecommunications company, reported Liz Mullen of the SportsBusiness Journal...27-year-old American Justin Gimelstob beat former NCAA champ Amer Delic in the final of the Nashville Challenger...A sample of the scintillating exchanges between ESPN commentators Cliff Drysdale and Pam Shriver, discussing Amelie Mauresmo's new service motion: Cliffy: "She says it's more consistent in general." Pam: "The toss or the serve in general?" Cliffy: "The serve in general, but they're both related." Pam: Oh, I know." After that we found the match to be even more entertaining when we turned off the sound and made up our own Pam-and-Cliffy-inspired commentary...How achingly bad is that Dubai Duty Free commercial? "Dubai Duty Free is a world-class tournament in a world-class city." How many barrels of oil did the players get for that one-liner? Arg...Did Pam Shriver's constant cheerleading during the Serena-Mauresmo match on ESPN make anyone long for John McEnroe or Jim Courier, or anyone for that matter who would talk about the monster choking going on instead of the "high quality match"? Mauresmo's choking started in the first set, Serena's in the third, yet even the whipped Cliff Drysdale (apparently working with two women is pretty intimidating) won't bring the truth on two Top 10 players just melting down under the pressure...George Gross from the Toronto Sun on Canada trying to get back on the tennis map: "I found that out from the horse's mouth, so to speak -- Tennis Canada president Michael Downey -- who has been at the helm of the organization for the past six months. He is also the fellow who introduced himself as the new prexy by telling me: "I know nothing about tennis, but I'm willing to learn fast." Downey has unfolded a plan that would get Canadian tennis into a situation similar to when Carling Bassett and Helen Kelesi were ranked in the Top 10 in the world and the likes of Bob Bedard, Don Fontana, Grant Connell, Keith Carpenter, Harry Fauquier, Peter Burwash and Mike Belkin were able to beat some of the best in the world on any given day. Downey firmly believes those days will return. "Our vision is for Canada to be a leading tennis nation by 2020," he says. "The challenge is large, but the opportunity to make a difference is great. We believe that working together with key corporate partners and our own tennis leaders is the way to dramatically improve our international performance and engage communities to be strong advocates of tennis."" Only 16 years until you're back on the tennis map? What's the hurry? Don't hurt yourselves. That's your problem. Can you picture someone from Tennis Australia saying their next crop of players will come out in, say, 20 years?...The ATP will produce its DEUCE magazine on a quarterly basis starting next year under a seven-year partnership agreement with Skies America International Publishing & Communications...In an apparent attempt to compete with football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) debacle, on Sunday the WTA announced that Lindsay Davenport was the Porsche Race winner for 2004. Thankfully for the WTA, fan confusion was avoided when Amelie Mauresmo lost in the semifinals, otherwise Mauresmo could have finished the year No. 1 yet Lindsay Davenport would have been feted as the Porsch winner. Stop creating extraneous confusing rankings and awards (except for the Euro Series, of course)...No men's player in the Open Era has won three slams and the year-end championship in the same year...The Houston Chronicle's Dale Robertson quoting Roger Federer about beating Gustavo Kuerten on clay and succeeding at the French Open -- either Dale or his editor isn't quite following the game too closely: "Googa on clay...it can happen," Federer said, smiling. "But clay is very natural to me. I grew up on that surface. I know I can play well on the clay. The last three years have been disappointing for me at Roland Garros. If I can get through a quarterfinals there, that would be a big occasion for me."...Congrats to the ESPN for again displaying their contempt for tennis, cutting away from the Maria "The Closer You Get" Sharapova-Anastasia Myskina match in the third set, and switching to "NFL Prime Time." ESPN couldn't throw the match to ESPN2 because they were showing drag racing. Drag Racing. They were showing -- drag racing. Which cannot be interrupted...Former tennis player turned professional poker player Yevgeny Kafelnikov speaking to the Independent: "I have retired. But I have not officially announced it yet. Some people still think I am just taking a break, but I believe that my time in tennis has gone by. Even if I came back, I would have no chance to play at the level I was. Tennis is a young man's sport right now. Obviously there are some exceptions, like (Andre) Agassi. He's 34 and still competing, but he's the one and only. And I played 1,000 matches in my tennis career. That's more than enough, no?...I was losing to guys who, a couple of years before, I was able to beat with only my left hand. That's when I realized my time was gone."...Cyprus' Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis won the Bratislava Challenger over the weekend.