Mauresmo Escapes While Clijsters Rolls
Posted on March 27, 2005Pulling a casual tennis fan off the street Saturday in Miami and forcing them to watch two matches, it would have been difficult to tell you who was the top seed at the Nasdaq-100 Open, unseeded Kim Clijsters or No. 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo.
Clijsters, coming off the title in Indian Wells, steamrolled No. 24 seed Amy Frazier 6-2, 6-3, while Mauresmo needed over two hours to stage a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 comeback against Russian teen Maria Kirilenko.
"I'm playing well," Clijsters said. "But like I said in my previous press conference, it can go -- it can turn the other way very quickly as well, the situation that I'm in. But I'm working hard. I've worked very hard in the off-season. I had a lot of time to work on a lot of other things and I feel very fit out there."
Mauresmo didn't make things easy on herself in the steamy Miami conditions, struggling to find some rhythm in the opening set.
"I thought I was giving her too many free points," Mauresmo said. "I finally got my game together and put the ball back in the second set...Maybe at the end of the match I was physically stronger, and capable of coming back on after the (10-minute WTA heat rule) break and giving 100 percent."
Other upset-minded unseeded players scoring wins Saturday were Serb teen Ana Ivanovic (d. (10) Petrova), Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova (d. (18) Jankovic), French lucky loser Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. (20) Hantuchova), and Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy (d. (32) Koukalova, dropping only three games).
Other seeded winners were the Russian threesome of (4) Elena Dementieva (d. countrywoman Linetskaya in three), (5) Anastasia Myskina (d. Vento-Kabchi) and (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. countrywoman (Q) Voskoboeva), Frenchwoman (12) Nathalie Dechy (d. Raymond), (13) Elena Bovina (d. Perebiynis), (16) Karolina Sprem (d. Parra Santonja in three), (22) Tatiana Golovin (d. (WC) Haynes in three after a bagel in the first), (26) Flavia Pennetta (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), (27) Maggie Maleeva (d. Ruano Pascual in three), and (30) Anna Smashnova (d. Morigami).
Myskina is looking to turn her game around in 2005 and become the first Russian to win at Miami.
"The beginning of the year wasn't good for me," Myskina said. "But it's, you know, I gave a lot of energy last year and I did a lot of things last year. So kind of excuse, but I still need to work hard to, you know, to find my game again."
On court Sunday in Miami are Irvin vs. (2) Maria "Grunt-o-meter" Sharapova, (Q) Peer vs. (3) Serena, (8) Venus vs. (25) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, (19) Henin-Hardenne vs. Llagostera Vives, (1) Mauresmo vs. (30) Smashnova, (7) Molik vs. (29) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, (26) Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta vs. (5) Myskina, (LL) Cohen-Aloro vs. (16) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (Q) Castano vs. (11) Schnyder, Randriantefy vs. (6) Kuznetsova, (12) Dechy vs. Clijsters, (15) Likhovtseva vs. (21) Sugiyama, Ivanovic vs. Vaidisova in an all-teen, (4) Dementieva vs. (27) Maleeva, (22) Golovin vs. (13) Bovina, and (14) Schiavone vs. (23) Asagoe.
"I hadn't looked at my draw, but after my first match, somebody told me I could play Serena next, so that gave me more push to win," said the 17-year-old Israeli qualifier Peer. "I'm sure it will be different from what I'm used to, but hopefully I will find a way to play my best."
Clijsters, coming off the title in Indian Wells, steamrolled No. 24 seed Amy Frazier 6-2, 6-3, while Mauresmo needed over two hours to stage a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 comeback against Russian teen Maria Kirilenko.
"I'm playing well," Clijsters said. "But like I said in my previous press conference, it can go -- it can turn the other way very quickly as well, the situation that I'm in. But I'm working hard. I've worked very hard in the off-season. I had a lot of time to work on a lot of other things and I feel very fit out there."
Mauresmo didn't make things easy on herself in the steamy Miami conditions, struggling to find some rhythm in the opening set.
"I thought I was giving her too many free points," Mauresmo said. "I finally got my game together and put the ball back in the second set...Maybe at the end of the match I was physically stronger, and capable of coming back on after the (10-minute WTA heat rule) break and giving 100 percent."
Other upset-minded unseeded players scoring wins Saturday were Serb teen Ana Ivanovic (d. (10) Petrova), Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova (d. (18) Jankovic), French lucky loser Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. (20) Hantuchova), and Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy (d. (32) Koukalova, dropping only three games).
Other seeded winners were the Russian threesome of (4) Elena Dementieva (d. countrywoman Linetskaya in three), (5) Anastasia Myskina (d. Vento-Kabchi) and (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. countrywoman (Q) Voskoboeva), Frenchwoman (12) Nathalie Dechy (d. Raymond), (13) Elena Bovina (d. Perebiynis), (16) Karolina Sprem (d. Parra Santonja in three), (22) Tatiana Golovin (d. (WC) Haynes in three after a bagel in the first), (26) Flavia Pennetta (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), (27) Maggie Maleeva (d. Ruano Pascual in three), and (30) Anna Smashnova (d. Morigami).
Myskina is looking to turn her game around in 2005 and become the first Russian to win at Miami.
"The beginning of the year wasn't good for me," Myskina said. "But it's, you know, I gave a lot of energy last year and I did a lot of things last year. So kind of excuse, but I still need to work hard to, you know, to find my game again."
On court Sunday in Miami are Irvin vs. (2) Maria "Grunt-o-meter" Sharapova, (Q) Peer vs. (3) Serena, (8) Venus vs. (25) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, (19) Henin-Hardenne vs. Llagostera Vives, (1) Mauresmo vs. (30) Smashnova, (7) Molik vs. (29) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, (26) Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta vs. (5) Myskina, (LL) Cohen-Aloro vs. (16) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (Q) Castano vs. (11) Schnyder, Randriantefy vs. (6) Kuznetsova, (12) Dechy vs. Clijsters, (15) Likhovtseva vs. (21) Sugiyama, Ivanovic vs. Vaidisova in an all-teen, (4) Dementieva vs. (27) Maleeva, (22) Golovin vs. (13) Bovina, and (14) Schiavone vs. (23) Asagoe.
"I hadn't looked at my draw, but after my first match, somebody told me I could play Serena next, so that gave me more push to win," said the 17-year-old Israeli qualifier Peer. "I'm sure it will be different from what I'm used to, but hopefully I will find a way to play my best."