THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: THURSDAY, MARCH 13, No. 20
Guga's come back strong
Figuring out Federer; Vahaly's big victory; Coetzer keeps on hot streak; Chanda gets another shot at Kimmy
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Siggi Bucher |
FROM THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN IN INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. – With Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras out of action this week, the ATP Tour and the Pacific Life Open badly need colorful personalities like Gustavo Kuerten to rise to the surface again.
The Brazilian himself also needs a good week and on Wednesday, the three-time Roland Garros champion scored his biggest win of the year and knocked out the mentally erratic Roger Federer 7-5 7-6 (3) to reach the third round $4.55 million Pacific Life Open.
There was the Guga of old, flying around the court and whipping one-handed backhands down the line, crosscourt, at sharp angles, deep, with topspin, slice, flat, whatever the most rabid fan would desire.
In scoring his first win over a top-5 player this year, the Brazilian fought off two sets points at 5-6 in the second set and played a perfect tiebreaker, not committing any unforced errors and dominating the court with whizzing groundies.
Federer came into the tournament as the hottest player on tour, having won 16 of his last 17 matches since the Australian Open and winning titles in Marseille and Dubai. But the 26-year-old Brazilian played the big points with much more confidence than the 21-year-old Swiss, who backed off the ball when things got tight.
When Federer couldn't put away an overhead at 5-6 in the first set, Kuerten returned it deep and the Swiss netted a slice backhand. On Federer's second set point, Kuerten ripped a backhand crosscourt winner. In the tiebreaker, Kuerten won five of the last six points, smashing in three service winners and two forehand winners.
Kuerten, who will play Agustin Calleri in the third round, said the win proved that he is on the way back. "This was my best result in a long time," Kuerten said. "Big points, good atmosphere, central court. It was a match where I could test myself in many different situations. I was lucky to get away with that great tiebreak, probably the best I played all year. This match was really special for me and I really stepped through when I needed to."
It's been a year and a half since Guga has played consistently elite tennis and you can blame 98 percent of that on his February 2002 hip surgery. The man has huge weapons, a big heart, a good mind and a fragile body. He's already won a enough hard court titles to show that he's capable of winning Slams on other surfaces. He's says he's healthy now and running as well as he ever has. His confidence is creeping back and if he's stays healthy, he should be back in the top five by year's end.
"When you have surgery, it's like starting over from the beginning," Kuerten said. "Especially for tennis players, we only play by ourselves. It takes a long time to get your feeling and strength back. Now I know I can put every amount of energy I have to go to the end of the match."
Figuring out Federer
Federer is a complete enigma. He's remarkably talented and very creative, but he's overrated as a thinker and isn't a fierce competitor.
"In the second set, I missed too many chances. It's disappointing to lose because I could have won this match with no problem," Federer said. Yes, but the problem was that he played the important points poorly, something that has plagued him much of the last year. For whatever reason, most of the time that he shows up at a big event, Roger arrives ill prepared.
Vahaly's big victory
Third-seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was also sent spinning out of the tournament, when he was shocked by American qualifier Brian Vahaly 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Ferrero played an extremely sloppy match against the all-courter, often sending his forehand flying way out the court and frequently missing sitters. Ferrero ended the match with 56 unforced errors (nearly 40 of his forehand side) to only 30 from his opponent.
Ferrero is better competitor than Federer, but who's afraid of Juan Carlos on hard courts? How about the 63 other guys who showed up here? No one, that's who.
Give all credit to Vahaly for winning this match and staying on tour even when it looked like he might never make it. He has a terrific backhand, decent serve, a more than fair forehand and fights hard. It's not easy to be a small guy whose the only college graduate in the top-100.
By the way, even though the Pete, Andre, etc. are out of the event, it was a good day for the Americans, with Vahaly, Roddick and Vince Spadea all posting wins.
Coetzer keeps on hot streak
On to the women: It was nice to see the 31-year-old Amanda Coetzer – who we spoke to during Memphis – show off her more aggressive game in knocking off defending champion Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4.
The 5-foot-2 South African, who won the tile in Acapulco last week, played a more aggressive contest then normal, taking chances on Hantuchova's second serve and occasionally charging forward, where she won 15 of 18 attempts at the net.
"My own game is probably to be a better defensive player than offensive,'' said Coetzer, who will play Spain's Conchita Martinez (another veteran doing well) on Thursday "But it was important for me to try to be offensive before she did, and I think I did that pretty well."
Give some credit to Coetzer's coach, the old serve-and-volleying Lori McNeil, for convincing Amanda that she needs to take it to opponents occasionally, rather than just being a backboard. She may be small, but she's ripped and can pound it when she puts her mind to it.
"It takes and important match and opponent to do it and believe you can do it," Coetzer said. "It's understanding and taking opportunities."
Chanda gets another shot at Kimmy
Chanda Rubin will play Kim Clijsters in the quarters and it will be a terrific test for both of them. Clijsters hasn't played well since beating Meghann Shaughnessy in the Scottsdale semifinals last week and Chanda hadn't played well from September up until Tuesday, when she outlasted Ai Sugiyama in three.
The last two times they played, Kim killed her, so Chanda knows she has to bear down.
"It's how I start off the match and give myself a chance to get into it," Rubin said. "The couple of times I've played her, I haven't given myself that opportunity. Win or lose, I want to go out there and play the way I know how and see who's better."
FYI: Eleven players have already caught the stomach flu here in the desert. That mean that tennisreporters.net is going to stay far away from the locker room for the next few days, which means the scoops are going to have to come upstairs to find us – wearing surgical masks with ATP logos, of course.
