Vickery, Johnson surprise with Aussie Open Playoff wins

Sachia Vickery went from maybe to the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Playoff women’s champion, taking out fourth-seed Victoria Duval in two easy sets.

In a little over an hour, the decade-long rivalry that started when they first played at age 7 had a new chapter as Vickery breezed through the favored Duval 6-2, 6-3. Vickery gained entry into the tournament when Melanie Oudin pulled out with rhabdomyolysis.

Former two-time NCAA champion Steve Johnson also won a free pass into the Australian Open main draw by defeating Tennys Sandgren in five sets. Both Johnson and Vickery won three matches against other up-and-coming American players and collected the wild card. The USTA has a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia.

Even Duval’s history at Life Time Athletic at Peachtree Corners (she trained here for a few years), could not help her raise her game on an indoor hard court on a rain-soaked day in Georgia. Her long forehand stroke and accurate placements couldn’t help her overcome Vickery’s tenacious power.

Vickery delivered repeated body blows, determined to keep Duval off balance and unready for her next groundstrokes. She was consistently coming up with one more shot and relying on her power off both wings.

At 2-5 in the first set Duval double faulted to set up a set point. Then, Vickery shows rare variety and delivers a drop shot Duval can’t handle. First set: Vickery.

Throughout the second set, Vickery kept up the attack while Duval showed a lack of intensity. Even though Vickery’s second serve was very attackable, Duval didn’t put up much resistance.

Vickery and Duval who made a big splash in last year’s US Open, moved to 2-2 in the third set but then Duval lost her way. Vickery slammed an ace up the T and followed up with a nice drop shot. Later in the set Duval was unhappy with first serve let call and lost the point. Then, Vickery sailed a super defensive lob up near the lights that dropped right smack on the baseline. With that break, Vickery moved on to put away the match.

In a post-match press conference, Vickery said, “I was getting ready to go to Auckland, and my coach was like, ‘Well you might get in.’ She called both her mother, Paula Liverpool, and her coach, USTA National Coach Kathy Rinaldi, after the match. “So, I was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll see what happens. If it happens, great. If not, I have qualies.’ … I’m very religious, and my mom always says God puts things in situations for a reason.”

Sandgren Lets One Slip Away

One match point. One shot at an entry into the Australian Open main draw. One double fault.

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Steve Johnson takes down Tennys Sandgren in five. Ron Cioffi/TR.net

That was the disappointing story for Sandgren. He had Johnson in his sight, after winning the first set and then crushing him with a bagel in the third.The final count was 4-6, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 with the former University of Tennessee star Sandgren watching a match he could have won come up in the loss column.

In the fourth set’s twelfth game, Sandgren had his sole match point. But, Johnson pounded another ace.

The momentum went back to the Tennessean in the tiebreak, as Sandgren had two-point leads as late as 5-3. But, Johnson proved a quick-handed return of serve can be a heart-breaker. He took the last four points and escaped.

“I just kind of ran the best play I could. Luckily, it worked, and here we are,” Johnson said. “That’s just tennis. He’s one point away from winning, and 20 minutes later I’m up a break and trying to squeeze him for another one. … I’m excited to finally win a five-set match,” he said. “I’m 0-for-4 in life, 0-for-3 this year, so I’m glad to get one.”

Johnson was contemplating withdrawing from the tournament because of a leg injury.

The fifth set was all Johnson. Even though he experienced some leg problems earlier in the match, he pickup up steam while Sandgren continually bent his legs and seemed to be stretched beyond his endurance. Johnson found new confidence at the net, angling off winners and using his overhead effectively.

 

When in Roma: Serena dusts Robson

Federer, Djokovic shake off Madrid defeats

The last player to beat both Williams sisters as a teenager at a tournament was Kim Clijsters as a 19-year-old back at the 2002 WTA Championships. As promising as a player as she is and the Briton clearly has at least top 20 stuff, Laura Robson is not as advanced as the Belgian was at the age. After upsetting a physically struggling Venus Williams in her opening match in Rome, Robson went down to No 1 Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2.

The left-handed Robson did crack some winners in the contest but committed way too many unforced errors and, against as player as powerful and consistent as Serena (consistent being the key word here), that is not going to get it done. Robson is currently working with Adidas Player Development coach Sven Groeneveld, who surely must be trying to help get her serve under control, as her toss is all over the place. She

Fed Cup World Group first round picks

us fed cup 2013

Huber, Fernandez, Lepchenko, Oudin and Hampton look to pull an upset in Italy.

ITALY vs. US

These two teams faced off in the 2010? Final when Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta went up against CoCo Vandeweghe, Bethanie Mattek Sands and Melanie Oudin in singles. Oudin managed to upset Schiavone on day 2, but Pennetta won both her matches and Schiavone bested Coco on day one so the 2013 starting singles Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberto Vinci never got a chance to play.

They will now in Rimini when Errani opens against Jamie Hampton and Vinci takes on another Varvara Lepchenko, both of whom are rookies. Had the Williams sisters and Sloane Stephens played, the US could have been called the favorites by a nose, but now they are underdogs by at least a half a length.

Lepchenko is more than capable of winning her match as she

Being Bethanie

Not all tears for fears

Melanie longs to be an underdog again.

WIMBLEDON – For a sport where mental toughness is frequently emphasized, tennis sure produces a drought busting amount of tears on an annual basis. Take Tuesday, when the sometimes stoic Serena Williams wept tears of joy after her 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Aravane Rezai, and the mostly contained Melanie Oudin dropped tears of sadness after another extremely disappointing performance, this one a 6-1, 6-0 defeat at the hands of Ana Ivanovic.

Serena

Another Masters shield for Nadal

MONDAY, APRIL 18 – Even though Rafael Nadal looked tired for part of the week in Monte Carlo, he still managed to win his seventh straight title with a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of David Ferrer. Neither man played his best on the day, but Nadal was more ambitious and self-assured on the big points, while Ferrer was fairy erratic. Still only 24, Nadal remarkably won his 19th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown, two ahead of Roger Federer and Andre Agassi
“Rafa is incredible on clay. I mean, he’s everywhere at the same time. He’s the best player on clay in history,” said Ferrer of his compatriot, who won his 30th title on dirt, the same number that the great Bjorn Borg won. Two other former Roland Garros titlists are head of him as Guillermo Vilas is first with 45 clay-court titles and Thomas Muster owns 40. Nadal said he would play Barcelona next week and he