The Rally

[BaselineAce]

How about that 49-stroke rally in the Dementieva-Capriati match! That was some of the greatest tennis I've seen this tourney.

[The tennis guy]

Those long rallies in the third set must be exhausting for both of them in windy condition. Denmentieva hit some great forehands. She can hit with spin, and then flat it out with ease.

[Ronaldo]

That rally along with another 21 stroke rally even had a 4 and 6 yr old watching that match TO THE END. Drama, baby

[pound cat]

Winning is not all about the serve..I never thought i'd say that LOL Elena really does have a pitiful serve. It probably says more abot the women's return game than anything else.

[Ballmachine]

That match did have plenty of drama, but that one particular point was the exception rather than the rule. Most of the tennis was horrible, as most points ended with errors rather than winners.

Personally, I think that match was a major blow to women's tennis. The quality was so poor, and that was the semifinals of the US Open! Absolutely terrible.

Steffi Graff could un-retire tomorrow, and probably win another grandslam title next year. I am really disgusted with the women's game right now.

[The tennis guy]

Well it seems no one just comes out to play fearlessly at the moment. JHH did that until she got sick. Sharapova did that at Wimbledon. The rest of field maybe sensed the big opportunity, got too nervous. The windy condition didn't help.

Give Dementieva credit, with a terrible serve, injured and exhausted, at least she had more nerve to go for some of her shots.

[Fee]

Thank you Ballmachine, I thought it was just me. I was not impressed with that match by the time it was over. As Dick Enberg said (in the last witty comment he will make this year) it's an episode of CSH - Can Someone Hold? Dementieva has some awesome groundstrokes and her forehand is a site to behold, but that match had far more errors than winners and I held my breath every time either one of them served, just waiting for the error. Perhaps the wind had something to do with it, but it was hard to tell. I fear that tomorrow night's final (which no one except extremely hard core tennis fans will watch) will be nothing but a Pepto-Bismal moment for both players and the rest of us will be wincing as these two raw nerves battle it out to see which one will gift a slam title to the other one.

[The tennis guy]

Fee,

I think you expect too much when you ask more winners than errors in windy condition like this. It is hard to tell on TV. Believe me, it is very windy here. Dementieva hit a lot winners. However, Capriati got too defensive.

I watched Kutznesova play the first week in person. She impressed me the most along with Davenport in this tournament. She might be nervous for a while. I don't believe she would the whole match.

Regarding the wind, here is Kutznesova's interview:

Q. Why do you think you needed a practice after that kind of victory?

SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: You know, it was great victory but the weather was so -- I mean, the wind was blowing so hard, so you really, like, have to clean your shots after.

Here is Capriati's interview regarding the wind:

Q. It was a great tennis match.

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, well, for the conditions I guess it was okay. I mean, really, that's got to be the hardest conditions to play in. You can tell that, you know, both of us were probably not able to play our tennis. She played the conditions better than me, you know. She was smart with the wind.

Q. First set, just getting used to the conditions, were you surprised by how strong the wind was?

JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Yeah, I mean, you know, it was like I'd been used to kind of playing at night. Then to come out in the day match, you know, then it was really, really more gusty there than when I was even practicing.

[Camilio Pascual]

That 49 stroke rally was preceded by a 21 stroke rally and followed by a 23 stroke rally. There was also a 31 stroke rally. I loved it, it seemed to be more of a mental than physical contest that was giving out the same message from both players, "I'm not giving in!"