Topaz
Legend
It was so strange today...only having a few matches to choose from. What am I going to do next week???
Safin and Clement started things off today. I've really enjoyed watching Clement play this week, and this was the third match of his I've seen. He's been on fire consistently! Again, he used his net game effectively, and while Safin was certainly not stinking the place up, he just wasn't as clean as he was in his previous matches. He got a little hot headed at times, but didn't break one racquet!! He did get a warning after he hit a ball way, way, way...almost out of the entire stadium. I was sitting in my friend's box seats for this match, and while I was closer, I thought the view was better from my front row seat in the second tier. I can see more of the court that way. You'll see the difference in my pictures from that match.
Erlich/Ram vs. Hanley/Ullyett followed, and HU won pretty easily in straight sets. They went to a tie break for the second set, but you could just tell they were the stronger team today.
Meanwhile, on the women's pro ciruit tour, they started the matches at 4pm, which gave us something to watch in between sessions. First up was a singles semi-final between Nicole Pratt and Tzipora Obziler, who took out number one seed Severine Bremond in the first round. This was a battle of the 30somethings, but they both had more mature games than the shrieking, tall blonde banshees that have seem to multiply in the women's game. This went the distance to three sets, of which I saw the end of the third. Obziler, from Israel, has nice variety to her shots. She uses a backhand slice to set up a two handed backhand drive/winner. Pratt, on the other hand, slices all her backhands, and this seemed to put her on the defensive most of the time. Obziler almost lost it on a line call that she didn't like, and her coach actually called out to her and said, "Ya gotta play, Tipi, keep on playing." She pulled herself together, broke Pratt at 5-all, and served out the match.
The other women's semi was Camille Pin vs. Aleksandra Wozniak, but I didn't stay to watch.
It was time for Murray vs. Tursunov. I'll be honest, I was pulling for Dmitry in this one, but he was just too error prone. He was *very* impatient, and rushing so many of his shots off of both sides. He did try coming to the net, but Murray's passing shots were just *on*. This looked like it was going to be a blowout until Tursunov broke in the second set, but then Murray broke right back, and never allowed Tursunov another game. Murray has never been one of my favorite players, but I'll give it to him, he was *sharp* out there. His ball striking, to my eye, looks so clean and efficient. Again, his passing shots were unbelievable, and he'll need them tomorrow because I'm sure Clement will be up at the net attacking.
I won't be mad if Andy wins, but I'd love to see Clement take it all!
Before the Tursunov match, Clement was actually awarded the good sportsmanship award for the tournament. Nice little surprise there.
We had a big break after the singles because Tursunov was also playing in the doubles semi directly after with Igor Kunitsyn against the brothers. Wayne Bryan came on court, with the gecko (I really must learn how to spell that), and kept us entertained by torturing some people on the courts. There's always some dude in the games that thinks he's gonna show off, and ends up getting out before the 4 year old kid. Very entertaining.
Then, finally, the brothers and KT come out, and right away, bam, bam, bam, the brothers are up 4-0. That's when I left. To their credit, KT weren't getting down on themselves, just looked like they were having fun, and I doubt a huge upset occured after I left. I have an 8am tennis lesson in the morning before I head in for the final, and I'm tired!!!
Pics to follow!
Safin and Clement started things off today. I've really enjoyed watching Clement play this week, and this was the third match of his I've seen. He's been on fire consistently! Again, he used his net game effectively, and while Safin was certainly not stinking the place up, he just wasn't as clean as he was in his previous matches. He got a little hot headed at times, but didn't break one racquet!! He did get a warning after he hit a ball way, way, way...almost out of the entire stadium. I was sitting in my friend's box seats for this match, and while I was closer, I thought the view was better from my front row seat in the second tier. I can see more of the court that way. You'll see the difference in my pictures from that match.
Erlich/Ram vs. Hanley/Ullyett followed, and HU won pretty easily in straight sets. They went to a tie break for the second set, but you could just tell they were the stronger team today.
Meanwhile, on the women's pro ciruit tour, they started the matches at 4pm, which gave us something to watch in between sessions. First up was a singles semi-final between Nicole Pratt and Tzipora Obziler, who took out number one seed Severine Bremond in the first round. This was a battle of the 30somethings, but they both had more mature games than the shrieking, tall blonde banshees that have seem to multiply in the women's game. This went the distance to three sets, of which I saw the end of the third. Obziler, from Israel, has nice variety to her shots. She uses a backhand slice to set up a two handed backhand drive/winner. Pratt, on the other hand, slices all her backhands, and this seemed to put her on the defensive most of the time. Obziler almost lost it on a line call that she didn't like, and her coach actually called out to her and said, "Ya gotta play, Tipi, keep on playing." She pulled herself together, broke Pratt at 5-all, and served out the match.
The other women's semi was Camille Pin vs. Aleksandra Wozniak, but I didn't stay to watch.
It was time for Murray vs. Tursunov. I'll be honest, I was pulling for Dmitry in this one, but he was just too error prone. He was *very* impatient, and rushing so many of his shots off of both sides. He did try coming to the net, but Murray's passing shots were just *on*. This looked like it was going to be a blowout until Tursunov broke in the second set, but then Murray broke right back, and never allowed Tursunov another game. Murray has never been one of my favorite players, but I'll give it to him, he was *sharp* out there. His ball striking, to my eye, looks so clean and efficient. Again, his passing shots were unbelievable, and he'll need them tomorrow because I'm sure Clement will be up at the net attacking.
I won't be mad if Andy wins, but I'd love to see Clement take it all!
Before the Tursunov match, Clement was actually awarded the good sportsmanship award for the tournament. Nice little surprise there.
We had a big break after the singles because Tursunov was also playing in the doubles semi directly after with Igor Kunitsyn against the brothers. Wayne Bryan came on court, with the gecko (I really must learn how to spell that), and kept us entertained by torturing some people on the courts. There's always some dude in the games that thinks he's gonna show off, and ends up getting out before the 4 year old kid. Very entertaining.
Then, finally, the brothers and KT come out, and right away, bam, bam, bam, the brothers are up 4-0. That's when I left. To their credit, KT weren't getting down on themselves, just looked like they were having fun, and I doubt a huge upset occured after I left. I have an 8am tennis lesson in the morning before I head in for the final, and I'm tired!!!
Pics to follow!
