Comedy of errors
Kournikova commits 31 double faults, still advances
Posted: Thursday January 21, 1999 09:03 PM
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Seventh time a charm: Kournikova served for the match seven times and double faulted twice on match points AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Thirty-one double-faults didn't doom
Anna Kournikova.
She came out of the ordeal with a victory, lots of friendly
advice and a sunburn from being on court nearly an hour longer than
she should have been.
No matter how often her serves flew beyond the lines or plunked
into the net, a crowd of 3,000 gave the glamorous teen boisterous
support, enjoying every minute of her 2 1/2 hours on Court 2 Thursday at
the Australian Open.
She served double-faults Nos. 21 and 22 on her first two match
points, when she led 5-0 in the third set. No. 23, in the same
game, sent her on the way to losing the next five games.
The 17-year-old Russian had to serve six more times for the
match before winning 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 over Japan's Miho Saeki, ranked
80th.
That advanced the No. 12 seed to a third-round match against
Germany's Andrea Glass, ranked 74th. She'll have a day to practice,
but she said that "in practice, I serve fine."
Men's No. 8 seed Greg Rusedski didn't survive his errors. The
1997 U.S. Open runner-up lost 6-4, 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to
American college star Paul Goldstein in a three-hour match during
which he served nine double-faults-- along with 12 aces -- and had
76 unforced errors.
He was the eighth men's seed to fall before the third round.
"I think for someone in his position, he was a little bit
frustrated. I kind of dug out some balls he maybe wasn't expecting
and created some angles," said Goldstein, ranked 187th.
Rusedski agreed.
Efficient win: Petr Korda, unbothered by a sore ankle, dispatched Alonso in 74 minutes AP |
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"He played fantastic. You'd think you had the point won and it
would come back two more times."
Andre Agassi, at No. 5 now the second-ranking survivor in the
field, crushed No. 60-ranked Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic
7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-0.
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, seeded fourth, became the third women's
seed to go out, losing 6-2, 6-2 to Austria's Barbara Schett, who
also beat her in a tuneup tournament for the Australian Open.
Kournikova's woes weren't limited to the total of 91
double-faults in her last four matches.
At 6-5, on her third match point, she hit an easy overhead into
the net.
At 9-8, she had to save four break points. Saeki, meanwhile,
saved one match point with a drop volley, but hit a backhand
crosscourt wide on the next one, about 55 minutes after
Kournikova's first chance to end the match.
Kournikova shook hands with Saeki and slumped into her chair
with a towel over her face for a minute or two before signing a
batch of autographs and leaving.
"I got my sun tan," she said later. "My nose is burned. It
was a good fight, and I'm glad it's over."
Meanwhile, two-time defending champion Martina Hingis extended
her winning streak in Australian Opens to 16 matches with a 6-3,
6-2 victory over 17-year-old Russian Elena Dementieva, the 1998
French Open junior singles runner-up.
No. 6 seed and four-time champion Monica Seles improved her
record in Australian Open matches to 30-0 by beating France's
Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 6-1, 6-4.
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Australia agrees with her: With her win over Dechaume-Balleret, Monica Seles' record in the Open went to 30-0 AP |
No. 7 Mary Pierce, the 1995 champion, beat Luxembourg's Anne
Kremer 6-2, 6-1; No. 10 Steffi Graf also a four-time champion,
beat Austrian Barbara Schwartz 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; No. 14 Sandrine
Testud of France beat Belgian Els Callens 6-3, 6-1; and No. 16
Amanda Coetzer of South Africa beat France's Julie Halard-Decugis
4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Unseeded Serena Williams reached the third round by
beating Spain's Magui Serna 6-1, 6-3.
Some of those players sympathized with Kournikova's serving
problems.
"Everybody talking about it, and asking about it just makes it
so much more difficult," said Graf, who noticed a problem in the
shoulder turn.
Kournikova listened to questions about her arm motion, her
mental approach and other aspects of her serve. She said she had no
answers, and added: "Can we talk about something nice?"
The double-faults "have been happening for a while, so I am
kind of used to that," she said. "But I'm really frustrated with
it, just like I think everybody who is watching. In practice, I
feel fine; I serve normal, and there's no sign of double-faults.
When I come to the line, when I play, there's something happening,
so I'm just going to have to get over it."
During her match, fans thumped canvas screens in front of the
first-row seats for Kournikova's winners, shouted for joy over
Saeki's errors, booed line calls on some of Kournikova's missed
serves and gave her a standing ovation when she returned from a
restroom break in the second set.
Saeki said it was hard to play in such an atmosphere, and all
the cheering for Kournikova made it hard for her to forget she was
playing a big-name opponent and concentrate on ways to win.
"With so many faults, I couldn't read her serve," Saeki said.
"Suddenly her first serve would come in."
Men's defending champion Petr Korda needed only 78 minutes to
advance to the third round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Julian
Alonso, the sole survivor among 14 Spanish men who started the
tournament.
Korda even brought back his victory scissors kick, seizing a
chance to celebrate in the wake of the drug controversy that has
arisen over his positive steroid test last summer.
Shrugging off the "improper and insulting" cracks from several
spectators, Korda said, "I have a high spirit. I have my head up.
I am trying to play tennis only."
The unseeded Korda next meets American Todd Martin, the No. 15
seed, who beat Germany's Hendrik Dreekmann 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
No. 10 Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Australia's Jason Stoltenberg
7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (12-10), 7-6 (7-3). Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, who
ousted No. 4 seed Carlos Moya, beat American qualifier Cecil Mamit
6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7). Unseeded Jim Courier beat Morocco's Younes El
Aynaoui 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
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